White Cake (for Cupcakes)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups whole milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line three 12-cup muffin tins with baking cups.

2. Whisk together flours, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

3. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low.

4. Add eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. 

5. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour.

6. Fill each baking cup with 2 tablespoons batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks; let stand for 5 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to racks. Let cool completely.

Notes

I learned some "tricks" while making this recipe under Wendy's supervision:

   1. If you don't have cake flour, you can make some by removing 1 Tbsp of flour per cup and replacing it with 1 Tbsp of corn starch.

   2. It is important that some of the sugar melts into the butter before you add any other ingredients.  That is why it is so important to use softened butter.  Then, it is important to cream the butter and sugar for 3 minutes, a lot longer than you would think.  The mixture will look mixed after only a few seconds but it will not yet be creamed.  Creamed is when the sugar begins to melt into the butter and it looks different.

   3. Don't overmix the eggs.  That said, don't be afraid to completely mix them.  Just, watch it.  Overmixing the eggs is part of what causes a cake to fall.

   4. When adding the milk and flour, it is important to alternate them.  The milk will not mix well with the oil from the butter.  The flour helps with that.

   5. Check the cupcakes with a toothpick on each batch.  Don't just assume that each will take exactly the same amount of time.  Your oven is always changing temperature and the conditions are never exactly the same.

Source

Wendy Hallstrom