{Day Seven} 12 Days of Cupcakes - French Vanilla Mousse Cupcakes

 Vanilla cupcakes are the cupcakes I tend to make the most.  I'm not sure what makes people always want them - I guess you can't go wrong with vanilla.  When I make Vanilla layer cakes I like to fill them with a French Vanilla Mousse Filling.  I wanted to try out filling my vanilla cupcakes with the mousse to see how they would come out, and as it stands, I really liked them.

This mousse is a simple pantry shortcut recipe.  Using instant pudding, instant flavored coffee and whipped cream, you can have a very delicious and easy to make mousse.

French Vanilla Mousse Cupcakes

Vanilla Mousse

Ingredients: 

1 pkg. Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1/4 cup International Delight French Vanilla Cafe

2 Cups Cold Milk

1 Cup Cool Whip or Whipped Cream

To Make:

Mix instant pudding mix with French Vanilla Cafe until combined.  Gradually add milk to the pudding mix while stirring, about two minutes.  Mixture will thicken upon standing.  Fold in whipped topping until well combined.  Refrigerate for one hour.

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Vanilla Cupcakes:

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups cake flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners.

2. In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined.

3. Add cubed butter, mixing until coated with flour.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients in 3 parts to the dry ingredients - scrape dowl sides of bowl before adding more of the mixture.

5. Pour batter into the liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 10 minutes then rotate the pan; bake for another 8-10 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.

7. Once cooled, using a small ice cream scooper or melon baller to remove cake center to create a hole to fill in with the Mousse. Reserve cake pieces.  Using about 2 cups of the mousse add filling to cupcake centers.  Add cake pieces back to top of cupcake to top off.

8. Frost or pipe each cupcake with remainingVanilla Mousse.  Refrigerate if not consuming immediately.