I like cake, sometimes I sometimes even dream about it. I do not put more importance on cake than any other sweet, but it does have a special place in my heart. I used to be intimidated by the cake, it’s fickleness in how it would turn out used to stop me short of letting myself make one. It’s different from the cookie where the butter, eggs, and milk need to be a room temperature where as cookies are best when the dough is kept cold (or even refrigerated for a few days prior to baking). Not to get too scientific on you, (but this stuff fascinates me!) cold butter has a shape, even if it is ‘creamed’ into the batter. The tiny shapes of the butter allow for more air flow and tiny pockets for breathing, giving your cookies life and softness. If the butter is warm, the fats do not take a shape, rather they are more blob-like and don’t allow for the necessary air flow to get through the cookie. The cake, however, needs that blob-like consistency because there are other ingredients which help form and give the cake that lightness we all love (like milk, egg whites, and usually a little more baking powder than a cookie).

My good friend Leela (who is also a very talented cook, photographer, writer, teacher…well, she pretty much does everything! and has a great blog to boot:) is getting married in a week! She is getting a box of these cupcakes for some good ol’ fashioned comfort food before she flies off and becomes a Mrs! I am so happy for her and D. They are both such wonderful and talented individuals, their marriage will only strengthen their awesomeness and make this world an even better place .

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cupcakes
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise and tiny vanilla beans extracted out with your thumb nail
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Place liners in a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until it looks creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla and almond extracts until mixture is smooth. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until almost combined. Add buttermilk and stir, again, until almost combined. Add the rest of the flour and stir until all ingredients are mixed in.
Divide batter evenly into muffin cups.

*optional: add one raspberry, strawberry, blueberry (whatever berry you fancy!) to the top of each cupcake before you put it in the oven. It will sink to the middle and will become a nice surprise when you take a bite from it when they are done!

Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. When they are done and slightly cooled, I dabbed a tiny bit of honey on each cupcake top to keep the single raspberry on top to stick. Then dust a little powdered sugar on top for a wonderfully, light, and fragrant summer cupcake!

Makes 12 cupcakes

Cheers!