Don't Sugarcoat It

When M was sick, last week, I managed to make these vanilla cupcakes. They brightened up her day - and they were super simple.


I think I've mentioned that I'm not much of a cake person. I can't really justify the work (and the calories) for something inclined to go stale so quickly. I mean, you can't eat 6 pieces in 2 days and look yourself in the eye. And by the time you get around to the second half of the wedge, it's really past its prime.

Having never made cupcakes, I decided to go to the source of "recipe basics": The Joy of Cooking. I use this book to understand ratios; then I go to more sexy sources for the embellishments (or make them up, in truth).

It's an interesting exercise in measurement - very easy to remember:

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 cups premixed cake flour
3 egg yolks
vanilla extract to taste

You mix the wet ingredients (save milk), then intersperse addition of flour with milk to create the batter. Cook at 350 - or was it 375 for 20 minutes (it was 2 minutes too long in my oven). And voila. 45 minutes from start to finish.

I didn't ice them. I don't understand frosting. It just fucks with your blood sugar and makes you crave, with desperation, 15 more cupcakes.

I will totally work with this recipe again. Tweaked, but not too much.