Happy New Years Eve! And a New Frosting Recipe
In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t made many cupcakes recently. I don’t know if I just got burnt out or what, but I’ve been making more bars and cookies recently. Bars are especially low maintenance which makes them so much easier to make than cupcakes. But cupcakes will always hold a special place in my heart. And I’ll continue to make them.
I actually made these cupcakes earlier in the year for a weekend getaway to a friend’s family lake house. I thought these photos with the sprinkles were perfectly festive for New Years Eve! Hubby and I are off ringing in the new year in Las Vegas with a big group of friends!
Since it’s our first trip to Vegas, I’m sure we’ll have a bunch of fun and plenty of stories to share when we get home. But for now, lets talk more about cupcakes. For these cupcakes, I used a classic chocolate cupcake recipe but I decided to try a new frosting recipe.
I used the new neon colored cupcake liners that have been in the grocery store this year. I love them because in general, the Wilton cupcake liners that come in a bag at stores like Michaels are cute, but they always seem to be a bit off in size. The cupcake liners that I order online are great – vibrant colors and the perfect size – but they’re a bit pricey. By default, I mostly use the classic pastel colored liners that come in the round plastic container, but recently, they’ve had these neon colored ones that are great. I can’t get enough of them!
This frosting has a great bakery-frosting flavor. It’s very sweet and everyone really enjoyed it. It had a decent amount of stiffness that was perfect for piping onto cupcakes as well. I will definitely be making this frosting again.
Dawn's Buttercream
Ingredients:
1 cup Crisco
1 pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons meringue powder
Directions:
Cream shortening, water and flavoring.
Add powdered sugar and meringue powder. Mix until blended.
Add additional water until you reach the desired consistency. If you want really white icing be sure to use a clear extract. Vanilla extract will make the icing off white.
Recipe from Cooking with Carrie










I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 






What a beautiful bundt cake!
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:47 pm
Thanks 🙂
I definitely don’t make bundt cakes enough given those attributes 🙂 this looks absolutely wonderful and I can imagine so many ways to change it up!
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:49 pm
Oh yea, you could definitely add some spices (i’m thinking cardamom or cinnamon), some extracts or oils, citrus zest, fresh fruit… You could really adapt this recipe however you want.
So I was just thinking I needed an easy bundt cake dessert to take along with a freezer meal I’m making for a new mom friend, and lo and behold, you post this. You just saved me an hour of searching through recipes (though now what will I do at work). I’m also excited to use the vanilla beans I bought and then never put in the vodka to make extract (hopefully they’re still usable).
I do have a question in all my rambling. You said to grease the bundt cake pan with butter, and I usually have the Pam for Baking on-hand. Do you think that butter works better in a bundt pan than the spray? Occasionally I have a heavier cake like this stick to the pan, and I’m wondering if it’s because I didn’t grease with butter.
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:52 pm
I’m sure your vanilla beans would still be usable, although I do recommend making that vanilla extract some time. It’s definitely worth the (minimal) effort.
I have made bundts using both butter or Pam for Baking. Using Pam is definitely easier, especially with all the curves in the bundt pan. Although 9 times out of 10, I use butter and spread it with my hands. It’s kind of fun. For this bundt, I used butter and it popped right out. Let me know how it goes if you use Pam.
The the look of the frosting on the cake – bundt cakes are my go to when I need to make a cake for the exact reasons you say, nice and easy.
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:53 pm
The frosting tastes even better than it looks. Man I wish I had a piece of this guy today…
Your cake looks stunning, I love the look of the texture and the vanilla bean glaze. You’re making me sad I don’t have bundt pan!
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:54 pm
You should definitely get one! A friend of mine gave me my pan almost two years ago for my birthday and I had to make room for it in our tiny Boston kitchen. It was worth the effort. Now that I have a bigger kitchen, space isn’t an issue, but I’m still so glad I have that pan.
I’ve been looking for a bundt cake recipe recently and my husband has been asking for (another) pound cake. THANK YOU!
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:54 pm
Glad I could help 🙂
Yesterday I found vanilla beans for CHEAP at the grocery store–but they refused to let me buy them because they were expired!! It was the saddest day. This bundt looks amazing. My only tangle with a bundt cake was when I tried to do the Pinterest thing where you put two together to make a pumpkin… frosting disaster. Oh well.
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:55 pm
WHAT?!? I’ve never heard of that. Oh I’ve seen that where you put two together to make a pumpkin. Never tried it myself though…
I understand your love for bundt cakes! i don’t own one and I’m so envious of all the wonderful looking bundt cakes out there. I pin all the recipes, yet I still haven’t bought myself a pan. That clearly needs to change soon!
beantownbaker — April 25th, 2013 @ 7:48 am
You should definitely get one! I got mine from a friend for my bday almost two years ago and I’m so happy she got it for me 🙂 A lot of people have commented that they don’t have a bundt pan. Maybe I should do a giveaway on here for one…
I love Bundt Cakes too. They are so easy and they end up looking fancy! With cream cheese it I bet it’s perfect!
beantownbaker — April 25th, 2013 @ 7:50 am
Aren’t bundts the best 🙂
Your bundt looks wonderful! I’m so glad you loved this recipe as much as I did! 🙂
beantownbaker — April 25th, 2013 @ 7:50 am
Me too! Thanks for posting it or I might not have found it!
I love bundt cakes 🙂 yours looks beautiful! I’ve got to try this recipe.
I have never made a bundt cake but this post makes me want to go out and by a bundt tin! A lovely and delicious looking cake 🙂
Update: I made this for my new mom friend and it turned out great. I used Pam on the bundt pan and the cake slid right out and was beautifully golden. Granted I sprayed GENEROUSLY, so that may have helped. The vanilla beans were also amazing in the glaze and I can’t wait to use them in more recipes!
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:03 am
Glad to hear it worked out for you!
I LOVE bundt cakes! This looks great!