Vanilla Cupcakes

Directions

Combine butter and sugar in mixing bowl. Mix until the sugar and butter forms a cream. If using a stand mixer - start off on setting “2” and then turned it up to “4”. It is important to thoroughly scrape the sides and bottoms of the mixing bowl with a spatula add the end of each step.

Crack eggs into a separate bowl, add a splash of vanilla extract (around a tablespoon) to the eggs and then add the eggs to the mixing bowl.

Add the eggs one at a time with the mixer on setting “2” mix for about 20 seconds. Pause 15 seconds between adding each new egg. After all of the eggs have been added, quickly stir off the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to “4” and mix for 30 more seconds before scraping the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.

Combine baking powder and salt with flour. Add half of the flour mixture, followed by sour cream, and then add the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until combined, but be careful not to over-mix. You want to be careful not to over-mix so that the batter doesn’t turn into dough. To prevent that, don’t turn the mixer setting past “stir” when using a hand mixer. Also, don’t take more than 2 minutes – 1 ½ minutes is usually fine – to complete this entire portion of the recipe. (In order to help with timeliness, pre-measure your ingredients.) Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl once everything is combined. Then blend everything for 10 more seconds.

Scoop the cupcake batter into the tins and bake for 23 minutes at 300 degrees in a convection oven or for 30 minutes at 300 degrees in a non-convection oven. You can use muffin tins with cupcake liners - they will be wider and shallower. I use an ice cream scooper to scoop batter. Fold the batter after scooping every 5 to 6 cupcakes.