Katie's Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Katie's Snickerdoodle Cupcakes 


My daughter and I have been making cupcakes together for many years now. What started as a fun bonding time activity on Saturday night has turned into a bit of an obsession as we continue on our quest for the perfect cupcake. We saw baking as a great way to see chemistry in action with the added benefit of getting to eat the delicious results. We started simply at first by just using cake mix and frosting from the jar and over time worked our way to everything from scratch.

Turns out that Katie has quite a knack for cupcakes. I encourage you to spend some time on Saturday night making cupcakes with your kids.

Research:

We chose this from the many recipes available in Betty Crocker's The Big Book of Cupcakes. It is the snickerdoodle cupcake. White cupcakes with cinnamon and cinnamon frosting.

Plan:

Gather the following ingredients:

White Cupcake:

2 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1 2/3 cups sugar
5 egg whites
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk

Frosting:

6 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2/3 cup butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Cake:
Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt then set aside. In another bowl beat softened butter while gradually adding sugar. Add egg whites, milk and vanilla. Then on low speed add flour mixture just until blended.

Frosting:
Mix sugar, cinnamon and butter. Stir in vanilla and slowly add milk until the frosting is smooth and spreadable.

Execution:

First, make some coffee and measure out your ingredients ahead of time. It makes assembly more enjoyable and less hectic.

Mix up the flour cinnamon, baking powder and salt.

Then in another bowl mix the butter, sugar, egg white and vanilla

Then mix in the flour mixture. Minimize beating the flour or your cake will be dense.

Use an ice cream scoop to get a precise measured amount into each cupcake. We like to make our cupcakes smaller to avoid the mess of overruns and saves on calories.

Then pop them in the oven for 18 minutes at 350.

Put them on a baking rack to cool before adding frosting. Real frosting will melt on a hot cupcake.

While baking, go ahead and whip up the frosting.

We like to use a cake decorating kit to apply the frosting. Don't use too much or it will be all you taste. Remember that cupcakes are CAKES. So the frosting to cake ratio should be similar or all you taste is the frosting.

Look at these beauties. We estimate that they are about 200 calories.

Verdict:

There isn't much in life that is better than a homemade from scratch cupcake that is still warm from the oven. These are delicious and I encourage you to try them but more importantly, the time you get to spend with your kids makes them priceless.

Please help support our site, buy something you like on Amazon. Simply click through the links below and though you can pick anything, I suggest the thermometer and knives below:


So apparently Thermoworks doesn't sell through Amazon anymore. You must buy direct. Still the thermometer to have. Go here and order direct. 

Aaron Franklin's Favorite trimming knife:

Dexter-Russell (S131F-6PCP) - 6" Boning Knife - Sani-Safe Series

Aaron Franklin's Favorite Brisket cutting/serving knife:

Sani-Safe S140-12SC-PCP 12" Scalloped Roast Slicer