White Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream (Caroline)

Not all cupcakes made from a boxed mix are equal, so here are some tips for getting good cupcakes from a boxed cake mix, or even cupcakes that you make from scratch. 

Whip the cake mix. Don't over-whip it, but when I use my kitchen-aid, I whip it on med/high for about 30 seconds and then turn the power to the highest setting for about 10 seconds. 

Use cupcake liners. I made cupcakes without liners once... 

Fill your cupcake liners evenly. This is hard. It took me forever to get the hang of this, but this is how you get cupcakes that puff up above the liners juuuust a bit without overflowing. Like I said in my last post, I usually get 18 cupcakes per box. So if the number you end up with isn't within the 16-20 range, your cupcakes are probably going to be too big or too small. The box says to fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full, but I fill mine closer to 3/4. To see if you have more batter in one liner than in another, get on your knees or squat down and look at the cupcakes from more of a horizontal perspective. From this perspective, it's a lot easier to see how much empty/full space you have in each cupcake liner. 

I bake my cupcakes closer 325 degrees Fahrenheit, rather than the 350 that the box recommends. 

Don't open the oven while your cupcakes are baking until after they've baked for about 15-18 minutes at least. If you open the oven before then, you risk cupcake craters. 

Set your timer for 15 minutes. Check your cupcakes. Bake for only 1 or 2 minutes at a time from then until they're how you want them. For these white cupcakes I made last week, I left the first pan in for 18 minutes and they got a bit dark around the edges, but and I took the second pan out after 16 minutes and the tops were still gorgeous and white and hadn't started browning yet. This is how I think white cake should be. 

Remove cupcakes from your cupcake pan to keep them from continuing to bake after you've taken them out of the oven. If you took your cupcakes out slightly early, this isn't a big deal, but if you took them out when they were just on the brink of being too overdone, then you'll want to remove them from the pan. If I'm feeling invincible, I just used my hands, but usually I take two spoon to lift each cupcake out. 

Lemon Buttercream: 

Just following up the last cupcake post with a lemon variation on my butter-cream recipe. It's the same recipe as the butter-cream I used on the butterfly cupcakes, I just added 2 tsp fresh lemon juice and a little more powdered sugar (like half a cup-ish) to compensate for the extra liquid. This turned out to not be quite lemony enough for me, so next time I think I'll try adding some lemon zest and a little more lemon juice.