Pound Cake Cupcakes!

Today was my Sunday, so I decided I would try to make pound cake cupcakes that I found on the Cupcake Project blog while waiting for Poland Spring to not show up.  They're very frustrating.  I guess they'll be coming tomorrow.  I just hope no one steals our bottles since we won't be there to let them in.  But on with the cupcakes...

Below is the picture of the cupcakes before being frosted.

They looked tasty even without the whipped cream.  I thought about trying them, but decided to wait since the whipped cream just sounded so tasty.  The recipe is below:

Pound Cake Cupcake Recipe

Makes 12 regular cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes

• 3/4 C sugar (If you have some vanilla sugar on hand, this would be a good time to use it.)
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 T pure vanilla extract (You could use vanilla bean paste here instead. If you use vanilla bean paste, you could skip the addition of the vanilla bean.)
• 2 C (7 ounces) sifted cake flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• ¹/3 C (3 ounces) sour cream, at room temperature

1. Place the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Use a paring knife to split the vanilla bean lengthwise, then turn the knife over and use the dull edge to scrape the seeds into the sugar. (Save the pod for another use - like making vanilla sugar.)
3. Blend on low speed until the seeds are evenly dispersed.
4. Add the butter and beat on medium-high until the mixture is very light—almost white in color, 4 to 5 minutes.
5. Beat the eggs with the vanilla in a small bowl.
6. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs to the butter mixture about 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to completely blend in before adding the next.
7. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk together.
8. With the mixer on the lowest speed, alternate between adding the flour mixture and sour cream, ending with the flour mixture.
9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
10. Bake at 350 F. For mini cupcakes, bake for 12 min. For regular cupcakes, bake for 20 minutes.

The topping is a strawberry whipped cream.  Very simple, you just whip heavy whipping cream, add some sugar, and add some almost pureed strawberries.  Below is the recipe for that:


Strawberry Whipped Cream Recipe

• 1 C heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 C sugar
• 4 T food processed strawberries (take some fresh strawberries, wash them, remove the stems, and throw them in the food processor until they become a thick, seedy liquid)

1. Whip cream until it looks like whipped cream.
2. Mix in sugar.
3. Mix in strawberries until just combined.
4. Be sure to frost your cupcakes before you eat all of the strawberry whipped cream.

If you decide to make these, I really hope you enjoy them as much as I do!  Happy baking!