vanilla

For my letter V entry for this year’s A-Z Blogging Challenge, I’ve decided to share one of my many attempts to perfect the art (and science!) of cupcake-baking. Yes, V stands for vanilla cupcakes!

Vanilla-flavored cupcakes are considered as staples in any bakeshop. Aside from chocolate and red velvet, vanilla cupcakes are the ones we usually see in various pastry cases. And why wouldn’t they be? They’re moist with just the right amount of sweetness… my mouth’s watering right now. Lol just kidding!

Of course, I was so excited to make my own batch of fragrant vanilla cupcakes. Fortunately, I found a perfect recipe in Easycooking‘s website— simple yet delicious! I love this recipe because it doesn’t involve “rare” ingredients and it’s so easy to follow. Now I’m going to share it to you as well. (But don’t forget to visit Easycooking’s site! Divya has a lot of good recipes posted there. :))

Vanilla Cupcakes
Yield: 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (I always use unsalted)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup milk (I always use fresh milk)
2 eggs
2 tsp instant coffee powder

Procedure:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt thrice, then set aside.

3. Combine butter and sugar; cream well.

4. Add eggs one by one; beat well.

5. Alternatively add the flour mixture and milk thrice; mix very well.6. Lastly (for the mix, that is), add vanilla extract. Reminder: taste your batter before putting it in the oven!

7. Line your muffin pan with liners and, with an ice cream scoop, fill them with 2/3 batter each.

8. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

After patiently watching your cupcakes rise up in the oven (hihihi), you can now let them cool and top them with your choice of frosting!

I used my leftover coffee buttercream from last time’s recipe (though I didn’t include it in the post hehehe) and, in fairness, they blended nicely. The frosting itself needs a lot of work, but taste-wise, they’re delicious together! Oh by the way, I got the coffe buttercream’s recipe here. 🙂

Vanilla and coffee… never had them this good! Hahaha.

Happy blogging (and baking)!
Jane

Vanilla Cupcake Bakery, located at 2/F Glorietta 4, East Dr. Ayala Center, Makati, and in Trinoma.

Date: January 18, 2013

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I think I finally found the perfect cupcake heaven for me.

For our first stop during our “food trip reunion,” Meeka introduced me to Vanilla Cupcake Bakery, a super cute and adorable cupcake shop situated at the newly-renovated Glorietta 4 (near the passage to SM Makati). At first, it kinda reminded me of Sonja’s Cupcakes (just the ambiance, ‘cause I haven’t tasted their cupcakes yet) and I found it really home-y and gentle to the eyes. You know, I think most girls like all things that are cutesy and oh-so-charming.

(Don’t you just find these little details super lovely? I wanna take them home!)

(Cute chairs! Just… cute chairs!)

The place itself is worth 5 stars already, but we really came for the food, so…

There is a wide array of delectable pastries to choose from. Aside from their delectable cupcakes, they also serve cookies, cup-cake (cake in a cup), and muffins. It’s a good thing that visitors can easily spot their offerings, because they’re displayed near the entrance.

But, of course, we weren’t able to try them all at once, so we just picked the bestsellers (of course we asked, LOL): Red Velvet (P85) and Vanilla Pink (P75) cupcakes.

(Yummy Red Velvet cupcake!)

(Soft Vanilla Pink cupcake!)

Honestly, what I’m going to say about them are pretty much the same: not too sweet (which is so good!), super chewy and not so crumbly (therefore so easy to eat), and most important of all, they don’t have that umay factor. Both simply melted inside my mouth and, for the first time (I think?), I experienced cupcake heaven.

I’ll admit; cupcakes here are a bit overpriced for me (seriously, I can have a full meal at P75), but who cares? They’re simply irresistible… just the right amount of sugar and flavor. Plus the wooden fork is super cool!

Bottomline: We. Wanna. Go. BAAACCKK!

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This blog entry can also be seen on http://meekalexyproject.wordpress.com. Follow us there! 🙂