Vanilla Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting

Makes about two dozen good sized cupcakes. The basic recipe came from a friend and I tweaked it, the original source is unknown. 

1 3/4 cups  King Arthurs cake flour
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, chopped into fairly small chunks
4 large eggs (at room temperature)
1 cup milk (not skim)
1 teaspoon Penzey's Mexican Vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 325° With an electric mixer with a paddle attachment,combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix on low speed until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl down with a spatula as it mixes. Add butter pieces, mixing until just coated with flour.

In a small bowl mix together the liquids, eggs, milk, Penzey's vanilla and almond extract. Whisk together eggs, Set your mixer down to medium and add wet ingredients in 4 equal parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated.  But do NOT overbeat!.

Divide batter evenly among two cupcake pans, using the little paper liners if you like.  Fill each about 2/3 full,. Bake, rotating pan halfway 17-21 minutes, inserting a toothpick into one in the center at about 19 minutes.  If it comes out clean, it's done 

Unless you have a really big oven, you'll have to cook one pan at a time to do the turning, but it does make them cook nice and evenly.

Cool on a wire rack and frost when cool. Top with crumbled Cadbury Flake chocolate, or shaved chocolate of your choice.

Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting

1/2 pk (11.5-oz) Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips (NOT semisweet chips)
3 tb unsalted butter; room remperature
1 tb Frangelica (hazelnut flavored liquor)
2 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
small drop of Penzey's  Mexican vanilla
1/3 cup cream

Carefully melt the chips in a microwave or over a pot of simmering water, set aside while you mix up the rest and set aside; In a large bowl, combine butter and Frangelica (replacing with a teaspoon of vanilla if making these for the kids), and a drop of vanilla and beat it well with a hand mixer. Carefully blend in the melted morsels, alternating with powdered sugar and heavy cream. It makes a couple of cups of frosting.