Yellow Cupcakes with Creamy Chocolate Frosting

My little sister's birthday was last week. Yep, this one. And this one. Same one +  She's amazing and I love her. Ok enough mushy stuff. I got her a card, and had The Three Little Monkeys add their artwork to the back. Then  Z-monkey had the cutest idea. 
Let's make her cupcakes and mail them to her. 
 Only my son would think up such a crazy idea, and have complete confidence in his mother to carry it through. And only I would be crazy enough to agree to it. Anyways, who would knew it, but AC Moore has these adorable little cupcake boxes. They even come with little inserts to hold the cupcakes in place. I put a skewer in each cupcake exactly the height of the box to hold it down (in case the mail man turned the box upside down) and put a candy on top to prevent icing from shmooshing all over the window. Then I put the cupcake box in a box just slightly bigger than it and stuffed styrofoam all around the cupcake box. Then I sent it off from the post office and held my breath...

....and held it....












....and held it....








and five days later....



Oh dear, so maybe they got a little smashed, but it was the thought that counts, right? 
Happy Birthday ML!

Yellow Cupcakes                       

                                                                                                                 Makes 12 cupcakes

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon table salt

8 tablespoons margarine (1 stick), room temperature

½ cup sour cream

1 large egg , room temperature

2 large egg yolks , room temperature

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil liners. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks, 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. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes to room temperature before frosting.

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

• 2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 5 tablespoons heavy cream or Rich's whip
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with cream. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more cream or sugar.

Here is a great clip from MyBakingAddiction that explains really clearly on how to pipe frosting beautifully on cupcakes.

                      

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