Moist Yellow Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting

(12 standard cupcakes)

I have been experimenting a bit with my cupcake recipe to try to get it closer to the cupcakes which are sold at Whole Foods. I like their cupcakes because they seem very moist to me, but I suspect that has a lot to do with the amount of oil in them. My first batch turned out closer to theirs, but I wanted to try them with less oil.

I made a few more adjustments to my recipe the second time around; a bit less oil than the previous batch, more sugar (yikes), a mixture of flours, and I liked the results. The cupcakes do seem moister to me, and they aren't as oily as those at Whole Foods - however, they also don't keep for a week and are best eaten within a day or two.

What I found interesting with this experiment, was the change in texture, (it seemed moister) when I melted and browned the butter first, rather than beating it with sugar until fluffy.

Not too long ago I was grocery shopping with a friend who managed to get the last banana cake with browned butter frosting. She told me later the frosting was "divine", so I've had browned butter frosting on the brain since then. I made some for these cupcakes.

cupcake batter
1 cup unsalted butter, (half of this amount will be used in the frosting)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup unbleached flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12 muffin tin with baking papers.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and cook until lightly browned. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Pour 1/2 cup butter into a bowl, reserving the other half for the frosting. Add the canola oil, sugar and buttermilk, then whisk them until well combined.  Whisk in one egg at a time.

Whisk in the vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk in the flours until they are well combined.

Spoon/pour the batter, dividing equally among the 12 lined baking cups. Bake for about 13-16 minutes or until done. Be careful not to over-bake them; I began to watch them closely after 13 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool.

frosting
1/2 cup browned butter, (the reserved amount from earlier)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 - 2 1/2 cups icing sugar

Beat the butter, sour cream, vanilla extract and 2 cups icing sugar, together in a bowl. Keep adding more icing sugar until the frosting has the right consistency. Decorate the cooled cupcakes.