A recent issue of Martha Stewart Living featured an array of cupcakes, each frosted in a beautiful pastel. Inside, recipes for cream-cheese frosting, brown-sugar frosting, and lemon frosting were featured along with seemingly endless recipes for the cupcakes themselves. All were collected into a stunning collage of dramatic photographs. I’ve been hungry ever since.
I love frosting. It’s easy to make. There’s very little measuring involved. (Too thin? Add another cup of powdered sugar. Too thick? Add a drip of milk.) Simple cupcakes can look classy and sophisticated with minimal effort.
Two days ago, Mom whipped up (literally) a frosting to put on some cupcakes of her own. The frosting was creamy. It was thick. The cinnamon and and vanilla and almond all blended together to create a rich, soft flavor. It was scrumptious.Take some time this week to celebrate spring with these lovely cupcakes.
Cupcakes
1 box of carrot-cake mix
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter (1 cube)
4 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
Combine milk, melted butter, and cake mix. Add eggs one a time, beating after each addition. Add cinnamon and vanilla. Beat again. Separate into 18-20 cupcakes, rather than making 24 for large, fluffy cupcakes. Bake at 350° for 16-21 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
Cinnamon Frosting
8 cups powdered sugar
1 cup softened butter (2 cubes)
4-6 tbl milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp almond flavoring
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
Whip powdered sugar and butter. Add flavoring. Continue whipping. Add enough mik for frosting to reach spreading or piping consistency. Mom used a stiffer frosting in order to pipe it using a Wilton 1 millimeter star tip (large). Delicately sprinkle with India Tree sparkling sugar.