Bonnie Butter Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Let me tell you something: I hate all vanilla cupcakes I make. I don't know why, but I feel like when I make them they turn out to be too dry or taste too much like flour. Other people may say they're fine, but I wouldn't have it. Instead I spent months too scared to try any vanilla cake recipes, and just stuck to boxed cake. That sucked, because I do love white cake, but I feel like boxed cake is cheating. As a baker, I have no desire to cheat.

But then I found these...

Bonnie Butter cake is something I've been eating since I was little. My wonderful Grandma Pat (who I probably got the baking addiction from) used to make this cake for my birthday every year, and I always pretty much died because it was so good, and so rich. Unfortunately, I don't visit my Grandma very often since she lives way in the boonies, near Hinckley. Luckily the last time we went up there for a visit, I asked her about this recipe. Little did I know, that it was from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. I figured if I was going to get over my fear of making white cake, this would to be the recipe to do it. Boy, was I right.

If I actually had any talent at making two layer cakes, I would've attempted that, but since my cakes always end up looking like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I stuck close to home with cupcakes.

What you'll need:

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1  3/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup milk

To make:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
• Mix butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for 5 minutes.
• On low mix in flour, baking powder and salt alternating with milk.
• Pour into liners and bake for 15-20 minutes.
• Let cool and frost

Since I always use the same buttercream frosting recipe, I might as well just post it again.

What you'll need:

• 1 cup butter (I recommend European style. It's creamier and so worth the extra cost)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• Milk (only add until reach desired consistency. I rarely end up using any.)

To make:

• Cream butter, then slowly add in vanilla then powdered sugar. Add milk one teaspoon at a time until reached desired consistency.

Enjoy!