On Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day), a friend and I went on a pilgrimage to the Mecca of cupcakes: Magnolia Bakery. The intent was to partake of a green cupcake to celebrate the "holiday." (Extra points for choosing the location that's one block from St. Patrick's Cathedral.) Magnolia came to prominence, as any solid SATC fan knows, through the creation of its now-hallowed red velvet cupcake. As a good Southern girl (sort of), I of course love red velvet cake. Unfortunately, the cupcake in question on the day in question left something to be desired (dry), probably due to the MOBS which descended upon the tiny bakery. This was my first trip to Magnolia, and I suspect they simply weren't on their A game.
Today (Friday), I decided to try my OWN Magnolia Bakery red velvet cupcakes. The recipe is available on Epicurious... or so Epicurious says. Whatever that recipe was did NOT yield ANYTHING even CLOSE to being a successful cupcake, let alone a legendary Magnolia cupcake. I couldn't even eat them, and into the trash they went, even though I felt bad wasting the food. But trust me, even if there were some soup kitchen that accepted home-baked goods, these were so bad that I wouldn't inflict them on anyone, much less someone who is genuinely hungry. With that rationalization helping ease my guilt, I went to work on a DIFFERENT batch of cupcakes (I had to buy buttermilk for the Magnolia recipe, and we'll never use it for anything else here). This batch was FAR more delectable and, dare I even say, cupcake-like.
From Joy of Cooking, Buttermilk Layer Cake
From Ali's head, Buttermilk Layer Cake - The Cupcake Remix
First of all, I halved the recipe, because oh my God, we don't need that many cupcakes here. Working in a small kitchen, I find it helps me to think in terms of groups when preparing a recipe. The ingredients, with their amounts and in their groups, are:
A
1 c. plus 1/6 c. cake flour (not the self-rising type)
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
B
6 Tb. unsalted butter, softened
4/6 c. sugar
C
1 whole egg, plus 1 yolk (or, plus 1 1/2 whites)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. buttermilk
Here's your method to make 12 cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature (60-70 degrees, that is).
2. Sift group A together and set aside. Beat group B on low or medium speed until nice and creamy, about 2 minutes.
3. Whisk group C together (does not include buttermilk), then stir flour mixture (A) into the butter/sugar/egg mixture (B+C). Alternate adding the flour mixture with the buttermilk, stirring each addition until smooth.
4. Spoon into cupcake cuppies! Bake in the top third of the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool COMPLETELY, then frost. If you are actually inspired enough to make your own frosting, I applaud you. I use Pillsbury reduced sugar vanilla, and add some of the leftover red dye from the disastrous attempt at red velvet cupcakes which were, again, a total and utter lie.
Cupcakes: Success
Le yum yum!
