Homemade Cupcakes

Alyzabeth and I hadn't baked together in a couple of months, probably not since Christmas.
So somewhat impulsive and last minute, after church we found a couple of "perfect" vanilla cupcake recipes to try. This one is very basic with lots of vanilla extract which I have in plenty (from making my own). Our grown daughter has her own perfect recipe which calls for a vanilla bean which I didn't have one on hand; so I searched the internet to find a recipe that I had all the ingredients. We baked two pans of cupcakes and then headed out the door to AA's golf tournament at South Hampton. The frosting was made after we returned, again with ingredients we had on hand. I do like the taste of cocoa so made a basic butter and cocoa frosting. I should have taken a picture of us all eating the leftover frosting..... fast sugar high! All very yummy!

Someone please tell me how one does not make a mess sifting cocoa and confectionars sugar together? We had fine cocoa dust all over the kitchen! I guess that is just part of the fun (and not so much fun cleaning up!).
Next we will bake a vanilla cupcake with buttermilk in the recipe and compare. I can't wait until I perfect a chocolate, lemon, lime and coconut cupcake along with the appropriate frosting. We had fun and made a mess!