3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter (I used salted, but recipe called for unsalted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and add vanilla. Mix together flour, backing powder, and salt in seperate bowl. Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beginning and ending with flour.
Divide batter evenly amoung liners, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake about twenty minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (my cupcake liners were taller, so my cupcakes took closer to twenty-five minutes to bake). Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.
(spoiler alert: the twist is cream cheese)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter (softened)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-2 tablespoons milk or whipping cream
4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
Beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Add vanilla and milk. Beat on high for 1-2 minutes until icing is light and fluffy. Taste and add various ingredients until you like your consistency and taste. The beauty of any icing recipe is that you don't have to worry about the amounts of each ingredient being exactly right like you do for something you'd bake. Icing is all about what tastes good. Play around with it until it tastes delectable (although you shouldn't have to do too much since I've done a lot of the tinkering for you - the addition of cream cheese does wonders for this recipe).
*If your icing seems to be sliding or not sitting well on your cupcake, first check to make sure your cupcake is completely cooled. Don't want your icing melting! Second, check the temperature of your icing. If it's too warm, let it cool off in the fridge for a bit then try again.
Happy baking and happy spring!