Good afternoon! Wowza, another afternoon post!  My earlier post about my doctor’s appointment seems so negative and sad, and I’m actually in a pretty great mood — it is FRIDAY, after all!  🙂

I’m leaving for a potluck at Meghann’s house in a few hours and I’m in charge of dessert, so around 3 PM, I made cupcakes — my favorite thing in the whole world to bake!

I must admit that I cheated a little bit on these cupcakes — I used a Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix.  I just didn’t feel like making the cupcakes from scratch….

But I did make homemade icing!  The key to homemade icing is you MUST use butter AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.  You have to plan ahead and let the butter sit out for 2 hours or so… melting in the microwave won’t work (trust me, I’ve tried).

Homemade Vanilla Icing

Ingredients:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons skim milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

• Using an electric mixer, cream the butter.
• Slowly add the sugar, beating thoroughly.
• Add in the milk and vanilla.
• Beat mix for at least 5 minutes (the longer, the better).  Add more powdered sugar if necessary!
• Slather on cupcakes, cake, fingers, whatever– enjoy!

Health food, this is not. 🙂  But it is very delicious!  I taste tested 1/2 a cupcake after I iced them.

And, earlier… I had yogurt + granola while browsing my cupcake and brownie books.

Why Not Box Mixes?

You may be wondering why I didn’t use a box mix or a pre-made icing.  First of all, all box mixes and icings in the non-organic aisle contain trans fat.  Secondly, they contain LOADS of food additives, preservatives, and other toxic stuff.  For example….

Pillsbury Moist Supreme Reduced Sugar Devil’s Food Cake Mix

Ingredients: ENRICHED BLEACHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), MALTODEXTRIN, SUGAR, MALTITOL, WHEAT STARCH, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, BAKING POWDER (BAKING SODA, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE) CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF PROPYLENE GLYCOL MONOESTERS, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SALT, CELLULOSE, MONO- AND DI-GLYCERIDES, CORN STARCH, CELLULOSE GUM, XANTHAN GUM, POLYSORBATE 60, SUCRALOSE (NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENER), COLORED WITH RED 40, TBHQ AND CITRIC ACID (ANTIOXIDENTS), SOY LECITHIN.

That’s a long list of food additives, and I only highlighted the trans fat, artificial sweeteners, and artificial colors! Eck! 

On the other hand, here’s the ingredients in the Bob’s Red Mill Chocolate Cake Mix:

Ingredients: evaporated cane juice sugar, unsweetened cocoa, garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, whole grain white sorghum flour, fava bean flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, sea salt, cream of tartar.

That I can live with!  Enjoy your afternoon and see you for dinner!