Honey Cupcakes

Time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal.  This month I was assigned the blog Jenny's Cookbook.  I immediately went to see what dessert recipes were on her blog, because I love any excuse to bake and especially cupcakes.  I was so happy when I saw these Honey Cupcakes, as I had recently bought some adorable sugar bee cake decorations at bake a cake, which is my favourite specialty baking store in Houston.  I had no idea what I was going to make with these cute little decorations, but I just knew I had to have them, so finding a honey cupcake recipe was just perfect.  I did decide to make my favourite vanilla bean cream cheese frosting for these cupcakes rather than Jenny's recipe, although I am sure that either one would be great with these cupcakes.

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 8oz  package cream cheese
Seeds from 1 plumped vanilla bean (vanilla beans plumped in rum for at least 2 weeks)
2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp honey

Preheat  oven to 350 and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.

Mix together the buttermilk, honey and vanilla and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.   Add the eggs one at a time.  

Add a third of the flour to the mixer and combine, followed by half of the buttermilk mixture, half of the remaining flour, followed by the last of the buttermilk and remaining flour, beat just until combined.

Fill the cupcake liners two thirds full and bake for 18 minutes, or until cooked through.

To make the cream cheese frosting in the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla, honey and icing sugar and beat for 3 minutes, until thick and fluffy.

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