Celebrating with cupcakes

Emma started at Pied Piper Preschool in Walnut Creek nearly two years ago. Our days at our beloved co-op are nearing an end. When we started the selection process in early 2007, Pied Piper wasn't even on our radar. It was far from our house, and I wasn't really hip on the parent-participation stuff.

Emma and I toured several preschools back then, some of them cooperatives, and all of them had their pluses and minuses. When it came time to pick, Aaron and I were sort of stuck. But Emma eventually made the decision for us -- Pied Piper was the one we couldn't tear her away from. So I rethought my parent-participation hang-ups and enrolled her.

Pied Piper has been an incredible school from Day 1. We adore her teachers, and we think the world of her classmates and their parents. I even found that I liked helping in class.

One part of the co-oping is fundraising. Each family has to contribute so much toward the fundraising efforts. The parents who coordinate the efforts usually make it fairly easy, with family dinners and carnivals, among other events. The spring carnival is our last opportunity to get all of our fundraising hours in for the year. One of the options was to bake cupcakes. Aaron jumped on it right away, and told me that we (read: me) would need to bake 16 for the event. I was thrilled to do it -- and my inner foodie refused to let me get a cake mix. Only the best for these kids, I thought.

I found my recipe, and the first batch just came out of the oven. They are indeed delicious. I only hope these little ones stop to actually taste the cake beneath the icing.

All of us at our house are sad to see our days at Pied Piper come to an end. For me, the last few weeks of school are like cupcakes after a really fantastic dinner -- a sweet ending to a wonderful experience I'll never forget.

This recipe is from "The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook."

Easy yellow cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups sugar
12 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two muffin pans with cupcake liners. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a large bowl; set aside.

Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in another large bowl. Slowly whisk in the sugar until combined. Whisk in the melted butter in three additions until completely combined. Whisk in the buttermilk.

Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the batter and whisk it in (a few streaks of flour should remain). Repeat twice with the remaining flour mixture and continue to whisk the batter gently until most of the lumps are gone. Do not overmix!

Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 18 to 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pans on wire racks for 5 minutes. Remove from the pans and let cool completely on the racks before frosting, about 1 hour.

The icing recipe is, surprisingly enough, from the back of the C&H powdered sugar box. It's the easiest recipe I've ever found, and it really is delicious.

1 lb. box powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 stick butter, softened

Add sugar, milk, vanilla and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat for 2 minutes, scraping bowl often. For thinner consistency, add a little more milk, a little at a time. Frosts one 8-inch, 2-layer cake or 24 cupcakes.

For chocolate icing, add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and beat an extra minute. For lemon icing, replace the milk with 1/4 cup lemon juice and add 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest. For orange icing, replace the milk with 1/4 cup orange juice and add 1 tsp. finely grated orange zest. For sour cream tang, add 3 tbsp. sour cream and beat an extra minute.

Cook's notes: I often prefer almond-flavored icing. To do that, omit vanilla extract and add 1/2 tsp. almond extract.