Cupcake Saturdays

Lately, cupcake Saturday is becoming a tradition around the "C" household. I think some of it is just the crave of my mother's homemade buttercream icing (not good for P90x) and the other is the time in the kitchen that I get to spend with my sweet girl. The recipe for the base is a Martha Stewart vanilla cupcake recipe that I found some six years ago. The recipe makes a nice dense but moist cake that is not very sweet at all; if you like sweet, this is not the cake for you!

I use the recipe for all of my basic cake making because it is easy and add and take away as needed. The recipe says that it will yield 12 cupcakes but it is more like 18 when you use a shallow muffin tin (3/4" deep)...I am currently on the quest for a tin with a deeper cup! If you know where I can find one, let me know!!! I really want to stop that muffin top overhang!!!

So, on to the icing...it must be pink...no options there, per my sweet girl!!! The icing recipe is also extremely easy and allows me to add a little red food coloring without altering the texture. My mother's recipe is as follows:

Ingredients
- 1 box of 10x confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar - box is 16oz)
- 1 stick of butter, melted
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract (pure-store bought or homemade is best)
- food coloring if desired

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave
2. Add the vanilla extract and stir to blend
2. Add the confectioner's sugar 1/4 of the box at a time and beat with a mixer in between each addition
3. Once all sugar is added, add food coloring if desired
4. If no food coloring is being added, then add milk a tablespoon at a time until the icing is smooth
5. Pipe, spread, dollop, etc. onto cooled cupcakes and enjoy

Please be warned that this icing is sweet. You can also substitute the milk for fresh fruit, such a strawberries to change the flavor...YUMMY!