The search for best vanilla cupcake

For the longest time, I had been using Amy Sedaris' vanilla cupcake recipe (google it and it shows up). It was said that her cupcakes were voted No. 2 in NYC. Now, I am oceans away from NYC, so I don't know. But I think their tastebuds certainly differ from tastebuds here.

It was indeed not bad, don't get me wrong. But not as good as I would have expected either. 

It was a little too dense and too sweet for me. Still, other than tweaking the sweetness, I stuck with the recipe for a while. While looking and finding time to try some others. 

Then there was a day when I was feeling less lazy, I decided to try the Planet Cakes recipe. Actually it was because I borrowed their cupcakes book from the library and my loan was overdue, but I was still clinging on to it, reluctant to return it even though the library was increasing my fine by the day. But that is me. When I borrow a book, it usually sits somewhere for 1.5 weeks. Then 2 days before the due date, I scramble to finish reading it. 

So, when I finally decided to return it (the library sent me an email with "Final Reminder" as subject), I thought I'd better do something useful with it, at least to feel a little more justified in paying the fine.

I was glad I did.

The vanilla cupcake turned out better than the Amy Sedaris version, at least it was to me. 

It was not that dense, not that sweet. It came out nice with a small dome, perfect for decoration or even naked.

I had some IMBC (italian meringue buttercream, if you really need me to type it out. It's a handful, but just this time ok) on hand and made a few swirls and voila! Out came a few sweet little fellows staring at me and saying "eat me!". Sure I will! :)

It's a good recipe to keep so I am leaving it HERE. But for me, the perfect vanilla cupcake (in my mind) has not appeared. So the search continues.