Love Day

Vanilla cupcakes with cherry icing.

Baking for a loved one always feels right to me, and this week I got to make a dual purpose treat. Kevin’s birthday is February 11, so this year his birthday cake has a Valentine’s theme.  Which is okay with him, as he adores these cupcakes!

I can’t take credit for them as they are inspired by cupcakes Kevin’s mom made many times in his childhood. I use a rich vanilla cupcake as the base and finish them off with cherry icing.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Line muffin tins with festive cupcake papers.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together in a bowl.
3. Melt butter in a separate bowl, then whisk in eggs, milk and vanilla.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir well. Batter should have a smooth, uniform consistency.
5. Pour into pan and bake on the middle oven rack at 325 F for 20 minutes , or until tooth pick inserted into a middle cupacke comes out clean.
6. Makes 12 cupcakes.

The smell of these cupcakes while they bake is heavenly.  The vanilla, butter and sugar make your kitchen feel like a gourmet cupcake shop.

Cherry Icing

Mix 1/4 cup of butter (softened) with 1 cup icing sugar and a splash of maraschino cherry juice, stir until smooth.  Add icing sugar or a little milk until desired consistency is reached.  Chop 8 maraschino cherries into tiny pieces and add to icing for an extra cherry treat.  Cupcakes can be decorated with half a cherry, dry the cherries on papertowel first to keep the color from running.  You could also use Valentine’s themed candy like cinnamon hearts or sweet tarts for decoration.