White Batter/Black Batter

June is my Birthday month (moody yet loyal Cancerians rule!), so it seems appropriate to honor a band that was born the same year as me: Saint Vitus. Their name was inspired by the Black Sabbath song "St.Vitus Dance."
The actual St. Vitus was a Sicilian saint that was martyred in the year 303. According to legend, Vitus was thrown into a cauldron of boiling tar and molten lead, yet he escaped completely unharmed. Vitus is the patron saint of entertainers and epileptics. He's also said to protect against animal attacks, lightning strikes, and oversleeping. Sweet!
The band Saint Vitus stands alongside Pentagram and Witchfinder General as one of the truly great, original doom metal bands.

Growing up, founding member and guitarist Dave Chandler was inspired to start a band by watching The Monkees. Not long after that, he heard Black Sabbath, and the rest is history.
In 1984 Saint Vitus was signed to SST records after Greg Ginn, Henry Rollins, and Chuck Dukowski saw them open for Overkill. They spent many years opening for Black Flag, and taking a lot of shit from punkers, but never compromising their style.
If I had to pick my favorite Saint Vitus record, I'd have to say it's a tie between Saint Vitus and Born Too Late. Both are classics, and both should be in your record collection. Oh! And don't forget Live. That's a fucking great record too!

To honor these awesome pioneers of doom, and a band that's been around as long as I have, I give you:

Saint Vitus:
White Batter/Black Batter 

Makes 24

 
Metal Constituents:


For the Vanilla Batter:

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup milk
• 1/4 cup white sanding sugar

For the Chocolate Batter:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup Black Cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup milk
• 1/4 cup black sanding sugar

 For the Vanilla Frosting:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Frosting:

• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons milk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

 
Merciless Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with baking cups, and set aside. 
2. To make the vanilla batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. 
6. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk. Begin and end with flour mixture. 
7. Fold in sanding sugar, and set vanilla batter aside.
8. To make the chocolate batter: Follow steps 1-7 again, only this time add Black Cocoa Powder to your flour mixture.
9. Fill baking cups with about 3 teaspoons of each batter. *I used these nifty Batter Babies to keep the 2 different batters separate. If you don't have Batter Babies, you can just carefully spoon both types of batter into each baking cup, side by side.
10. Bake for 22 - 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
11. Allow cakes to cool  in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
12. To make the vanilla frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
13. Add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. Set aside.
14. To make the chocolate frosting: In a microwave safe bowl, nuke chocolate chips for 30 seconds, then stir.
15. Continue microwaving at 15 second intervals, stirring each time until chips are melted and smooth. Set aside and allow to cool.
16. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth and creamy.
17. Add melted chocolate, and beat until just combined.
18. Add milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar, beat until well combined.
19. To frost your cupcakes with a vanilla & chocolate swirl, you'll need 3 piping bags. Fill one with vanilla frosting, one with chocolate frosting.
20. Cut the tips off your filled piping bags, and put both of them into a third piping bag that has been fitted with a star-shaped tip.
21. Do a few test squeezes to make sure both flavors are coming out evenly, then frost completely cooled cupcakes. If you need some helpful visual aids, Life is Sweets provides a nice tutorial here.
22. White Batter/Black Batter, which am I to choose?

Here's some classic footage of Saint Vitus playing "Saint Vitus" from 1986.
Also, I'm not completely sure, but at the beginning of this clip, I think Wino says "Alright... There's goats being sold over here."
That has to be the most metal merch of all time!

And here's "White Magic/Black Magic" to listen to while you're baking. Enjoy!