yellow kitchenaid love

Meet my new beautiful kitchenaid. Last majestic yellow one in the country, so I'm told. I just had to have her.
Think she is the new star in my kitchen, and definitely more shapely and decorative than anything else I've got.
A kitchenaid mixer has always been on my list for kitchen wants- but baking has suddenly become much much more important. When I was working for a baking products client we knew that taking up baking was mostly linked to having kids. So true. And more than ever I need to know what is going into my food. Until recently, I would happily buy baked products from a few different places in Sydney - but unfortunately I witnessed a huge delivery of cage eggs to one of these bakeries. The treats just didn't taste the same ever again.

Vanilla gets such a bad wrap, I really dislike that quote about people being described as 'very vanilla'. Bah, they are obviously talking about E numbers replacement for vanilla, as the real deal is such a sophisticated yet straightforward flavour.
I've baked four batches of vanilla cupcakes this week, with many different recipes. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when the first few either didn't rise, stayed soggy, or became balls of cooked butter. Surely this isn't supposed to happen when you have a kitchenaid as a helper?
The fourth lot turned out perfectly, thanks to a few tips from Jasmine...

The recipe is derived from the famous Magnolia Bakery in New York. I would love to go there one day, the cakes look amazing.
This makes 24 cupcakes - so feel free to halve if you aren't catering for a birthday party!

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted softened butter (240g)
2 cups caster sugar(400g)
4 large eggs (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (210g)
1 1/4 cups plain flour (175g)
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tin with cupcake cases.
Mix the butter and sugar until really smooth (no longer grainy), then add the eggs one at a time, and beat well.
Then gradually add the flour and milk and vanilla, alternating between the wet and dry ingredients. Mix well.
The batter will be thick but also fluffy, then spoon into the paper cases.
Bake for 20-25 mins, or until the skewer comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool for 10 mins then turn out on wire racks. Let them cool completely before icing.

Cream cheese icing
30g butter
80g cream cheese
1 1/2 cups of icing sugar (185g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese together then slowly add icing sugar til light and fluffy.
Tip - make sure cream cheese and butter are not straight from the fridge.

Another great tip for beginner bakers is - don't bother buying piping kits etc, just place the icing in a zip sandwich bag and cut off the corner. Saves a lot of washing and fuss too.