Tried to bake Magnolia's Vanilla cupcake!

My challenge for becoming a better baker is continuing. This time, I tried American favorite, Cupcake! When I think about Cupcake, I think about Magnolia bakery. (Even though I always get Banana pudding there and never tried their cupcakes!) Click here for the precious entry about Magnolia Bakery.

Since I borrowed this Magnolia Bakery recipe book from the library the other day, I decided to try their Vanilla cupcake.

The recipe was for 24 cupcakes so I reduced it to 12 cupcakes.

I used Martha Steward cup cake wrappers and some disney princess one. 

Cake came out pretty good. 

After cooling the cake, you need to top them with some icing. 

This icing was the tricky part for me. Since I never really made icing before (maybe once), I did not really know what consistency I should look for. I added some red coloring becuase I wanted to make it pink. The color was good but the icing was bit too shiny and it does not look smooth. It looks like it is separated like curdled or something. I wonder why. Is it because I used 2% milk? Well, Icing is my challenge for the next time. 

OK. Let's eat. Well, it was good but it was super sweet! The cupcake itself is already pretty sweet but with the icing it is almost too sweet for me. The cupcake was very moist and really good. I just need to improve making of icing and also I need to be a better decorator. Also, I will reduce the amount of sugar next time. 

Even though it was super sweet, it tasted pretty good so I brought some to my next door neighbor.  She said she loves sweets so she doesn't mind the extra sweetness. I am so happy that my neighbor is always happy to eat some sweet which I made.  She gave me lots of compliment. She is really nice. 

I guess I still have a long way to go to be a good baker but I will keep on trying!                                                   

Here is the book I used to make this cupcake!