If you were to ask me the difference between what makes a yellow cake and a vanilla cake I would guess it has something to do with eggs.  Other than that I don’t know… What I do know is that these cakes are delicious and moist!  

After having a yellow cupcake with chocolate ganache last year in Napa at the famed Dean & DeLuca Market I went on a quest to make my own.  That desire was fueled even more at fourth of July when my strawberry cupcakes were snubbed by a potential suitor.  He informed that he really only like yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  I made these yummy cakes, tweeted a photo and never shared one!  I showed him ;)

I know I always tell you that THESE are the best cupcakes, but they can’t all the best. A lot of the time if I don’t particularly like a flavor then I don’t photograph it.  If I don’t photograph it then it won’t make it on here.  If it helps though, I’ve made these 3 times and that is the true way to know how much I really love a recipe - repetition. 

{For some reason I didn’t write down how many cupcakes this cake recipe makes, but from my photos I count 21 cupcakes.  If I were to guess I would say this should make at least two dozen.}

Yellow Cake

{via Mangio de Sola}

Ingredients:

• 6 oz (3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 14 oz (1 3/4 cup) superfine or regular granulated sugar (I used regular)
• 3 large, whole eggs (room temperature)
• 1 egg yolk (room temperature)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cake flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup half-n-half
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two pans with cupcake liners.

Cream the butter and sugar for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the eggs one at time, making sure the batter is well-blended before adding another egg.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flours, salt, and baking powder. In a liquid measuring cup, mix the half-n-half and extract. Pour in a 1/3rd of the dry and a 1/3rd of the wet ingredients and continue to alternate, ending with the flour mixture. The batter should be thick.

Scoop batter into the cupcake liners, I use an ice cream scoop and the cups are about 3/4 full.  Bake the batter for 17-20 minutes, depending on your oven.