Magnolia Bakery Cupcakes...what Do You Think?
Decorating By cindww Updated 13 Jun 2006 , 2:43am by JulieB
Hey all!
My husband called yesterday and told me that he walked around the block from his new offices and there was the Magnolia Bakery. I begged him to bring me one of their famous cupcakes. The buttercream was almost identical in taste to what I use. The cake I thought was a bit on the dry side, definitely denser in texture to what I make. They loaded on the buttercream! Overall, not bad and certainly a lot better that what I get at local bakery..they all use that greasy frosting.
Has anyone else had them and what was your opinion?
Now, I've got to beg him to go to Cupcake Cafe next!
Cindy
Found the recipe for the cupcakes and frosting.
The Magnolia Bakery Cupcake Recipe
Their cupcake recipe is listed in an old newspaper review hanging on a bakery wall. The recipe is also available in The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook (note 2)
Cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened.
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ cup self-rising flour
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 cups confectionary sugar
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
I didnt copy the entire recipe, just the ingredient list; sorry didnt have time. But if you know how to bake cupcakes, you can probably make these easily. It looks like a standard recipe. Tips: Bake at 350 degrees. Use a few drops food coloring for pastel colored frosting.
Thanks for posting the recipe, though!
I would think the denseness comes from a lack of raising agent - there's only 1 1/2c self-raising flour in there and nothing else to make them rise. I'm betting that if you swapped the plain flour to all self-raising, they'd be lighter in texture and probably less dry. I might just give that a try next time I need to make cupcakes!
I have this on my list of things to try, #120, lol. My friend lives in New York and she was walking by a bakery where people were lined up around the block, said walking by you could smell the delicious baked goods. So, she decided to see what all the hub-bub was about and ordered a vanilla cupcake. She said it was the best cupcake ever. I asked what was the bakery and she said Magnolia Bakery.
I have heard from people who have made this recipe and who have actually tasted one of their cupcakes say the recipes in their book are not the same. I have no idea if this is true as one person baking a product will taste totally different from someone else's, due to oven temps, baking times, etc.
I will have to make these soon just to see for myself, then make a visit to New York. 
Here are a few more of their recipes, including their all-butter buttercream;
http://www.recipelink.com/cookbooks/2005/0743246616_2.html
Thanks for posting this site, I'm ordering the book!
I've had the cupcakes at Magnolia on several occasions. They're pretty good, but definitely over-hyped. It's just a basic vanilla (or chocolate)cake with simple confectioner's sugar frosting. I think the reason people like them so much is that, due to immense demand at the shop, they're constantly turning them out and you're very likely to get one that's still warm. And who doesn't like a still-warm cupcake?
I've also tried their basic cupcake recipe at home. It makes a very dense, heavy vanilla cake with a thick, sweet frosting. Some people raved about the cupcakes; others thought they were too sweet. (Then again, when DON'T you get that response when feeding cake to a group?) For the record, I have a pretty major sweet tooth and still managed to get a bit of a sugar buzz from them.
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