Paris Hilton Cupcake

A Treat For Paris Hilton And Other Glamour Girls

Paris Hilton entered jail in Los Angeles last month to serve her sentence for DUI with a suspended license. After neither sleeping nor eating for three days, she was briefly released to house arrest—where, according to reports, she ordered lots of fresh flowers and gourmet cupcakes. If cupcakes are a Paris Hilton favorite food, we know she likes her cupcakes fashionable. These vanilla cupcakes are pretty but also light, moist yellow cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. This particular cream cheese frosting is very cream cheesy. We prefer the personality of the cream cheese to the bland buttery/sugary profile of a buttercream.

Yield: 16 Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 16 (2-1/2-inch) paper muffin cup liners
• 2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

For Frosting

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line muffin tin or 16 (1/3-cup) muffin cups with paper muffin cup liners.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. With an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well.
3. With mixer on low speed, beat in the milk and vanilla until just combined. Divide the flour mixture into three and beat in one portion at a time until just combined.
4. Add to the middle of the muffin cups and place in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan on a rack for five minutes; then remove them. The liners should still be on the cupcakes.
5. While the cupcakes are baking, make the cream cheese frosting. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Cover and refrigerate until firm enough to spread, about 15 minutes. The frosting can be made up to two days ahead and stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered so that it does not pick up flavors and aromas. Bring it to room temperature and beat until smooth before frosting the cupcakes.
6. If you’d like a lemony cream cheese frosting, add 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice plus 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest to the frosting recipe.
7. To color icing, whether to make the entire batch a color or just to color a portion to pipe rosettes, mix in a couple of drops of food color at a time until the desired color is achieved. You can pipe flowers with a simple, inexpensive cake decorating plunger like the one at the right, which comes with eight different tips. You can also decorate with candies, cookie leaves, chocolate morsels, coconut, gold and silver dragées, edible glitter, sanding sugar, slivered nuts, sprinkles (jimmies), sugar pearls, wafers and more. A visit to a fine candy store or bakery supply store will open up a world of topping wonder.

Pumpkin Mini Cupcakes

Use homemade buttercream or cream cheese frosting for these tasty bite-size cakes. These cupcakes would be pretty on an autumn hors d'oeuvres tray.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 4 tablespoons softened butter
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, fresh mashed or canned
• 1/3 cup milk
• prepared frosting

Preparation:

Into a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together. Add egg, beating well. Beat in pumpkin puree. Add dry ingredients, alternating with the milk, until well blended. Line 2 mini muffin pans with 30 to 36 mini muffin liners. Fill each lined cup about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes, or until cakes bounce back when lightly touched in the center.

Force buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting through a decorator's star tip, if desired, or frost with a spatula. Makes 30 to 36 mini pumpkin cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa (powdered)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 sticks butter at room temperature
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (see note at bottom)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon red food coloring

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe Directions

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Sift dry ingredients three times.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, making sure to beat well after each egg.

Add 1/4 of dry ingredients to creamed mixture then approximately 1/4 of buttermilk alternating until mixed well. Mix in vanilla and food coloring.

Fill lined cupcake pans 1/2 full of red velvet batter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cupcakes in pans for 5 to 10 minutes then remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

NOTE: If you don't happen to have buttermilk on hand you can try this simple substitution. Place one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in an empty one cup measuring cup. Fill with milk to 1 cup. Let stand for 5 minutes then use in any cake recipe that calls for buttermilk.

Vanilla Cupcake

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg whites from large eggs
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, milk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for 2 minutes. Scrape bowl. Add egg whites and mix at high speed until fluffy and smooth, approximately 2 minutes.

Fill liners 1/2 to 2/3 full of batter. Do not overfill. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in pans then remove from pan, and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Frost and decorate your vanilla cupcakes as desired.