Cupcakes For Your Sweetie

Remember that party we were going to?  The one that put me into a tizzy because I wanted to bring along a just right hostess gift?

It was this past Saturday.

You all gave me a ton of great suggestions.  So many, in fact, that I plan to compile the top ten and present them in a future post.  It would be wrong of me to take credit for that idea though; Metropolitan Mama suggested it and I thought it was brilliant.

Are you curious what I decided on?

Baked goods were, by far, the most popular suggestion.  And since I happen to harbor a love for things that ooze with butter and sugar it didn’t take much twisting of my arm to get me to agree.

I found a recipe for cupcakes on Martha’s website.  I was pleasantly surprised by this Martha recipe in that it didn’t call for ridiculously difficult to find ingredients nor did it require an absurd amount of steps.

Not wanting to gift them without first sampling, though, I tried them on Super Bowl Sunday.

To say that they were good would be an understatement.  They were beyond good, beyond delicious even.  These things were like heaven in a paper liner.

Unless of course you don’t care for the dense texture of pound cake.  In that case, you might want to skip out on these.

I’m a fan of the whole pound of butter, pound of sugar concept though.

And that explains my thighs.

Moving right along…I’m not one to hoard a good recipe so I thought I’d share with the whole class.

One more thing and then I’ll get to the recipe.  If the brown – butter glaze intimidates you let me persuade you to put your fears aside and give it a go.  It couldn’t be easier and it results in a rich, praline-like topping perfectly paired with the texture and intensity of the cupcake itself.  Listen to me sounding like a fancy shmancy foodie.  Just trust me on this one.

Brown-Sugar Pound Cupcakes
3 c. sifted all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature (mine were cold and it didn’t seem to matter)
3/4 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl.  Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk, and ending with dry ingredients.  Scrape sides of bowl.  Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted in middle come out clean.  I found that in my convection oven they took between 22-25 minutes.  Let them cool before glazing with:

Brown-Butter Glaze
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 c. sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 t. pure vanilla extract
2 to 4 T. whole milk

Heat butter in saucepan over medium heat until golden brown, about ten minutes.  Carefully pour butter into a bowl leaving sediment behind.

Add sugar, vanilla, and 2 T. milk to butter, and stir until smooth.  If glaze is too thick, add more milk.  Use immediately.

*The second time I made them I doubled the glaze recipe because I thought it was a bit scant on the my first attempt.  It didn’t turn out so well so I wouldn’t recommend doing that.  For one thing it was way greasy for some reason.  And also, the cupcakes really just didn’t need to be fully covered in the glaze to be divine.  Guess that’s why she called it a glaze as opposed to a frosting.  That’s what I get for messing with Martha.

Let me know what you think if you try them.  Something tells me you’re gonna likie likie. :)

9 comments

  1. These look amazing. I am never one to turn down a cupcake or pound cake for that matter. I’ll give it a try and let you know how they turn out.

  2. These look amazing. I am going to try them the next time I need something a little bit special. Thanks Martha, and thank you! Lisa~

  3. What gives them the “specks” in the frosting? I’m curious. I am definitely going to try these and can’t wait to report back. Maybe even today!

  4. Just completed “the” cupcakes!!! They are delicious. Soooo yummy! Josh isn’t sold on the glaze, I think it’s great. It’s just out of the norm I think, sometimes he has a hard time stepping out of the box! The combo of the cupcake and the glaze is scrumptious. Now I’m going to need to work extra hard @ the gym in the morning…thanks Darc! ;-)

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