Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes

Halloween

is tomorrow, and Halloween includes tons of candy. And trick-or-treating, but that is not so common here, let alone some candy corn to decorate my cupcakes with. Halloween isn't only about the candy, it's about the orange and black, the spiders and the witches, so I made orange cupcakes, with spiderwebs. Not very original, I know, but they look great, the contrasting colors, and the flavors go great together. When you use good quality chocolate, you can smell the intensity about 30 cm from the cupcakes, even if it's just a little chocolate spiderweb. This recipe comes from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook , which means I can have Magnolia cupcakes whenever I want without having to travel all the way to the U.S. Doesn't mean that they taste or look like the ones at the bakery, I accidently made mine a lot bigger but they still tasted great. Topped off with a dark chocolate spiderweb, they look fabulously like Halloween.

From the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

The 'Vanilla Vanilla' Cupcake:

• 1&1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1&1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup butter,softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1&1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F/180C

1. In a small bowl, sift together the flours.

2. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time until incorporated, don't forgot to scrape down the bowl every once in a while.

4. Add the dry ingredients alternating with the milk in three additions. Then add the vanilla.

5. Spoon the mixture into two cupcake tins lined with paper liners ( I used monster pumpkin ones)

6. Bake for 20-25, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Cool for 15 minutes, then top with vanilla frosting. (Recipe below)

Vanilla Frosting:

• 1 cup butter
• 6 cups confectioners sugar
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Method:

1. Cream together the butter and 4 cups of the confectioners sugar.

2. Then add the rest of the sugar,milk and vanilla.

3. If you want to tint your frosting add it now and mix thoroughly.

 

Cupcakes

Coconut,Orange, Yogurt and Grand Marnier:
make a great combination for a cupcake. These are so delicious topped with frosting and coconut, but they are a great little treat by themselves too. I don't make my own shredded coconut, because it is something that is better to buy from the store, and one of the few things I don't make myself. I think that adding  raisins might be good in this one, but I haven't tried that before.



Adapted from 'Muffins' by Zabert Sandman

Ingredients:

• 1&1/2 cups(200g) flour
• 1/2 cup (50g) shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup (75g) granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons oil (such as sunflower or canola)
• 3/4 cup (150g) plain yogurt
• 100ml orange juice
• 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (Orange liquor)

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F/180C

1. Combine the flour, shredded coconut, orange zest,baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

2. In a second bowl combine the egg,sugar,oil,yogurt,orange juice and Grand Marnier.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

4. Grease (or use paper liners) your cupcake tin, then fill in the dough about 3/4 full.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until slightly golden on top.

To make Frosting: 

1.Combine 1 cup(200g) sugar with 1/3 cup orange juice (or orange juice concentrate if you're lucky enough to have that) with 2 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of cream of tartar. You can add food coloring at this point if you like. Boil the mixture for two minutes, until bubbly and a syrup consistency.

2. Using electric beaters, beat two egg whites, whilst slowly, drizzling in a thin stream, adding the cooled syrup mixture.

3. Beat for 8 minutes until very thick.

4. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and sprinkle on shredded coconut for a little extra touch.