Secret Recipe Club - Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

My 15 year old brother is a walking contradiction. He loves nothing more than a perfect lobster tail with drawn butter, a roasted beet salad, creamy tiramisu. But he equally loves instant ramen, Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Little Debbie Swiss rolls. He's skinny as a twig but eats a massive bowl of ice cream each night. 

Every time I come home he asks me to make him a cake. I say "Sure, what do you want?" "A box cake," he replies. I scowl, disgusted. "Ian, I'm not wasting my time making a box cake. You can make that yourself." This happens pretty frequently. Why doesn't he like real cake? Because I'm a people pleaser, I set out to make him something from scratch that he'd approve of. 

Since it happened to be Secret Recipe Club time, I found a great vanilla cake recipe on Jo-Anna's blog, A Pretty Life in the Suburbs. This is perhaps the best vanilla cake recipe I have found thus far. It's not dense and overly crumbly. Perhaps it has something to do with the procedure, which I haven't seen before (adding chunks of butter to the dry mixture instead of creaming it with the sugar). Instead of the cherry buttercream she made, I did raspberry. So, what did Ian think of the cupcakes? "Taste like a box cake." Mission accomplished. 

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

adapted from A Pretty Life in the Suburbs

1 cup cake flour

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup milk

1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out, save the pod for something!

3 eggs

• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Add the butter in chunks, to the flour mix, then add 3/4 cup milk.  Beat on low for 1 minute.
• Add eggs, and the remaining milk and vanilla.
• Beat until smooth.
• Pour the batter into approximately 20 muffin cups.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
• Cool before frosting.

1/4 cup fresh raspberries

1 cup unsalted butter

3 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

• Sift icing sugar.
• In a mixer, beat butter until soft and fluffy.
• Add sifted icing sugar, and mix until well combined.
• Add vanilla and raspberries.
• Then frost your cupcakes after they have cooled.