First day of Spring

And what a crappy day it was outside. The warm weather just puts everyone in a good mood, so I hope it arrives soon! Pippin went very well this weekend! I didn't hear one bad review. Although exhausted from the hectic schedule I've had recently I miss it already.
For Caroline's on Friday, I made these Pippin edition!:

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream
They might be one of my new favorites, I haven't decided yet. Everyone seemed to like them, I got really sweet reviews. My only issue what figuring how to get the seeds out of the vanilla bean (having never used one before). It was kind of a pain in the ass, but very worth it. You have to split the bean down the middle all the way, and the use a knife to scrape every tiny clump of seeds out. The pictures aren't the best because I was in a rush to get to Caroline's after the Friday show.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
3 cups baker’s (superfine) sugar
3 eggs
3 egg whites
3 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups milk
1 cup vegetable oil
3 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 vanillla bean

1.   Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with baking cups.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs/whites together until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. 
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. 
4. Add the flour mixture, milk, oil, and vanilla to the eggs. 
5. Split the vanilla bean from end to end and scrape the seeds out with a knife. Add to the mix and incorporate the ingredients together slowly, just until the batter is smooth. 
6. Fill each cup 2/3 full.

Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely while preparing the frosting.

Blackberry Buttercream
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
5 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup seedless blackberry preserves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Place the butter and cream cheese in a mixer bowl and whip together until creamy. 
2. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. When combined, add the blackberry preserves and the vanilla and mix well. 
3. Can be held in the refrigerator overnight and re-whipped prior to frosting the cupcakes.

Makes 3 dozen frosted cupcakes
Check these out to aid your baking:

The troublesome vanilla bean

 See the pretty little black flecks of vanilla bean?

 

If you saw Pippin, you'll understand my ducks. 

 

I made some minis too!