If you were on Twitter last Friday afternoon and followed the hastag
#cupcakechat, then you know we chatted about vanilla and vanilla cupcakes. We had people on the chat from Egypt, the UK, Greece, Germany (Hi
Betsy!) as well as many from across the US.
I asked about favorite vanilla cupcake
recipes. Magnolia Bakery Cookbook and Cook's Illustrated are well-regarded. Many bakers start from a basic recipe but add on ingredients including buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla pudding and even yogurt to their vanilla cupcakes.
We talked about
vanilla as well. Which do bakers prefer? There are three main types- Madagascar, Mexican and Tahitian. Which brands do they use? It's old skool, but I have used McCormick's Vanilla Extract. Many chatters like Neilsen-Massey extract, Trader Joe's Vanilla Bourbon extract and one mentioned Veracruz Vanilla. BTW, there's a recent article on
Cook's Illustrated about vanilla beans.
We also chatted a bit about flour. A soft all-purpose flour is best. Don't use self-rising flour. Pillsbury and King Arthur were name-checked. One question I asked: What's the difference between angel food, yellow cake and vanilla cake? Angel food uses egg whites, not yolks. Angel food cake has a completely different texture; it is more like a sponge. Yellow has a distinct taste that's different than vanilla.
Links to a few Vanilla Cupcake Recipes:
Our next cupcake twitter chat will be
Friday, November 18 at 2PM. This time we will talk about Red Velvet Cupcakes!
