Cupcake wars!

Saturday evening, my Hubs got a hankering for cake… but the trouble is, he couldn’t make a decision on what kind of cake he wanted.  Since I’m someone who believes in choices… and I rarely have the time (or opportunity) to be Holly Homemaker anymore, I did what any good wife/baker would do…  I made TWO kinds of cupcakes and one kind of icing… hence, Cupcake Wars  Utilizing recipes from my favorite cupcake blog, Your Cup of Cake, I tried my hand at her classic vanilla and easy chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting.  I love her recipes because they are always moist, never taste like a cake mix from a box, and always turn out way better than my skills would normally create… as evidenced below.  I mean, don’t these look professional?!  (They do in my mind…!)

The good news is they are BOTH amazing!  The bad news is we were a split jury.  I loved the vanilla and the Hubs loved the chocolate.  Guess you’ll just need to do what we did and try both!!

Classic Vanilla Cupcakes:

• 1 box of Duncan Hines white cake mix
• 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
• 4 egg whites
• 3/4 cup of buttermilk
• 3/4 cup of sour cream
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (I use clear vanilla to keep the cake as white as possible!)

Directions:

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

• 1 C. butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tbs. milk
• 2-3 C. powdered sugar

Directions:
1.  Beat butter using electric mixer for two minutes
2.  Add vanilla extract, cocoa powder and milk and beat again
3.  Add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.  (I actually ended up adding a little bit more milk because my icing was SO stiff.  I think it was because the butter was not completely softened.)
4.  Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with sprinkles.  (I used Wilton Tip 1M – SO EASY!!)

Now, which one do you want to try first?!