Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream Cupcakes

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I’m so excited everyone liked the Butterfinger Cupcakes so much. I found I was featured at a couple of linky parties. I loved all the comments! Thanks so much!!

I was reading this week and found out that you can make cakes and cupcakes light and fluffy if you fold in 1/2 cup of whipped cream to the batter.  I had never heard of this before, and it sounds just scrumptious! I decided at 2 o’clock this morning to give it a try.  And even before they were frosted, I could tell the were going to be great.  And…Wow! It worked!

Miss Molly’s birthday party is this weekend.  She requested pink elephant cupcakes.  Why, I don’t know.  She has never had a thing for pink elephants, but what the heck.  So in my quest to figure out pink elephant cupcakes, I found these adorable mini elephant cookies on Etsy. And, I’ve been working on a vanilla bean cupcake to go along with another flavor cupcake I’ll share later this week.

Now for the vanilla bean one, I wanted it to be light, fluffy, not too dry or heavy, and adding whipped cream really made it amazing.  It was almost like an angel food cake.  They feel so delicate and light as air, and the taste is heavenly.

In honor of one of our current favorite movies, Wreck It Ralph, I’m christening these little lovelies Vanillope Dream Cupcakes.  Yeah, yeah, I know. I like to spell it this way better.

Vanillope Dream Cupcakes

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cupcake Batter:
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 stick of butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
2 1/2 cups of cake flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup whole milk
2 whole eggs at room temperature
1 egg white at room tempature
1/3 of a vanilla bean (about 2 inches)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Dream Frosting

3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup + 2 tbs white sugar
1/3 of a vanilla bean (about 2 inches)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Optional: 1 drop of food coloring – I used red to make a pink color
sanding sugar color of your choice

 

Cupcakes:

1. Chill the mixing bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes, and then beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Scrape it into another bowl and set in the fridge.  
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 muffin/cupcake pans with standard cupcake liner. Rinse out the  mixing bowl. 
3. Cream the butter and sugar on medium until it’s very creamy, about 5 minutes.
4. While that’s mixing, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium-sized bowl. 
5. Cut off a 2 inch piece of vanilla bean, split it open and scrape out the tiny beans.  (If you do not have vanilla beans, then use 2 tsp of vanilla instead of 1).
6. Whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla extract and vanilla beans in a bowl or glass measuring cup.
7. With the mixer still on medium, switch between adding the flour mixture and milk mixture.  Make sure you start and finish with the flour mixture.  
8. Continue mixing on medium for 2 minutes.
9. Lastly, using a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the cake batter.
10. Fill your cupcake liners about 2/3 full.  Then, bake until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs.  It’s about 15-16 minutes.  

Frosting:

1. Chill the mixing bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes. 
2. Pour the cream into the bowl and whisk on medium-high.  On my KitchenAid mixer, that’s about a 7-8.  
3. Gradually add the sugar and continue whisking until soft peaks form. 
4. Cut off a 2 inch piece of vanilla bean, split it open and scrape out the tiny beans.  (If you do not have vanilla beans, then use 2 tsp of vanilla instead of 1).
5. Add the vanilla bean and extract and whisk until the frosting becomes stiff.  
6. Add a drop of red gel food coloring and gently mix in with a spatula.

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