Easter themed Vanilla cupcakes

Ok so I have lost about 5 pounds today. Its about time too after all this baking I have been eating!  I had a bunch of kids over for an easter egg hunt.  Being the ever inspired baker that I am I decided that I would offer the kids cupcakes that I was making for this week as well as attempt to bake a cake all before the kids and their mums arrived.  Now this would have been ok had the house not also have been a disaster. So about a half hour before they arrived I was sprinting around the house picking up clothes, toys, sweeping and cleaning up my ever messy kitchen!  When everyone arrived I was still in my walking clothes from this morning (which is a good thing because I was sweating like crazy after my cleaning workout) and my daughter was still not quite dressed.  It took me awhile to feel composed but once I did it was a great morning watching the kids hunt for easter eggs and enjoy their yummy cupcakes.

I am on the hunt for the perfect vanilla cupcake.  About four years ago I was in New York city and my husband and I walked past a bakery that had a line down the road and around the block.  I was intrigued by what was so popular about this place.  I later came to find out that it was a shop solely devoted to cupcakes called Magnolia Bakery.  A friend of mine in London introduced me to the flavors of this cupcake shop with her baking.  I think I still have dreams about her cupcakes and I don't know that mine will ever taste as good as hers! So in light of this I decided the best place to start my search for the perfect vanilla cupcake was from a recipe from Magnolia Bakery.

I was pretty happy with the recipe and it definitely got a thumbs up from the man but I am going to keep testing different recipes mainly to compare.  Topped with my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe I think these cupcakes may be hard to beat.

I made this weeks cupcakes in an easter theme topped with frosting made to look like grass and a chocolate shortbread biscuit on top.  The cupcakes were nominated to go to a mother of three kids who needed a bit of brightness added to her week.  If you know anyone who needs their day brightened send me an email to nominate them to mrswoolleyscakes@gmail.co.nz

The recipe for Magnolia's Vanilla cupcakes can be found at Foodnetwork.com:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/magnolias-vanilla-cupcake-recipe/index.html