Storiography is the documentary work of designer Christiana Aretta.

For a couple of months in 2008, I worked as a contractor for “America’s Most Wanted”. I worked alongside a lot of really cool people there, including Nevitt . When I announced that I was going to bring in cupcakes for everyone, Nevitt gently strongly suggested that yellow cake with chocolate frosting might could be tasty. Possibly. If I was so inclined, of course.

This recipe is based on Bake and Destroy‘s Billy’s Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes and Chocolate Buttercream. My methodology is a little different (“Wet to dry! Always add wet ingredients to dry!” I hear my grandmother cry…) and I change up the ingredients a bit: I omit the cake flour, add more vanilla and reduce the sugar by 1/4 for Nevitt, and a 1/2 for Wayne. Trust me when I tell you the super, buttery, creamy, sweet frosting more than makes up for it!

Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 325°. You can use cake cups or grease a cupcake pan with Crisco (or shortening of choice).
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until well combined. Cut the butter in small chunks and mix in until chunks are coated with flour.
3. Mix wet ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add to dry ingredients (I always hear my grandmother’s voice at this step: “Wet to dry!”) and mix well but not overly thoroughly.
4. Spoon batter into cups. Fill the cups halfway full and you should get 18 smaller cupcakes with a pretty rounded top or fill them 3/4 full and you get 12 larger cupcakes with a subtle muffintop shape.
5. Bake til a cake taster (knife, piece of straw, wire, etc. will do fine) comes out clean, about 20 minutes in my oven.
6. Cool completely before frosting. If you bake directly in the pan, cupcakes will be much easier to remove once cooled.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 stick o’ butter (8 tbps), at room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Mix sugar and cocoa powder together in a large mixing bowl with a whisk or sifter or fork, if you’re really lazy (like me!).
2. Add the milk, butter and vanilla. Mix on low speed til evenly combined, then open up the throttle and mix on medium til light and fluffy (about a minute or so). If you think the frosting is too thick, add milk (a tsp at a time) to soften it a bit.
3. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes with a pastry bag (I use this one) or slather ‘em with a healthy dollop. If the cupcakes don’t get eaten immediately, I store them out of the fridge (they seem fine for 3 days) and the frosting in the fridge. Give the frosting up to an hour at room temperature to soften up before frosting. It also keeps fine in the freezer for extended periods.

No comments yet: comments are still open.