Yellow Cupcakes with Sticky Chocolate Icing

I woke up one morning and decided I want to master cupcakes. Okay maybe not master but definitely brush up on my cake baking skills and decorating. Cake and decorating are definitely a challenge for me when it comes to baking. The cake either falls apart or too dry. Then I rush to decorate it and it looks awful. You know what I mean? If I start making cupcakes I will learn to have more patience with decorating and hopefully learn how to cook a cake properly. Plus they are so darn cute and the perfect serving! A while back I bookmarked a recipe from Pioneer Woman who made Yellow Cupcakes with Sticky Chocolate Icing. It looked easy but the frosting is what had me! Over the weekend I was invited to a get together to watch UFC, and I figured cupcakes would be the perfect item to bring! Cake Flour. The recipe calls for cake flour and I've experienced with this item before while trying to bake a cannoli cake. I actually bought cake flour and my sponge cake was not moist and pretty hard. I thought cake flour was suppose to make everything lighter! I wasn't about to buy cake flour again and I remember reading I could make my own! I found how to make cake flour from this blog. 1 cup of flour minus 2 tablespoons that are replaced with 2 tablespoons of corn starch. I sifted it 5 times and the flour looked beautiful. I followed Pioneer Woman's recipe exactly for her yellow cupcakes. The batter looked silky and beautiful. I baked them for 22 minutes, and by the time they came out they were cooked and lightly brown on the sides. I let them cool overnight covered and frost them a few hours before I had to leave.


My cupcakes felt hard and dry. I overcooked them, 20 minutes would probably been just enough time. I still went with it though because I still had to bring something. The frosting came together and I went ahead to top the cupcakes. The frosting was sticky, gooey and everything it is suppose to be. It was everywhere! The table, hands, sticking to other cupcakes etc. It was dripping like crazy. It eventually set and left a nice shiny top. Of course my icing/frosting skills looked nothing like Pioneer Woman's cupcakes but this will take time and patience. Right?

Don't worry after I cleaned up, I was eating the frosting off the table with my finger. ;)

Whoa hold your horses frosting!

As she stated she had 12 cupcakes and 2 extra ones. I had the same thing! So I was able to taste test a cupcake. It was good but dry. Darn it! Yellow cake should be moist and buttery. The next time I bake these cupcakes with be for 20 minutes. This recipe has potential! If they are still hard and dry after 20 minutes, then I believe it the cake flours fault. ;)

I love my cupcake carrier! Holds a cake too.

The cupcakes went well, but I think it because people thought they looked good and took one. Two of my friends thought the frosting was way to sweet, but between my best friend and I we loved the frosting, just not the dry cake. I think this frosting be good for something else but not cupcakes.

Click here for Yellow Cupcakes with Sticky Chocolate Icing recipe.


So I was VERY excited to have leftover frosting. I was thinking an oatmeal topping, stuffed french toast, stuffed between a banana, or melted on top of vanilla ice cream! Well not so much because it is gone. Yes gone. My mom ate it all by microwaving it and eating it with a spoon. I was sad, very sad but guess what! It just means I have to make this all over again! bahaha!!

Always,
Fallon