Spectacular Eats

I know, some love her and some hate her.  Myself, I am a huge fan.  I’m talking Martha Stewart.  As big a fan as I am, you would think I would be a huge fan of her magazine “Living” .  But I’m not.  I have tried (had a subscription a few different times, have purchased it at the grocery again and again).  I just don’t love it.

This month, however, has the best looking cupcakes on the cover for Valentine’s Day.  And the issue looked really good while I was waiting in line at the grocery.  So I bought it again.  And this time I was thrilled.  There are a LOT of recipes in there that I will be trying.  And some really great cupcake recipes too!

So. inspired by the cover on “Living” this month, I decided to make some cupcakes. I did not use Martha’s recipe yet.  I actually used the recipe below as it has been on my list of things to try for some time and I already had the ingredients on hand.

These cupcakes did not disappoint either.  I think Martha would be proud .

I decided to line my cupcake pans with the standard blue liners. Don’t you just love the blue and the steel gray together?  That is quickly becoming my favorite color combo.

I made the recipe and it made almost 36 cupcakes.  I filled the cups with a cookie scoop (such a great tool for this) and filled them about half way.  As you can see. they did not dome like standard cupcake mixes do.  I like that.  It made them very easy to frost.

Here is an inside shot so you can see what great texture it has.  The cupcake itself is a very moist cake with a bit of weight to it.

I was not wild about the buttercream I made for these so I am not including the frosting recipe.  I’m sure you have a better one – trust me!

White Almond Sour Cream Cake

adapted from a recipe found on the Internet (a long time ago and sadly without a source)

1 box white cake mix (Betty Crocker or Pillsbury)

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/3 cups water

1/8 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

1 cup sour cream

4 large egg whites

Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together with a whisk.  Add remaining ingredients and beat on medium for 2 minutes.  Pour into greased and floured cake pans or cupcake tins.  Fill about half way full.

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven until tests done.