Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Happy birthday to my dad, Tracy! Unfortunately we are 1,800 miles apart so I made long distance cupcakes! Haha : ) The best part about these delicious cupcakes is that they’re full of flavor with only half the guilt! My boyfriend is diabetic so I thought I would try out Stevia, a zero calorie sugar substitute. For the cupcakes themselves, I was able to substitute half of the regular sugar to make them low-fat!

-Makes 12-15 cupcakes-

For the cupcakes you’ll need:

½ cup sugar

½ cup Stevia (sugar substitute)

2 eggs (room temperature)

1 stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup skim milk

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting you’ll need:

2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/3 cup strawberry preserves

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and eggs.

Slowly stir in salt, baking powder, flour, and milk. Add vanilla extract last and mix until all ingredients are well blended.

Distribute batter evenly among cupcake tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. While you’re waiting you can start on the frosting!

Let the muffin pan cool about 10 minutes. Pop cupcakes out and let them cool another 10-15 minutes.

If you’re doing the buttercream frosting the cooling part is very important! If you try to put the frosting on before the cupcakes have cooled, it’s going to melt right off! So crack a beer and relax for a bit ; )

Chop butter up into small chunks so it’s easier to whip together. Using a hand or an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy.