Name: Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Cream Frosting
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 2½ cups Whole wheat pastry flour; 1 cup Unbleached all purpose flour; 1½ tsp Baking Powder; ½ tsp Baking soda; 1 cup Unsalted butter (2 sticks); 1½ cups Sugar; 1 tsp Salt; 4 large Eggs; 2 tsp1 Vanilla; 1 cup Low fat plain yogurt; 1 cup Butter; 1 cup Shortening; ½ cup Milk; 2 tsp Vanilla; 8 cups Confectioners sugar

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This vanilla cupcake recipe was given to me by my good friend who happens to be a wonderful baker. The inspiration to make the sports cupcake was from Pinterest. It was a lot of fun doing the designs on the cupcakes and I totally enjoyed it.

Children’s Birthday is always a special time for the parents. As a baker, the challenge for the parent increases further because each year the kids come with a special request.

Vanilla Cupcakes served in a plate with Buttercream icing Sports.

Today my older one (who is still my baby) turned 9. This vanilla cupcake is a sport-themed one and was really liked by all the kids. This classic recipe goes to the 2nd day of the blogging marathon under the cook from the alphabet theme.

My day 1 recipe, Keerai molagootal was cooked on the stovetop and this recipe Vanilla Cupcake is made in the oven. The best part is this cupcake is made with whole wheat pastry flour along with a little all-purpose flour.

Vanilla Cupcakes decorated in sports ball in the square plate.

Vanilla Cupcakes sport ball shape with buttercream.

Preparation time – 15 minutes
Cooking time/Baking time – 25-30 minutes
Difficulty level – medium

Ingredients to make Vanilla Cupcakes –

For the Cake – (makes 24 large cupcakes or 1, 9 inch cake or 1, 9x13 sheet cake)

Whole wheat pastry flour – 2 ½ cups
Unbleached all-purpose flour – 1 cup
Baking Powder – 1 ½ tsp
Baking soda – ½ tsp
Unsalted butter – 1 cup (2 sticks)
Sugar – 1 ½ cups
Salt – 1 tsp
Eggs – 4 large
Vanilla – 2 tsp1
Low-fat plain yogurt – 1 cup

For the Buttercream frosting – (yields 6 cups)

Butter - 1 cup
Shortening - 1 cup
Milk – ½ cup
Vanilla - 2 teaspoon
Confectioners’ sugar - 8 cups

Different kinds of Vanilla cupcakes balls in a dish.

Vanilla cupcakes ball in square plate with buttercream.

Procedure to make Vanilla Cupcakes –

For the Cake –

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour the pan or pans of your choice or line with parchment paper. For cupcakes, lightly grease 2 muffin tins or line them with paper and coat the papers with nonstick spray.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl.
Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and stopping to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl once or twice. Add one-third of the flour mixture, mixing until incorporated.
Whisk together the vanilla and yogurt in a separate bowl or cup and add half of this mixture to the large bowl, again beating until the mixture is very fluffy, and scraping the sides and bottom of bowl. With the mixer running on low speed, add another third of the flour mixture, the remaining yogurt mixture, then the remaining flour, mixing well after each addition and stopping once or twice to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake the cake for the appropriate time for the size of the pan. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Place the cake layers or cupcakes on a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Adding batter in the cupcake mold and baking.

Baking time - 25-27 min for layers or cupcakes, 30-34 min for sheet cake.

I used these cute Happy Birthday cupcake liners for the muffin tins.

For the Frosting –

Cream butter and shortening for 10-12 min. Gradually add the sugar, milk, and vanilla.
Start with ⅔ of the sugar and add more according to taste.

Adding Butter cream, milk and sugar in bowl and beating with beater.

If using pureed fruit to flavor/color the frosting the milk could be omitted.

To decorate the Vanilla Cupcakes –

I made 4 different sports balls for the occasion. They are baseballs, soccer balls, footballs, and basketballs.
I divided the frosting into 5 sections –
1st section, I kept it white and this was the largest portion since I had the base of 2 balls as white color.
2nd section, I made it into brown. I used cocoa powder to color the icing and I just eyeballed the measurement until the frosting reached the preferred color. This icing was the base color for the football and the trim for the basketball.
In 3rd section, I made into orange. This color was the base for the basketball and the trim for the baseball.
4th and the smallest section, I made it into blue to design the soccer ball.
Do the base color icing for all the cupcakes. I made 24 cupcakes and hence made 6 of each kind of ball.
Let the base frosting air dry for about an hour and then make the designs on top. Follow the pictures to help you make the specific ball.
To make the green grass, I used desiccated coconut and green food color. I mixed them both up in a zippered bag and then layered it under the cupcakes to give a grassy feel.

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Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients to make Vanilla Cupcakes –

For the Cake – (makes 24 large cupcakes or 1, 9 inch cake or 1, 9x13 sheet cake)

For the Buttercream frosting – (yields 6 cups)