Pink Peppermint Cupcakes

These were my first real attempt at cupcaking. And by real, I mean that I used a recipe instead of a box, and a piping bag instead of a butterknife. They turned out pretty well, except that I kinda butchered the frosting. I didn't have any powdered sugar, so I decided to make my own by processing granulated sugar in the blender. Not only did that take forever, it also didn't get the sugar fine enough at all so my frosting was crunchy. I definitely would advise against making your own powdered sugar unless you're going to use it in very small amounts.

Onto the pictures!

Now, the cupcakes themselves weren't bad at all. They were deliciously dense and moist, more like mini pound cakes than cupcakes. That frosting was just awful. I'm ashamed to post these cupcakes here, but I want to show you that everyone makes mistakes!
Here are the recipes I used (instead of the vanilla in the frosting recipe, I used half vanilla and half peppermint extract):
Simple White Cake

• 1 c. white sugar
• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 eggs
• 4 tsp. vanilla (I like a strong vanilla taste. If you don't, you can definitely cut this in half.)
• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 c. milk

Preheat oven to 35o degrees fahrenheit. Line muffin pan with liners. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and the butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Make sure to beat thouroughly, for about 3 minutes or so, to get enough air in the mixture, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder in separate bowl, add to creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. At this point, it should look like pale yellow Cool Whip. Pour or spoon batter into prepared tins. Bake for 20-25 mins. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch. Yields 12 cupcakes.
Creamy Butter Frosting (this is an awesome recipe when made with real powdered sugar. This is my go-to buttercream recipe.)

• 1/3 c. butter
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbsp. milk

Cream butter, salt, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add sugar in thirds, adding a tbsp. of milk after each third of sugar. Beat until smooth. Add more milk if desired consistency is not reached. Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes.