I was watching Live with Kelly (it’s so hard for me not to say Regis & Kelly!) on the DVR last week and I got SUPER excited when I saw Sophie and Katherine from the TLC show, DC Cupcakes. That is one my favorite shows and I just love the dynamic between the two sisters. I’ve haven’t gotten the chance to try one of their cupcakes in person, but when Kelly announced the recipe would be on the Live with Kelly website, I immediately jumped up and went to the computer to print it out. The next morning I actually woke up thinking about those cupcakes and what I should mix in them, so I knew I had to make them right away. The suspense of what they tasted like was killing me!
They listed several options for mix-ins, but I decided on mini chocolate chips, which worked beautifully. The cake was more dense than I expected. It had almost a pound cake like quality but a bit lighter. I really enjoyed it though. But the star of the show was definitely the Buttercream frosting. I could’ve eaten that with a big spatula right out of the mixer. It was so light and fluffy and not coarse and sugary. It is definitely going to be my new go-to buttercream frosting. It was simply AMAZING!!! Definitely make the frosting and the cupcakes were good too. Oh and I halved the recipe below and got 12 cupcakes. I will say I think next time I will fill the tins a little bit more and just do 10 or 11 cupcakes (or 22-23 for the full recipe) so they puff up a little bigger.
DC Cupcake’s Vanilla Cupcakes with Amazing Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Source: Georgetown Cupcake via Live with Kelly
Ingredients:
For the Cake:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
1/2 to 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
For the Frosting:
16 tbsp. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
Directions:
For the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners, set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vanilla, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated.
Reduce mixer speed to low and pour in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/3 of the milk mixture, mixing until combined. Then add another 1/3 of flour mixture, then 1/3 milk mixture. Add remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk mixture, beating until just incorporated.
Remove bowl from stand and stir in chocolate chips (start with 1/2 cup and add more if desired).
Spoon batter into cupcake tins using a large cookie scoop, filling about 2/3 full or a little more if you want them to puff up more. I would recommend just making 22-23 cupcakes so the cupcakes are a bit taller in size. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans on a wire rack.
For the Frosting:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and confectioner’s sugar. Beat for several minutes until creamy. Add in milk, vanilla & salt and continue to beat until frosting is light and fluffy and spreadable consistency. Spread icing on top of cooled cupcakes, or place in ziploc bag and cut the tip off and pipe onto cupcakes.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
These look good! My mother in law got me their Cupcake Diaries book for Christmas, and every cupcake in the book looks so good.
Oh how fun! I bet their book is great!
Pretty! Did you like the frosting? Seems like a lot of butter for just a batch. I’m still trying to find a yummy go to frosting.
The frosting was absolutely amazing. It’s my new go to buttercream. I was surprised at how light and fluffy it was and not gritty or sugary despite not having much milk. This recipe is for 22 to 24 cupcakes but I halved it.
I think I’m most excited about that buttercream frosting! I have yet to find one that I really love. Maybe this will be the one
I hope so!
I made these last night. I did not have any mini choc. chips so I chopped upped some Reese’s into the batter. Then with the buttercream (which is AMAZING) I put a few spoon fulls if peanut butter in….then topped frosted cupckaes with more choppped Reese’s. House smelled awesome,cupcakes tasted even better.
So glad you liked them and excited to know that reese’s worked great! I thought about doing that but went with the choc chips instead. And excited to try peanut butter in the frosting too! Thanks for letting me know that worked great!:)
Oh my… you have officially inspired me to bake cupcakes! I’m trying to avoid a lot of chocolate so it won’t trigger migraines and these look perfect! I don’t think I’ll miss chocolate at all!
I pray your migraines get better! Hope you like the cupcakes!
I love the swirl-shaped creamy tops of the cupcakes. So lovely.
Thank you so much!:)
Starting to experiment with this recipe. I am making a cake this time, with a hint of coffee and mixed in heath bar pieces…I’ll let you know how it turns out
That sounds fantastic! I’m intersted to see how it does as a whole cake. Let me know how it turns out!
Cake looked great. Taste was great. I didn’t have enough butter to make the buttercream so I just used cool-whip. I didn’t taste the coffee liked I had hoped so that is something to figure out. I still like the Reese’s cupcake better. Both the cake and frosting recipe are great. Thank you so much for posting. I am new, loyal follower
So glad it turned out great as a cake! Great idea to use cool whip for the topping! Thanks so much for reading!:)
Just a quick question…. The recipe calls for baking powder, but the instructions read baking soda. Not sure which to use, but just cause it makes sence, I’m gonna use the powder. Just curious!
opps! It is supposed to be baking powder. I will fix that now. Thanks for letting me know!:)
I made a half batch of these cupcakes and they were delish! Thanks for posting the recipe! Thank you for your prayers, too, you are always so sweet.
So glad you liked them! And I hope things are going better!:)
When I made my batter, it was REALLY thick. Is it supposed to be like that? I just made these cupcakes (without the frosting) but in the inside of the cupcakes, it was sort of spongy like(but it tasted SO GOOD with the chocolate chips). Is that normal or did I do something wrong? :/ Also, my cupcakes didn’t turn brown but it still had a crust on it. Is that normal? But it was cooked perfectly though
) thanks for the recipe! 
The batter is pretty thick and the cake consistency is more like a pound cake. And as long as they are cooked through its totally fine of they weren’t super golden. Glad you enjoyed them!