Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes Archives

Mickey Mouse Cupcakes

As promised in my last post about T’s Mickey Mouse birthday party, I wanted to follow up with a post about making Mickey Mouse cupcakes. T loves mini cupcakes so I opted to make the Mickey cupcakes on a smaller scale (but a large quantity!) There are so many cute Mickey Mouse cupcakes on Pinterest and a lot of them involve Oreo cookies. Since my cupcakes were going to be mini, I decided to incorporate mini Oreos.

For the cupcake and frosting recipe, I opted to use our hands-down favorite cupcake recipe- the Magnolia Vanilla Cupcake recipe with Vanilla Buttercream Icing. While this recipe usually makes about two dozen full-sized cupcakes, I found it made about 75 mini cupcakes per batch. The baking time is reduced to about 10 minutes. I found mini red, white, and black polka-dotted cupcake liners at Michael’s.

To frost the cupcakes, I highly recommend reading this cupcake icing tutorial. I used about 80% of the vanilla icing to frost the tops of the cupcakes. For the remaining 20%, I mixed it with a couple tablespoons cocoa powder and set it aside to use later for the ears. I used a large closed star tip to ice the cupcakes with plain vanilla frosting. I then placed a mini Oreo in the middle of the frosted cupcake. I then used the reserved chocolate icing to pipe two “ears” on top of the Oreos using a small open star tip.

I then placed the mini Mickey Mouse cupcakes in my customized 3-tier cupcake stand (more details in the birthday post about how I made this.)

Mickey Mouse Cupcake Stand

Have you ever made cupcakes for a theme party?

sister m signature

I made these cupcakes this weekend for the birthday of the guy I am dating ;). The recipe is from the famous Magnolia Bakery in NYC, and it is one of my favorite recipes for cupcakes. It is a little more labor intensive than the other recipe, but you won’t be disappointed. Also just in case you think this recipe is healthy because I try to cook healthy, this recipe is the complete opposite, but a great splurge.

Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:

Vanilla Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Vanilla Buttercream:

The vanilla buttercream we use at the bakery is technically not a buttercream but actually an old-fashioned confectioners’ sugar and butter frosting. Be sure to beat the icing for the amount of time called for in the recipe to achieve the desired creamy texture.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Source: From Magnolia’s Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Enjoy!

-K