Classic Vanilla Cupcakes for the upcoming Alabama game, Roll Tide!

This month has been quite busy. We were all prepared to move, but found out about two weeks before we were supposed to leave that we would be staying in Kansas for a little while longer. After canceling the movers, calling our landlord to tell them we were staying, and dealing with many other things that arose from us not moving home anymore, we are finally settling back into our routine. August and September are normally big months for us anyway, since Russell’s birthday is in August and college football normally starts in September. I was planning on being in Alabama and having some of our friends and family over for the game but since that didn’t happen it will just be Russell, Jake and I.

 

Although it will only be the three of us watching the game this weekend, I have already planned a wonderful menu full of football food. We will also be having these cupcakes. I have posted a vanilla cupcake recipe a while back but this is definitely my new favorite. I have made it several times since I first discovered it a few weeks ago. Since Alabama’s colors are white and crimson, I wanted to make a vanilla cupcake with white buttercream frosting. I found some adorable houndstooth cupcake liners and as an Alabama fan, I couldn’t pass them up! I also wanted to add a little something to decorate the cupcakes with. I thought the Alabama “A” would be great. I found one online, copied and pasted it about 12 times into a word document, and printed it. I then melted some red candy melts with a little bit of coconut oil. I placed the “A’s” that I printed out under some wax paper and traced the “A’s” with the melted red candy melts (I used a size 2 pipping tip). I think they turned out pretty well! Of course, these cupcakes are definitely customizable according to your to team loyalty.

While piping the icing always looks pretty, I decided to once again just use a knife to ice the cupcakes. Russell isn’t a big fan of icing so it works out well. I halved the vanilla buttercream icing that is below since I knew I wouldn’t need as much but if you do plan on pipping the icing, I would definitely make the entire batch. 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

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Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. Spray with non-stick spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another medium sized bowl, beat eggs for approximately 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat for another 30 seconds. Beat in oil and vanilla extract.

Add half of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and beat on low until just combined. Next add half of the buttermilk and once again beat on low until just combined. Use a spatula between each addition to scrape the sides of the bowl. Continue with the other half flour and then end with the rest of the buttermilk. 

Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 full. Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes. 

Allow to cool for 1 minute in the muffin tin. Then remove to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Once cupcakes have cooled ice with vanilla buttercream. 

Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 20 Tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:
Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add powdered sugar and salt. Beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds.

Scrape down the bowl and beat about 15 seconds at medium speed until the mixture is fully combines.

Scrape the bowl once again and add vanilla extract and heavy cream. Beat for about 10 seconds until incorporated.

Increase speed to medium-high speed and beat until light and fluffy. This will take about 4 minutes. Make sure to scrape the bowl once or twice during this time.

Source: Cupcakes-- Glorious Treats, Buttercream-- Originally from Cooks Illustrated, 2007 as seen on The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Peach Crumble

We are a peach loving family. Back home in Alabama I look forward to peach season every year. In my opinion, there are not any better peaches than the ones that come from Chilton County in Alabama. We always stop at Durbin Farms to buy our peaches, but you can find them all over the state. Sadly, since we have been away from home the last several years, I haven’t been able to enjoy Chilton County peaches as much as I’d like. I was able to find some Georgia peaches (which are a close second to the ones from Chilton County) here in Kansas at the very beginning of peach season, but a few weeks later they were all gone. While Missouri peaches aren't nearly as good as the ones from home, I have still been obsessed with them. I posted this picture on Instagram a couple of weeks ago: 

This picture pretty sums up how much our family loves peaches. We have had about 6 pounds of peaches in our refrigerator at any given moment the last couple of months. We mostly eat them fresh as snacks or with breakfast, but I wanted to also make something with them as well. I came across a peach and blueberry crumble recipe and thought it would be perfect. I ended up leaving the blueberries out but you can add them or raspberries as well. 

Overall we really enjoyed this peach crumble. I made it one afternoon and it was gone by the next day. I reduced the sugar some and added old-fashioned oats to the crumble topping and it was perfect. If you can’t find any good peaches you can substitute nectarines instead.

Peach Crumble

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Ingredients:

For the filling: 

• 2 pounds of peaches, peeled and sliced in 1/2 inch wedges (I used somewhere between 8-10 peaches)
• 1 cup blueberries or raspberries, optional
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

For the crumble topping:

• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup light-brown sugar
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

In a large bowl, combine white sugar and cornstarch. Toss in peaches (and blueberries or raspberries, if using) until peaches are well coated.

Pour filling into an 8x8 baking dish or pie dish.

In a medium sized bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in the flour until mixture resembles coarse sand. Toss in oats until just combined. 

Spoon crumble topping evenly over filling. Bake for about 40-50 minutes. After about 30 minutes tent with foil. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes before serving.

Source: slightly adapted from Mrs. Requeiro’s Plate, originally adapted from: Martha Stewart: Everyday Food July/August