Back to basics

I don't really know when or how it started, but awhile back one of my good friends and I started picking up souvenirs for each other whenever we would travel.  I was a big fan of giving magnets from the various cities I would visit (I later realized they do not stick to his refrigerator) A favorite of mine was when I gave him statue of liberty sunglasses - still have yet to see them used.  Now, as much as I hate to admit defeat he generally came back with much better souvenirs.  Most recently he truly hit a grand slam.  He was in Mexico and came back with a little bottle of tequila (big fan) and a bottle of Mexican Vanilla!  My mom always used Mexican vanilla when baking and it truly is the best.  It has a very strong fragrance and flavor.  I decided to crack open this amazing gift and make some cupcakes.  The tequila remains unopened.  It has an actual worm in the bottle - yuck!  So below is the recipe used for Mexican vanilla cupcakes with a mexican vanilla icing.  My friend Jay would find humor in this post.  He is half Mexican and would love the irony that I made a plain white mexican cupcake.

Cupcake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (i used sea salt)

1 stick unsalted butter - room temp

1 large egg - room temp

2 large egg yolks - room temp

2 teaspoons mexican vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Briefly whisk together top 4 ingredients until combined.  Add the remaining ingredients and beat at a medium speed until smooth - roughly 1 minute.  I use the paddle attachment for this step.  (quick tip - slice the butter into smaller pieces before adding for easier mixing).  Then divide batter into the cupcake pan and place in the oven for 21ish minutes.  I recently read a tip that I think makes perfect sense.  When scooping the batter into the cups use an ice cream scoop to get even portions.  This will eliminate some of them being over cooked or mushy.  A few minutes after the cakes are out of the oven, remove them from the pan and place them on a wire rack to finish cooling.  

Icing:

1 16oz pkg powdered sugar

1 stick of butter - room temp

3ish tablespoons of milk

2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla

Beat all ingredients at a low speed until smooth.  If the frosting is a little thick you can add more milk.  Be super careful when doing this because if you add too much it will be runny and it can be tough to come back from that.  

Full Size

Mini

Once the cupcakes are cool, ice away.  I think these cupcakes turned out alright.  You could definitely taste the vanilla flavor.  I think I loved the icing more than the actual cake so I may try that on a different flavor in the future.  They received rave reviews at the office and my co-workers tend to be brutally honest.  If desired, you can add a little food coloring to the icing to jazz em up a bit.  I would have liked some small sprinkles, but didn't have any on hand.  

enjoy!

j