These cute and yummy vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting would be a perfect little gift to give to your friends or that special someone to let them know you are thinking about them on Valentine’s day! The ingredients needed for this recipe are not hard to find, most are common items that can be found in your kitchen.

To make the cupcakes you will need:

• cupcake pan liners
• sprinkles, small red candies, gumdrops, etc.
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line up your cupcake pan with cute Valentine’s Day paper liners. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together with a whisk. Cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy in another mixing bowl, it should take about 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and mix remembering to scrape down the sides of bowl. Beat in vanilla.
2. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk, making sure to begin and end with flour. Make sure that the batter is thoroughly mixed and divide the batter evenly to fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake the cupcakes on the center rack of the oven for about 20 minutes. Transfer the baked cupcakes to a wire rack and let them cool completely before icing and decorating.

While the cupcakes cool, start making the super simple vanilla buttercream frosting! The ingredients needed are:

• ½ cup butter softened
• 4  ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5-6 tablespoons 2% milk

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until it is smooth and creamy. When smooth, beat in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Add enough milk until you reach the desired consistency of the frosting. To add a little splash of color, simply put drops of food coloring until desired shade.

After making the frosting, your cupcakes should be ready to decorate! Frost the top of the cupcakes and decorate them to your likings. Make X’s and O’s or hearts or anything valentines! Pack in a box and they are ready to go the next day!

Thanks to marthastewart.com and tasteofhome.com for these yummy recipes.