I love cupcakes. A perfect little cake for one.
When Meaghan first moved to Calgary, she was extremely homesick until she found a lovely little bakeshop called Crave. She was thrilled! They sell nothing but delicious cupcakes that taste “just like Nanny Carla’s”. My Mom is an amazing baker. She has catered to her grand daughter’s ‘favorites’ all of their lives. When we get together for a family dinner, it is nothing for Mom to have baked a different dessert for each of the girls…Meggie loves chocolate cake with boiled icing, Kaitie loves sticky date pudding with warm butterscotch sauce and Sara loves apple crisp. I kid you not!… Mom has spoiled them with her beautiful sweets. When Meggie called and said this shop could bake like Mom, I was doubtful.
However, when I visited with Meg, we went to Crave and the experience was delightful! A tiny shop filled to the brim with chocolate, vanilla, red velvet and carrot cupcakes with every flavour of buttercream frosting that you could imagine and creatively decorated with sparkling sugars.
And yes they taste just like Mom’s…
The white cake recipe that I am sharing today is the first cake recipe that my mom taught me to bake. To this day, I follow her directions to the letter! I prepared these cupcakes for a group of girlfriends that visited on Sunday. They are decorated with toasted coconut.
White Cake
makes one 8″x 8″ cake or 12 cupcakes
preheat oven to 350*F
butter and flour cake pan or line muffin tin with cupcake liners
2 cups cake flour, sifted 3 times before measuring…spoon the flour in to the measuring cup and level with a straight edge.
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Sift together and set aside.
1/2 cup shortening, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk, at room temperature
Beat shortening with sugar until light and fluffy
Beat eggs in one at a time
Beat in vanilla and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy
Fold in flour mixture and milk in thirds, alternatively, ending with milk.
Spoon into pan
Place in oven and check cake at 35 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the centre of the cake. The toothpick should come out clean.
Check cupcakes at 25 minutes
Remove from oven and set on cooling rack for ten minutes.
Loosen cake around the edge with a butter knife and remove from pan. Place back on cooling rack until completely cooled.
If making cupcakes, they should come right out of the muffin tin – paper intact! – allow to cool on rack.
Frost with your favorite icing!
Thanks for reading.
