Vanilla Cupcakes :)

Today i will be teaching you guys the steps on how to make vanilla cupcakes FROM SCRATCH! I feel like i have been making so much chocolate recipes and leaving vanilla behind! If you are not a fan of chocolate, this recipe is perfect for you because vanilla is such a staple to the baking industry and its such a classic that i think (or hope) everyone is a fan of). This recipe is also good for if you just wanted to bake a pan and in the book the author, Rosanna Pansino suggest that "You use a 9 x 13 inch pan" (25). If you are going to make these into cupcakes, they should make a total of 2 cupcakes
depending on how much you fill each cupcake tray.


The ingredients you will need are:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (4 ounces) salted butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 5 large egg whites
- 3/4 cup whole milk

Directions:
1. The first step in very baking recipe is always to pre-heat your oven so for this recipe, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your tray with cupcake tins and get your ingredients all ready.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then set that aside.
3. In a large bowl. beat the butter and shortening until softened. Then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. This part took me about 3-5 minutes and i suggest scrapping the sides of the bowl so you get every piece of the batter.
4. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.
5. The author says to add each egg white one egg at a time and beat well after each egg (Pansino 25).
6. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
7. Pour the batter evenly into each cupcake tin, filling them 2/3 full and then pop them into the oven. The book says it takes about 18-20 minutes or until a inserted toothpick comes out clean but for me, 18 minutes was enough time for them to be perfectly cooked.
8. CAREFULLY (i put carefully in all caps because i wasn't) take out the cupcakes and let them cool for about 20 minutes and if you want, you may decorate!

Final Presentation/Thoughts: 
As i predicted, these cupcakes were absolutely delicious! My first thought was that they tasted exactly like the box version (to be honest) which i guess is not a bad thing, but it was ju
st so surprising to find out that they taste so alike. Other than the comparison to the box, the cake was so fluffy and soft and it was just perfect and the blue icing to top it off added
some cute bonus points! Overall i think that this was a successful recipe and it worked very well and i'm so happy with the outcome. :)

Question: Do you guys like pre-made cake mixture or making it from scratch?

Citation: Pansino, Rosanna. The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook: Sweet Treats for the Geek in All of Us. New York: Atria, 2015. Print.