sweet buttery cupcakes

As of now, we're still patiently waiting for the replacement part for our oven which broke a few weeks ago. The heating element suddenly stopped working. I noticed that it was taking a long time to reach the temperature setting. We called to have it repaired but found out that it would take awhile to get the part. Despite the problem, I refused to give up baking so I turned to our small toaster oven. It was challenging using it but it worked out just fine for what I needed to bake today.

Since it wasn't possible to bake a big cake in the toaster oven, I thought about doing a tower of cupcakes. Those cupcakes with mounds of buttercream frosting that are so in these days sounded so appealing. I didn't have a cupcake stand but stacking them on top of each other wasn't a bad idea after all. I just wish my cupcakes came out more even and uniform but it was tricky to even get them to bake right in the toaster oven :-) So this was the result of my cupcake project.The cupcakes were rich and the frosting was even richer but they satisfied my craving for sweet butter rich cake for now. 
SWEET BUTTERY CUPCAKES (adapted from Martha Stewart's Strawberry Cupcakes)

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/8 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs (separated)

12 fresh strawberries

Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Beat eggwhites with 1/8 cup sugar until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Beat softened butter, 1 cup sugar about 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and eggyolks and mix well. Alternately blend in flour mixture with the milk. Fold in beaten eggwhites. Use an ice cream scoop to fill the paper-lined muffin cups with the cupcake batter. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 20-25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes before frosting with buttercream or cream cheese frosting.

my simple birthday cupcake :-)