ELINOR KLIVANS’ SOUR CREAM VANILLA CUPCAKES

This recipe, adapted from Elinor Klivans’ book, Cupcakes, was touted by epicurean.com to be great.  They certainly are different.  First, the eggs and sugar are beaten together till light and creamy, then the butter and vanilla are added followed by the sour cream.  Finally, the dry ingredients are blended in.  I’ve never mixed a cupcake batter with this method and decided it was worth a try.  The resulting texture is noteworthy – light, fluffy and airy, with only a small amount of baking powder and baking soda, due to the air beaten into the eggs at the beginning.  And the sturdy cupcakes crown beautifully even though you only use 2 Tbsp. of batter. 


My all-time favorite vanilla cupcake recipe is SOUTHERN LIVING'S, but I’m glad I tried these.  If I have sour cream to use up (Southern Living’s cupcakes use buttermilk), I might make them again.

Elinor Klivans’ Sour Cream Vanilla Cupcakes, adapted  Rating:  8 out of 10 Click for PRINTABLE PAGE

INGREDIENTS:  1-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt 2 large eggs 3/4 cup sugar (Klivans uses 1 cup, but 3/4 cup makes these plenty sweet.) 1/2 cup (1 stick) room temperature unsalted butter 1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1/2 cup lite or regular sour cream Heat oven to 350F.  Grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line with paper liners.  Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt onto a large piece of waxed paper. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar for about 2 minutes, or till light and creamy.  Add butter and vanilla and beat on low speed for about 1 minute, or till well blended.  Beat in dry ingredients on low speed till blended.  Add sour cream and beat till smooth and well blended.  Fill each cup with about 2 Tbsp. batter.  Bake 14-16 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted into centers returns with just a few crumbs and tops are firm.  Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes.  Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.  Frost as desired.  Yield:  12

VANILLA SOUR CREAM CUPCAKES

Years ago, I read that Jackie Kennedy always baked the President’s favorite dessert:  yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  At some point, I wondered if this is a guy’s dessert, because  I’ve never met a man who could resist a yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting. 


One of my web surfing excursions produced this recipe, made with strawberry buttercream.  I wanted to try the strawberry  buttercream, but had visions of all the cupcakes being uneaten.  My hubby is a yellow cupcake-chocolate frosting kind of guy.

First, let me say that these cupcakes were good.  They were all eaten with no regrets.  The problem is that Southern Living has trumped again with their outstanding Vanilla Cake Recipe.  When I want a really good vanilla cupcake, it’s the recipe I will go to, again and again.  SL’s cupcake is moister, sweeter, and has better flavor.  They use more butter, sugar and vanilla in relationship to flour; and they also use baking soda in addition to baking powder.  If you have sour cream you need to use up, go ahead and make these.  You’ll enjoy them.  But when you have milk or buttermilk, do yourself a favor and make Southern Living’s. 

Vanilla Sour Cream Cupcakes Source:  Erin's Food Files and Perfect Cupcakes Rating:  7.5 out of 10 PRINTABLE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:  1 cup low-protein flour (cake flour or White Lily All-Purpose) 1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. sea salt 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup sugar 1 large egg 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1/3 cup sour cream (regular or lite) Heat oven to 350F.  Line a 6-cup muffin pan with liners.  In small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together.  In a medium bowl, using a hand-held mixer on medium speed, beat together the butter and sugar until light.  Beat in egg and vanilla till well blended.  Gradually beat half the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then half the sour cream; repeat with remaining dry ingredients and sour cream.  Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.  Bake until tops spring back when lightly touched, or till toothpick inserted near center returns with just a few crumbs, about 19 minutes.  (Note that these won’t brown on top and will look undone.)  Cool in pan about 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.  Frost with Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting or Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting, or as desired.

SOUTHERN LIVING'S VANILLA CUPCAKES

If you are looking for a great recipe for cupcakes, look no further. Southern Living did it again! The recipe for Basic Vanilla Cake Batter in their March 2009 magazine has it all. Moist, tender, and delicious, these cupcakes will have you coming back for more. I frosted most of mine with Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate Frosting” flavored with vanilla and peppermint – yummm! A few were frosted with SL’s Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting (also yummm.)


One of the keys to success in this recipe is using a low-protein flour. Regular all-purpose flour will work, but you’ll need to slightly reduce the amount, and the crumb won’t be as tender and light. If you read the reviews for this recipe online, you'll note that quite a few readers had poor results. I'd like to bet they used all-purpose flour, and they scooped it rather than lightly spooning it. In the southeast US, where I live, White Lily all-purpose flour is readily available. While it’s not a cake flour, it is lower in protein than all-purpose and works very well with this recipe. The bad news is you'll be eating bleached flour. If that bothers you, use unbleached all-purpose with the changes noted above. Be sure to whisk or sift, then lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup. The way you measure flour will determine how good your cake is. You can actually get almost 1/4 cup more flour in some recipes if you "scoop" the flour instead of lightly spooning it. I always whisk my flour well before spooning it, because it packs down in the container during storage.

The other ingredient making these cupcakes tender and moist is buttermilk. If you don't have any, not to worry. Just add 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of sweet milk, and let stand for 5-10 minutes before using.

Nielsen-Massey Vanilla bean paste can be purchased at Williams Sonoma or online. It has real vanilla bean seeds in it, and is the closest jarred vanilla product to actually scraping the pod yourself.

Vanilla Cupcakes
Adapted ½ recipe from Southern Living
Rating: 10 out of 10

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 large eggs (or use 2 medium)
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or 1-1/4 tsp. vanilla)
1-1/2 cups cake flour (I used White Lily all-purpose.)
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. sea salt
½ cup low-fat buttermilk

Heat oven to 350F.  Place baking cups in 12 muffin tin wells; spray with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.

In medium bowl, beat sugar and butter with electric mixer using medium speed, until creamy and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add whole egg and beat till yellow disappears; repeat with ½ egg (or 2nd egg if using). Beat in flavoring.

In small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to wet mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at medium-low speed just until blended after each addition. Batter will be thick. Spoon batter into cups, filling ¾ full. Bake 18-22 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted in center of cupcake returns with just a few crumbs. Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack and cool completely (about 1 hour). Spread with desired frosting. Yield: 12 cupcakes