A Traditional Farm Life
By Shasta Hamilton
Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends! We’ve been enjoying unseasonably cool
weather for August in Kansas this week.
Anything under 100 degrees this time of year definitely makes us count
our blessings.
We are also counting cupcakes these days. I’ll be helping my oldest daughter this week
and next with an order for 20 DOZEN cupcakes.
You read it right, 240 homemade cupcakes for some wonderful folks we met
through our restaurant. Our friends are
celebrating the 40th anniversary of their farm, and decided the
portable nature of cupcakes was just the thing for their big upcoming
celebration.
Never ones to take the easy way out, we’ll be making all of
these cupcakes from scratch, 4 dozen at a time.
We’ll cool them and freeze them, frosting them when party time
approaches.
Why not use a mix?
Have you ever tasted a homemade cupcake? It’s a little more trouble while standing at
the mixer, but what comes from the bowl sure beats what comes from a box—if
everything goes right. If it doesn’t,
well . . .
We enjoy the convenience of boxed cake mixes from time to
time, and their foolproof nature speaks volumes, particularly for the beginning
baker.
However, if you’re ready to take a few extra minutes with
some simple ingredients you probably already have on hand, prepare yourself for
something extraordinary.
A word of caution, however, friends. Following each step of the recipe is critical
to achieving a light cake with an even crumb.
Needless to say, I’m speaking here directly from humbling experience.
When baking the “cupcake trials” of this recipe here in The
Buggy Stop Test Kitchen last week, we made the same Yellow Butter Cake
recipe two different ways. First, we
followed the directions to the letter, creaming the butter and sugar, adding
eggs one at a time, etc. After getting
the first batch in the oven, we mixed up the second recipe commercial cake-mix
style, adding all the ingredients to the mixing bowl at one time and beating
for 2 minutes.
Alas, instead of triumphantly introducing an easier
foolproof method, I became the fool instead.
My cake-mix version was a distant second in taste, texture
and crumb. While the taste was somewhat
similar, the texture was very dense which caused it to taste “doughy” and
underdone. My cake-mix version also had
an unusual dome in the center while the traditionally made cake was flat—perfect
for icing a two-layer cake.
A homemade yellow butter cake will never have the same
feather light, spongy “Twinkie” texture a commercially prepared yellow cake mix
can give you. It’s completely
different. Expect something more
substantial, more like pound cake (a close cousin of butter cake, by the way).
The final thing we’ve learned in the Test Kitchen is to not
over bake your homemade cake. Our greatest difficulty so far has been finding
that “sweet spot” when the cupcakes are done—but not too done.
Just as with a commercial mix, the top of the cake should be
dry to the touch and spring back when lightly touched. A toothpick inserted near the center should
come out clean. Cool completely before
frosting, preferably with homemade buttercream frosting. Be sure to serve at room temperature, as
refrigeration hardens all that yummy butter in the cake and changes the cake
into a butter cake brick. (Don’t ask me
how I know.)
Hope all this detail didn’t scare you out of the kitchen
into the baking aisle at your local supermarket. Before you grab Betty’s box off the shelf, at
least read through the following recipe.
Don’t underestimate yourself--you can do it!
Yellow Butter Cake (Cupcakes)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter,
room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups (12.75 oz.) all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1. Preheat oven to
350 degrees. Place 24 cupcake liners in
muffin/cupcake pans.
2. Place butter and
sugar in large mixer bowl. Beat until
color lightens and mixture looks fluffy--about 5 minutes, scraping down sides
occasionally.
3. Add eggs, one a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Beat in extracts,
baking powder, and salt.
5. Add flour and milk
alternately in three parts: 1 cup flour,
1/2 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup flour. As soon as the last bit of flour is
incorporated, stop mixing.
6. Fill cupcake
liners 2/3 full. Bake 22-25 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly
touched and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to finish cooling. Frost with buttercream icing. Yield:
24 cupcakes.
Copyright © 2015 by Shasta Hamilton
Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in
Enterprise, Kansas. She and her husband
own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled
children. You can reach The Buggy Stop
by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com.
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