White Cake
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 ¾ cups all-purpose soft-wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp. almond extract
Paper baking cups
Vegetable cooking spray
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in extracts.
4. Place jumbo paper baking cups in 2 (6-cup) jumbo muffin pans, and coat with cooking spray; spoon batter into cups, filling two-thirds full.
5. Bake for 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely.
Makes 12 jumbo cupcakes.
Strawberry Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
½ cup strawberry puree
1 tsp. strawberry extract (optional)
6 cups powdered sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1. Beat butter, strawberry puree, and, if desired, extract, at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar and salt, beating at low speed until blended. Beat at high speed 2 minutes or until creamy. Makes 3 cups.
Vanilla Bean Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
1/8 tsp. salt
1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar
1. Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Beat at high speed 2 minutes or until creamy. Makes 3 cups.
Finishing Touches
1. Fill each cupcake with strawberry jam. How-To Fill: To fill cupcakes, insert the end of a wooden spoon or dowel into the center of the cupcake to make a hole. Fill a zip-top plastic freezer bag with filling or frosting. Use scissors or kitchen shears to snip about ¼ inch from one corner of bag; insert bag into the hole in the cupcake. Squeeze gently until filling comes to the top of each cupcake. Note: If you want to fill and frost 1 recipe of cupcakes with the same frosting, you will need about 6 cups of frosting total.
2. Frost the top of each cupcake smooth with Strawberry Frosting. How-To Frost: Place a heaping spoonful of frosting in center of cupcake. With an offset spatula, push frosting to edges while turning cupcake. Rotate cupcake, and lift the frosting with the spatula to create peaks.
3. Use the vanilla frosting with various frosting tips to create a design of your choosing.
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This book seriously makes me want to bake cupcakes for EVERYTHING. If only I had time…At the top of my list- Caramel Mocha Sea Salt, Key Lime, Blackberry Summer, Peanut Butter Cup, Cookies & Cream….I could go on and on. The pictures are inspiring and of course make you want to eat your weight in cupcakes. I’ll be using this book for birthday parties and many other occasions from now on!
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