{Recipe} Valentine's Day Mini Cupcakes

Let me just go ahead and say that this is the best picture of anything that I've ever taken in my life and I'm insanely proud of it! These adorable cupcakes are a very slightly altered version of Brown Eyed Baker's Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting. These cupcakes are amazing and the buttercream frosting is to die for! Buttercream frosting is the best frosting ever created, in my opinion anyways. 

The only real alterations I made to this recipe is I made them mini cupcakes, I used Wilton No Taste Red food gel to dye the frosting and I used Wilton Nonpareils Sprinkles that I found at Michaels. I didn't want to alter too much since these cupcakes are pretty much perfect. I think they would be awesome for a party since they're little so you can eat them two at a time :) You can also make the cupcakes for nay holiday or theme just by changing the sprinkles and food coloring!

Anyways I know you're really only here for the recipe so here you go!

Vanilla Mini Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg yolks , room temperature
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake wrappers.

2. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl. Add butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix again until smooth. 

3. Pour batter evenly among cups of prepared tin. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from pan and place on a wire rack; Let cupcakes cool to room temperature before frosting.

4. Using the wire whisk attachments of your mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides of the bowl once or twice.

5. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is added, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mixing until completely mixed. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. 

6. Add in however much gel food coloring you need to achieve the color you want.

7. Frost the cupcakes, add sprinkles and enjoy!