One of my first jobs in high school was working at a cupcake shop, so every time I make cupcakes, I attempt to make them even half as good and as pretty as the ones I once sold. These angel food cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream are light as air, super tasty, and easy as can be. This recipe can easily be used for making a cake as well, as long as you tweak the baking time. To put it in perspective, I made these on when I had friends visiting for the weekend, and between Saturday and Sunday, they were ALL GONE! Not a single one left! Fortunately, I took pictures before my friends came.
NOTE** the cupcakes themselves are very low calorie, so if you’re trying to watch what you eat, you can just make the cupcakes and serve them with fresh fruit and some whipped coconut cream for a healthy and delicious dessert!
Angel Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
- ½ cup cake flour (NOTE** if you don’t have cake flour, measure out ½ cup all purpose flour, remove 1 tbs, and replace it with 1 tbs cornstarch. Sift the entire mixture to combine and aerate)
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 8 egg whites at room temperature
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the vanilla bean buttercream
- 1 stick of salted butter at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy, then add the cream of tartar, beating until soft peaks form. Then, gradually add in the granulated sugar while beating until stiff, glossy peaks are formed. Next add in the vanilla extract and beat to combine.
In a separate bowl, mix the cake flour and powdered sugar until well combined. You can sift them together to be really precise if you want, but to be honest, I didn’t do that. Pour the flour mixture all at once into the egg whites, gently folding until everything is combined. Make sure to fold the mixture in so you don’t lose the air in the egg whites.
Spoon the batter into each cupcake liner, generously filling them to the top, and bake for 12 minutes until they are lightly golden on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.
Once the cupcakes are cooled, make your buttercream. Beat a stick of softened room temperature butter with 1 ½ cups powdered sugar until a smooth and creamy frosting is created. Add 2 tsp vanilla bean paste and mix to combine. This is a lot of vanilla bean paste, but trust me, it’s worth it!
You can ice the cupcakes with a spatula, but to make them extra pretty, you can easily pipe the frosting out with a large ziplock bag. Simply snip the corner off a ziplock bag, and press a star shaped piping tip through the hole (you can pipe the frosting without a tip as well. I just like the pattern it makes). Once the piping tip is in, place your frosting in the bag. Squeeze the frosting out through the piping tip to make beautiful cupcakes! (click here for a quick video tutorial using a piping tip or click here for a video on piping without a tip)These angel food cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting are just as pretty to look at as they are to eat! Enjoy!
