Mini Vanilla Cupcakes

Part of the reason for my obsession with baking cupcakes is that when I see them for sale in bakeries for HK$30+ each, I think it's such a ripoff. But actually when I think about it, the money I've dumped into trying to find a good cupcake recipe would probably exceed that amount per cupcake anyway. Oh well... I had fun... well most of the time! =)

Trying to make good vanilla cupcakes was not as easy as I thought it would be. The first time I made them, I almost pulled out my hair in frustration! I was making mini versions so I had to buy a new muffin pan.. but I got the cupcake liner sizes all wrong... then I put the wrong proportions into the cupcake liners... and the muffins basically erupted all over the oven. Sigh... just thinking about it gives me the shivers... it was a big mess!

Well practice makes perfect I guess... this is probably my fifth attempt to make these cupcakes and they finally look and taste half decent. On this last attempt, I used the recipe from Brown Eyed Baker and halved the recipe so I wouldn't have so many cupcakes to deal with (I still ended up with a quite lot though!).

Ingredients (makes around 20 mini cupcakes):
Cupcakes:
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
113g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 large egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
113g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment.
3. Add butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolk, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.
4. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin. I had to fill them almost to the top of the liners.
5. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Remove the cupcakes from tin and transfer to wire rack; cool cupcakes to room temperature before frosting.
7. Using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.
8. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar.
9. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.