Can you freeze cupcake batter and still have good cupcakes? YES!!!

I ran a little experiment regarding freezing cupcake batter and it totally worked! I have heard a lot of different things about whether or not the cupcakes would look or (more importantly) taste as good after freezing the batter so I set out to find the truth! 

This experiment actually started off as an accident. I was making a half batch of chocolate cupcakes for a party and ended up forgetting to half one of the ingredients. So rather than starting over, I just made a whole batch. You can never have too many cupcakes right??

I baked up half of the batter that night for the party and poured the other half in to a large baggie and popped it into the freezer. 

Then, about 3 weeks later, I defrosted the batter and baked some cupcakes. The cupcakes in the picture below were made from frozen batter and don't they look wonderful?!

Then I whipped up some vanilla icing and dug in! They tasted just as wonderful as usual! 

Now here is the tip: If you are really busy, make your cake batter ahead of time and freeze it until you need it! Just defrost the batter overnight, or while you are at work, and you can have cupcakes made from scratch any day of the week!

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Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Icing

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake:

• 2 cups SUGAR
• 1 & 3/4 cup FLOUR
• 3/4 cup COCOA POWDER
• 1 & 1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1 & 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1 tsp SALT
• 2 EGGS
• 1 cup MILK
• 1/2 cup VEGETABLE OIL
• 2 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
• 1 cup BOILING WATER

Vanilla Icing:

• 2 cup SHORTENING 
• 8 cup POWDERED SUGAR
• 0.5 tsp SALT
• 2 tsp VANILLA
• 6 oz. HEAVY CREAM

Directions:

Chocolate Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and coating three 8 inch baking dishes in nonstick cooking spray and then flour to make the cake easier to remove from the dish after baking. 
2. In an electric mixer combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
3. Add the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and the boiling water making sure each ingredient is incorporated before adding the next.

• If you are making a cake, divide the batter equally into the three baking dishes and bake for 30-35 minutes.  Bake until you can insert a toothpick and have it come out clean. Let the cakes cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the baking dishes. 

     OR

• If you are making cupcakes with the batter, bake them for 15-18 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and have it come out clean.

Vanilla Icing:

1. Cream the shortening in an electric mixer until it is fluffy. 
2. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. 
3. Add the salt, vanilla, and cream. Mix until well combined. 
4. If it is too thick add more cream, if it is too thin add more powdered sugar.

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