I am sure you have heard that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I thought I would do my part and give you a pink cupcake recipe. But first a little awareness. You can find some Breast Cancer statistics here. Just a few that I thought were very interesting ~
* About 1 in 8 women in the United States (between 12 and 13%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
* About 70-80% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.
*About 39,840 women in the U.S. are expected to die in 2010 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1991. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
* Nearly 70% of all breast cancers are found through self-exams. If you don’t already know learn how to do a self exam here
So on to the recipe! Breast cancer awareness is all about thinking pink & my favorite pink food is cotton candy so I thought it was the prefect time for a Cotton Candy Cupcake. Well my recipe was a flop! They were a little dry and the icing was all wrong. I am not going to give up cotton candy cupcakes just yet, but the recipe is just not ready to share. Since I had already made up my mind to post a recipe I though instead of a so-so cupcake recipe I would just share my buttercream recipe. Many of you have been asking for it and it was a great last-minute substitution. In the meantime any of you dying for a Cotton Candy Cupcake you can find one here It is not the recipe I used, I was going for more of a melt in your mouth like the candy kind of recipe, but like I said it is still a work in progress. As for my buttercream recipe it is pretty fool-proof, very tasty and easy to get creative with so I hope you enjoy it!
Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
2 lbs. powdered sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened.
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp. almond extract
Instructions
Cream butter, shortening, and extracts until creamy and smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and water. Mix thoroughly on medium speed for hand mixers, low-speed for stand mixers, until smooth and creamy. Do not overmix or mix on high-speed.
Icing can be refrigerated for 2 weeks in an airtight container. Iced cake can sit at room temp. for 2-3 days.
*NOTE*
The best thing about this recipe is it is so easy to get creative with it. Just sub out the milk and extracts with the flavors you want. You can sub any flavored coffee creamers for the milk and any extract/liquor for the vanilla extract. An example would be to use lime juice instead of milk and 1Tbsp tequilla for the extract with 1/4 tsp orange extract for margarita buttercream. (If you don’t want the tequilla just leave it out and add a pinch of salt it will do the same thing) You could sub coffee, Kahlua, orange juice, apple juice, pomegranate juice… ~ just have fun with it.
Words of Wisdom…