Buttermilk Cupcakes Nabbed For Impersonating Pralines!

Several very nice...but plain...buttermilk cupcakes met up with Miss Praline Frosting and decided they would rather live their short lives as pralines...and so they did...have short lives, I mean!

Okay...for some reason I've been obsessing about buttermilk cupcakes ever since I bought this cookbook called Sweets "Soul Food Desserts and Memories"...by Patty Pinner. It has the most awesome recipes and there is one for Buttermilk Pie...in fact, the recipe is called Big Mama's Buttermilk Pie. WOW! It sounds so good, but I don't make pie so looked for a buttermilk cupcake or cake recipe. I found one and decided to try experiment I had read about. Instead of following the directions for the recipe, I gathered all the ingredients listed and put them all in a mixing bowl at the same time and mixed them up...all at the same time! Then I poured the batter into the liners like I always do, put them in the oven, and waited to see how they would turn out!

Well...they actually turned out awesome! Very moist and vanilla-like. But, the cupcakes faded away when the frosting was put on them...which turned out to be a great way to eat pralines! But, the good thing is that the frosting had absolutely no competition from the frosting, but it also didn't fight with it. Last week when we tasted the Cakelove cupcakes, I noted that the frosting was great but the cupcakes weren't...well, this cupcake is great but just adds texture for the frosting, especially is you like pralines, which, of course, Layla does!

I slathered the frosting on these babies. On a few, I first put a layer of frosting and then a layer of coarsely chopped pecans and then another layer of frosting. Yikes! Afterwards...I'm not proud of this mind you...we all ate the left over frosting directly from the bowl and forgot about the cupcake...I better give you guys the recipe now...

Buttermilk Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes

4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups cake flour (flour should be sifted before measuring out 2 cups)
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put liners in cupcake pans.

[Note: This is the point where I put all these items into one bowl...I did not follow these directions for my cupcakes]

In a small bowl lightly combine the yolks, one 1/4 of the buttermilk and the vanilla

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients, beating with a paddle on low speed for about 20 seconds, just to combine.

Cut the butter into pieces, add to the flour along with the remaining buttermilk. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are moist, and then increase the speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes until well combined.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg mixture in three batches, beating well after each addition until smooth.

Scrape down the sides and beat for 30 seconds on medium high.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, Remove from cupcake pans and let cool for another 10 minutes before frosting.

Pecan Praline Frosting
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups confectioners sugar
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Put brown sugar and heavy cream in saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, and cook 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Set aside to cool so that is still warm, but do not stir while it is cooling.

Pour frosting into a mixing bowl, add confectioners sugar, about a 1/2 cup at a time, until you have spreading consistency. If you want , you can fold in chopped nuts, or put them on top of the cupcakes after you frost. If your frosting begins to harden, dip spatula into warm water to make frosting easier to spread.

Rock On!