Vanilla M&M cupcakes with chocolate buttercream

Never fear, I'll be featuring some more cupcakes inspired by ice cream soon.  First, however, I wanted to share a simple and tasty cupcake I whipped up the same night that I made those lemon-blackberry cupcakes.  I was obviously in a Bake It in a Cake mood that night (as you can tell, I'm more than a little obsessed with that  blog).  I wanted to do a kid-friendly batch of cupcakes, and I had some extra M&Ms on hand (meaning I purchased a bulk bag of them at Costco for some reason and seriously needed to start using them).  Feel free to modify based on whatever candy is handy. (Unintentional rhyme!)  Thus, the following creation was born...

The cupcakes are vanilla - I used this recipe for the famous cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (courtesy of YumSugar).  I cannot rave enough about this recipe... the cupcakes were absolutely delicious and perfectly moist.  You simply must give these a try.  

I'm looking forward to adapting this recipe for years to come - the vanilla cupcakes would be the perfect base for a variety of frosting flavors, and I'm hoping to try some different flavor combinations in the cupcake batter as well.  Yum.  

(As usual, I was out of something.  This time, it was cake flour.  No problem... time to play culinary MacGyver again.  If you find yourself without cake flour, don't panic - you can make a quick substitution using all-purpose flour and cornstarch.)

Anyway, after enjoying far too much of the batter, I eventually prepared the cupcakes for baking.  I filled the cupcake liners a little over halfway full and decided to throw a few M&Ms in the mix for a fun surprise.

After that, I covered the M&Ms with some more batter and popped these babies in the oven.  While they were cooking, I made some chocolate buttercream (recipe courtesy of Brown Eyed Baker).  This frosting was light and creamy... the perfect companion to the vanilla cupcakes.

I piped the frosting on and topped the cupcakes with a few M&Ms.  These were a big hit with the kids (and some grown-up kids) at the barbecue I attended the next day.  If you're looking for a simple treat, you can't go wrong with these. 

Until next time...