Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes

The Magnolia Bakery, situated at a quiet corner of New York City's Greenwich Village, is famous for its vintage-looking cupcakes. Their cupcakes were featured on a film series, Sex and the City and a comedy drama film, The Devil Wears Prada. I've never taste the cupcakes from the bakery before and would love to eat these one day.

These blue cupcakes were baked for a fund raising event, Jeans for Genes day. I'm happy that I've baked the cupcakes using a recipe from the complete Magnolia Bakery cookbook as they are simply irresistible! Now I can fully understand why Magnolia bakery is so famous in New York. Being the best selling items in the bakery, these cupcakes are buttery yet fluffy and their sugary-buttery-crusty top is so yummy.

 

Here's the recipe from the complete Magnolia Bakery cookbook (with my modification in blue)

Makes 24 cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
seeds from 1/4 vanilla pod (my extra addition)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line two 12 cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy for about 3 min. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over-beat.

Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full.

Bake for 20-25 min, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove cakes from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. Ice with tinted Vanilla Buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream for 2 dozen cupcakes:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
6-8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar, then the milk and vanilla. On
medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well (about 2 minutes) after each addition, until the icing is thick enough for good spreading consistency. You may not need all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled. The icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Note: I've made 18 large cupcakes with this amount of cupcake batter and half the amount of buttercream. I've baked the cupcakes at 160°C fan forced for 20-25 min and piped the cooled cupcakes with lightly tinted blue icing using Wilton no. 18 tip and lightly sprinkled the icing with blue sanding sugar.

Happy Baking
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