Delicious Vanilla Cake/Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

My best girlfriend Sarah announced she was having a baby and of course that meant I got to plan the baby shower! This was the perfect opportunity to refine my baking skills because as I have said before …. baking is NOT a strength of mine. So I planned the baby shower date, put some ideas together for the cake and cupcakes and then I spent the 6 weeks leading up to the shower baking a cake every week for the Mr. so I could practice. Haha he was very disappointed when the Shower was over and realized that he wouldn’t be getting his weekly cake anymore, but I perfected the recipe and it was a huge success for the shower. I use Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream or more milk to make the cupcakes a little more dense. I also made my own buttercream icing which is the easiest thing in the world to make!

Serving Size: 9in. Cake or 24 Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients

• 2 Cups Sugar

• 2 1/2 Cups Flour

• 1 Cup Milk

• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

• 1/2 Cup Plain (or Vanilla) Greek Yogurt

• 3 Large Eggs

• 1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract

• 3 Tsp. Baking Powder

• 1 Tsp. Salt

Buttercream Icing Ingredients

• 1 Cup Butter, softened

• 5 Cups Icing Sugar

• 1 Tsp. Salt

Cupcake Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 350F degrees and line a cupcake pan with liners.

• In a large bowl, combine all wet ‘cupcake’ ingredients except the yogurt and the milk. Mix well then add in the greek yogurt and beat until mixed well. Next mix in the flour and milk, rotating 1/2 flour mix, 1/2 milk, 1/2 flour mix etc. Beat until all ingredients are mixed well.

• Scrape the sides of the bowl and fill each cupcake liner approx. 2/3 full or the non-stick baking pan 2/3 full.. Bake for 15-17 minutes for cupcakes or 22-26 minutes for a cake or until done. Use a toothpick around the 14 minute mark to test if the cupcakes are done by poking into the center of a cupcake and identifying if the toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully.

Icing Directions

• In a large bowl, beat softened butter until it appears whipped. Slowly add in icing sugar a little at a time and mixing well. Continue to add icing sugar a cup at a time until desired consistency is met. Feel free to add food coloring during this process to match desired color.

• Wait until cupcakes are fully cooled (usually a minimum of 2 hours) and ice using a piping bag and nozzle.