My son and I made these cute cupcakes yesterday. We used a simple devil’s food cake mix. I added an extra egg and a box of instant royal pudding to make it extra moist. It was very easy for my son to help dump the cake and pudding mix in the bowl. He is learning to break the eggs. He has a method now which will break the yolk, but somehow he doesn’t get shells in the egg anymore. I’m really proud of my little chef. I turned on the mixer, and we put the paper cups in the muffin tins. We made these regular sized ones, along with some miniatures. He happily licked the spatula while I filled the cups. While the cupcakes were cooking, we started the frosting. I recently saw on Tasty Kitchen, a post by Ree entitled the best frosting I have ever had. I was extremely skeptical, even from the fab Miss Ree. I read the recipe and it called for flour. Yuck! I thought, that makes no sense at all. However, I trust Ree, so I believed in her good taste, and tried the recipe. I followed the directions carefully. I whisked the flour in the milk and cooked it until it was very thick. I let it cool. I let some butter come to room temperature and whipped it until light and fluffy with the butter in my mixer. I added the cooled flour and milk mixer to the whipped butter. I then whipped it until it was light and fluffy. The only changes I made were to add extra vanilla (Ree just calls for 1 teaspoon), and a pinch of salt. I stuck my finger in the frosting to test it. Oh my God, I was in frosting heaven. I have never tasted anything like it. It is beyond amazing. If you haven’t tried it, you have to. You must, it is sooo good. Not too sweet, so smooth, so perfect in every-way, and a perfect compliment to a delicious chocolate cake.
After I pulled myself away from dunking my finger in the frosting and licking it compulsively, I frosted all the cooled cupcakes. My son finished them with the cute Easter sprinkles. Kids love sprinkles so much! He was so happy to show his sweet creations to Daddy when he got home.
Yield: Serves 4
1 cup whole milk
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons good quality PURE vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
Place milk and four in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens. When it has thickened remove from heat and add vanilla. Whisk well.
Place room temperature butter, sugar, and salt in a large bowl or your stand mixture. Whip until light and fluffy.
When the mixture has cooled, add it to the butter and sugar mixture. Make sure the flour and milk mixture is cool! Whip until well combined, remembering to scrap down the sides of the bowl.
Spread over chocolate cupcakes or cake and get ready for the most fabulous frosting ever!
These are the cupcakes I made Easter 2009. This is also the first photo I started my blog with. Big difference, huh? I know I still have a long way to go, but its nice to look back and see how much I have improved.
This is the first entry on my blog, on May 19, 2009. I made these cupcakes this past Easter. They were as delicious as they were pretty. I have tried many ways for simple chocolate or simple yellow cake, and I always go back to my Granny’s method, which is to add an extra egg and a box of instant pudding mix. This method will achieve the moistest cake you have ever had. It is absolutely delicious. After eating cake made this way, you won’t be able to eat store bought cake again.
Use a moist cake mix, such as Duncan Hines Moist cake mix in chocolate or vanilla and add one small box of chocolate or vanilla instant pudding mix. Also add 1 extra egg and cook according to package directions.