36. Today my daughter Emily came home from school, (she commutes to college in Manhattan every day on the Long Island Railroad), and announced she wanted to make cupcakes to take into the city tomorrow for her friends. "Of course", was my response, "no problem"! So I went to look for my recipe...the best recipe ever for cake and cupcakes...and it wasn't there!!! Oh, well, I must have put it inside one of my recipe albums with the little sleeves...nope...not there. Hmmm...now where could I have put that recipe? I remembered the last time I made it, I was going to put it in a place where I would be able to find it very easily and not loose it. But where was that? Obviously a very safe place because I could not find it at all! I originally found it in Martha Stewarts "Kid's" magazine back in early 2000. All I knew was that it was the "giraffe cake". So Emily went on line and began typing in what ever she could think of. Martha...giraffe...martha cake...giraffe cake...Kids cake...yellow giraffe cake...Martha's yellow giraffe cake...Martha Stewart yellow baby giraffe cake... and on it went while I am in the kitchen pawing through my plethora of recipes and Emily is on line for an hour, making loud sighing noises...obviously, so I could hear them. I even called my sister to see if I possibly gave her the recipe...nope! She said she would look through her pile of recipes...must be a family trait. I was befuddled! This was one of my most reliable recipes...could I have thrown it away?...ARGH!
Finally, after an hour of searching we were both about to give up...when it hit me...hahahahah! The recipe was in a safe place...TAPED ON MY CABINET DOOR!!!!! I walked over to the cabinet and opened the door. You see, I learned this little trick of taping your favorite recipes inside a cabinet door so they are there whenever you need them. I have several recipes there like my scones, pumpkin pie, brownies, bread, measurement converter...and...my cake/cupcake recipe! Oh yeah...that's where I put it!
How could I have been so dense! It's been there for months...I did this on purpose, because I would always have to search for it when I would bake cupcakes. My daughter Emily just about shot me...heeheheheh...she grabbed my shoulders and just shook me. Oh well...what do you expect from a 49 year old, with fading eye site, bum knees, and a brain that skips every once in a while? Anyhoo...we baked the cupcakes! And they turned out fantastic.
Here is the recipe on Queen Martha's site but I alter it a bit. Instead of 7 egg whites and no yolks, I separate 4 eggs, beat the 4 whites to peaks and add the 4 yolks with the liquids. I think it makes the cake/cupcakes richer and moist. So my recipe is really a yellow cake.
The frosting is pretty standard but also a creation of my own. It seems like a large batch but the cake/cupcake recipe makes about 40 standard cupcakes. This recipe is also great with lemon zest and lemon juice instead of the almond and vanilla extract.
Vanilla Frosting with Cream Cheese
1 lb confectionary sugar, sifted
1 stick butter, cold and cut in pieces
4 Tblsp cream cheese, cold and cut in pieces
2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
milk to desired consistency
food coloring optional
Mix everything together adding milk very slowly, checking the consistency. Whip till the sugar is smooth.
Emily wanted colored sugar sprinkles and I put Butterfinger chocolate hearts on the top of Maggie's mini cupcakes for her 4th grade class tomorrow.
And this little box of mini cupcakes are going to our secretary at the office tomorrow for all her hard work! Getting an Annual Report together is a nightmare! I think she deserves them!
So if you were here...I would make you a cup of coffee or yummy tea and serve one of our wonderful homemade cupcakes! Can't you just taste them in your mind...mmmmmmm.
Boy am I glad I found that recipe...don't think I'll loose it again. If I do...I can just come back to my blog...if I remember I put it here. :-D
Have a Happy Day Today!
"The existence of forgetting
has never been proved:
We only know that some things
don't come
to mind
when we want them."
~F. N.
