Remember when a few weeks ago I said that I made two lemon meringue pies in order to taste test two recipes and see which one won?  Well, I did it again.  I had three Snickerdoodle Cupcake recipes sitting around and had been procrastinating for at least a year.  So yesterday I finally sifted through the recipes and made a game plan.  Fortunately, two of them were pretty much identical for the cake, so I only made two different cupcakes.  I did, however, make three frostings.  It was easier than I thought it would be, and now I get to throw away the two “loser” recipes (Yeah, I’m talking to you Martha Stewart!).  Seriously, I love to throw things out.  It is a weird quirk of mine.

The winning recipe has a great cinnamon cake and the icing is a cinnamon vanilla bean buttercream.  I think they’ll be a hit!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
with Cinnamon Vanilla Bean Buttercream

for the cake:
3 c cake flour
1 T ground cinnamon
1 t baking powder
¾ t baking soda
½  t salt
1 ½ c (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 t vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
extra cinnamon sugar for dusting

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• With mixer, combine the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
•  Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
• Fill each cupcake liner two-thirds full. Sprinkle some of the cinnamon sugar topping over the batter.
• Bake cupcakes for 20 minutes, or until the top springs back after lightly pressed.  Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove cupcakes and cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

for the frosting:
4 c powdered sugar
1 ½ c (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ t vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
Pinch of salt
¼ t cinnamon
extra cinnamon sugar for dusting

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Add vanilla extract, vanilla beans, salt, and cinnamon and beat until combined. Add confectioner’s sugar, a half cup at a time, beating until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
• Frost and dust with cinnamon sugar as desired.