Cupcakes

Cupcakes, who doesn't love em? Everyone gets to have their own without having to share; an idea kids seem to love. My kids love for cupcakes seem to surpass that of the traditional cake even though they're made with the same batter.

☺I made these for my baby's 8th birthday☺

Ingredients

•  2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter/margarine 
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. Cream sugar and butter or margarine until fluffy.
4. Add eggs to the mixture and beat on medium speed until fully blended.  Be sure to scrape side of bowl with a spatula.
5. Add milk and vanilla, followed by dry ingredients (add gradually). Scrape bowl again.  Beat on high speed until well mixed.
6. Spoon cupcake batter into paper liners until 1/2 to 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool before frosting.

Simple Frosting

• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons softened butter/margarine
• 2 tablespoons milk

1. Cream butter and gradually add sifted sugar
2. Add milk depending on your desired consistency. For firm frosting use very little milk.
3. Spoon frosting into piping bag with desired tip already inserted and decorate as desired.

I made my very own sugar sprinkles by adding a few teaspoons of sugar to a bowl and squeezing a few drops of food coloring to the sugar, mix to evenly distribute, then allow to dry for a few hours.

Sugar Sprinkles