Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

We got this cupcake recipe from Baking Bites and we paired it with a simple buttercream frosting. Baking Bites is a wonderful blog full of delicious recipes and tons of useful information. I've always loved cupcakes because they are super cute.

Ingredients 12 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 cupcake pans with papers.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. When light and fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time. 3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a measuring cup, combine the buttermilk and vanilla extract. 4. With the mixer on low speed (or by hand), stir one third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Blend in half of the buttermilk, followed by another third of the flour mixture. Stir in remaining buttermilk/vanilla and the rest of the flour, mixing only until no streaks of flour remain. 5. Divide evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.
6. Bake for 22-24 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting. Frosting Ingredients
1 lb. confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk
Food coloring (optional)

Directions
1. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, butter, vanilla and milk until smooth. If necessary add more milk until frosting is spreading consistency. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring. Mix everything well.
We colored some pink and green. We tried to pipe our frosting onto our cupcakes but the frosting was not thick enough. Still the cupcakes were delicious and they were all gone before the end of the weekend.

Happy baking,
Sunny and Star