Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I was throwing a baby shower for my friend Trena yesterday and I knew I wanted to make two different kinds of cupcakes. I decided to make one I had already done and a new one. I chose Orange Vanilla Bean because Trena had one and said she liked them and what a pregnant woman wants a pregnant woman gets :)

She also mentioned she liked white cupcakes so I decided to go with Snickerdoodle.

The only problem with the Orange Vanilla Bean was that I was going to have to make the dreaded Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

So I watched this video posted by Stephanie and prepped myself mental for the task.

I first put everything out just because that is what she did in the video.

(Ps I have spent over 98.oo on butter since starting this project so I simply can not afford all these failed attempts at swiss meringue)

So here is my one cup sugar and my 2 pounds of butter.
So I did my egg whites, then added the butter and...it was ALL runny AGAIN!!!

So I tossed it.

Errrr!

SO I did it again.

This time I switched to the Paddle attachment like the video says(and Martha does not say).

After I added the butter it got really runny again and I was all but crying(and I am being serious) I felt that it HAD to be me. What the heck! So I just threw the rest of the butter in and flipped the switch to heck a fast and left. When I came back 15 minutes later....

I DID IT!!!

I think I wasn't letting it whip long enough after adding the butter.

Or maybe it's the paddle attachment

Or maybe I am just incompetent when it comes to baking.

Either way I DID IT!

I was so proud.

And my Orange Vanilla Bean Cupcakes looked fantastic!

So then it was on to Snickerdoodle.

I got WAY to excited about my Swiss Meringue that I forgot to take pictures of the steps to make the Snickerdoodle.

And I am including the recipe because I had a few asking for it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

On medium-high speed cream 2 sticks of room temp unsalted butter, 1 3/4 cup sugar until pale and fluffy. Then add 4 eggs(at room temp) one at a time. Then beat in 2 tsp vanilla. Reduce to low speed and add flour mixture(1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 cup cake flour, 1 tblspn baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tblspn of cinnamon) in to the mixture in three batches alternating with 1 1/4 cup milk. Then fill up the cupcake liners 3/4 the way full(I do a little higher) and bake for about 20 minutes rotating half way through and you done!

Simple.

Now the frosting.

Which is always the most tricky.

Except this frosting was called 7 minute frosting so in my head I thought it only took 7 minutes so it must be easy. Right?

I must have forgot I am baking Martha's book here.

I think she makes things complicated for kicks.

So you take 1 1/2 cups of sugar, then 2/3 cup water and 2 tablespoons of corn syrup and heat until 230 degrees(side note I LOVE trader joes but their dishwasher detergent will make your pots look like this)

Then you beat 6 large egg whites until fluffy peaks form. Once the peaks have formed add two tablespoons of sugar and continue to beat. Once the syrup mixture reaches 230 degrees you set the mixer to medium-high and pour the syrup mixture down the side in a slow constant stream. Once you have poured the entire mixture in you let the mixer keep beating until the bottom of the bowl is cooled. Which apparently takes 7 minutes thus the name but took more like 15 minutes. So the entire process took about 30 minutes or so.

7 minutes by butt.

Anyways.

The frosting was DELICIOUS and came out looking great which is an accomplishment for me in itself.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and your done.
I dipped some strawberries as well and my dessert spread was pretty tasty if I do say so myself.


I shared my cupcake love with these girls especially the expectant mother in the middle who is having a little boy next month.
On a tasty level I would say that the snickerdoodle were a 9.

Really tasty.

On the skill level I would say the actual cupcake was easy the frosting was a little tricky so I would say medium.

But all in all I would say you need to go make these very soon.