Vanilla Cupcakes

I made some Plain Jane Vanilla cupcakes today to bring to the teachers at Bordeaux Elementary to show my appreciation for all they did to help me through my student teaching. Their colors are actually red and black but I thought purple and sea foam were much prettier. I made about 120 of them, these are just the few I kept at home. If I keep too many Mike will get mad, he is trying to watch his figure.

Cupcake Recipe:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup granulated white sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer whip butter until soft and fluffy, add sugar and vanilla. Continue to beat until smooth. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add 1/3 of flour mixture to the mixer. Once fully mixed in add 1/2 of the milk (1/8 cup), mix well. Add half of the remaining flour mixture, mix well, add remaining milk (1/8 cup), mix well, add remaining flour mixture and mix until well combined. scrape sides as necessary throughout the mixing process. 
For minis bake for 10-12 min, regular bake for 17-19.
Yields about 48 mini cupcakes or 12 regular cupcakes. 

The icing is a simple buttercream icing as follows:

2 cups confectioners sugar sifted
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk 

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer whip butter until soft and fluffy. Adjust speed to low and slowly add confectioners sugar about 1/4 at a time waiting until well blended before adding more. Once all sugar is well incorporated add all of the milk and adjust speed to high. Beat until light and fluffy.