Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

There are two types of people in the world, those who eat the cupcake for the cake and those who eat the cupcake for the frosting. Until I came upon this tasty little cake I was definitely the later and now I am teetering on the edge of becoming a cake person! Yes, this vanilla bean cake is THAT good!

I came upon this combo while testing recipes for a baby shower that I am throwing for a friend, and fellow buttercream-lover, in a couple months. She is having a sweet little girl so I needed something sweet and PINK to bake! And I couldn't think of anything more delicious than the strawberry buttercream filling of our wedding cake which I've never been able to replicate. But with the new knowledge I learned from the oreo buttercream I recently posted about I knew what to look for in a good buttercream recipe (cooking egg whites with sugar and creaming them with butter, NO powdered sugar). Anyway, while searching for an acceptable strawberry buttercream I came across this vanilla bean cake recipe that sounded tempting. I did not try the strawberry buttercream that accompanies the cake recipe because it uses powdered sugar which makes buttercream sickeningly sweet in my opinion so I kept searching and found a Martha Stewart strawberry buttercream recipe that meet my approval.

Vanilla Bean Cake (did NOT use this icing recipe):

http://www.sophistimom.com/vanilla-bean-cupcakes-with-strawberry-buttercream/

Strawberry Buttercream:

http://www.marthastewart.com/314981/strawberry-buttercream

The cake is fluffy and moist, the kind of moist I've only previously achieved with store-bought cake mixes, and the vanilla flavor is incredible. The strawberry buttercream is slightly tart, very light and creamy, and tasted just like fresh, ripe, strawberries- just like our wedding cake! Even Sam, who is definitely not a cake (or frosting) person, loved them!