{"id":7349,"date":"2010-05-17T04:00:14","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=7349"},"modified":"2010-05-19T08:48:47","modified_gmt":"2010-05-19T12:48:47","slug":"let-them-eat-birthday-cake-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=7349","title":{"rendered":"Let Them Eat Birthday Cake (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I think I can speak for the entire Weisblat family when I say that we have had enough cake in the past week or so to last for several months.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
My nephew Michael turned ten on Thursday. Naturally, a birthday cake was in order.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
We ended up making a number of cakes\u2014two identical cakes for his official party the previous weekend\u00a0(he had invited quite a\u00a0number of guests), a similar cake for the actual birthday, and cupcakes for his classmates at school.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
None of them was hard to make individually\u2014but\u00a0en masse\u00a0they pretty much exhausted us.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I do not want to talk about calories here. I will say that we have bought and used a HUGE amount of butter, eggs, flour, and sugar of late. Luckily, the birthday boy and his friends ate most of the cake(s)\u2014and they were very happy indeed.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019m starting with the cupcake recipe because, frankly, I\u2019m not sure I can write with equanimity yet about the main event\u2014a chocolate, marshmallow-filled cake in the shape of a Washington Capitals hockey puck!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The cupcakes were made with one of my very favorite cake recipes\u2014a simple yellow cake that takes less work than a mix (well, almost). It\u2019s the Platonic ideal of a yellow cake.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
This old-fashioned combination is called \u201c1-2-3-4\u201d because it takes a cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, and four eggs.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
If you want only 24 cupcakes (or a 9-by-13 sheet or 2 8-inch rounds), you may reduce the recipe by a quarter to 2-1\/2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 3\/4 cup butter, and so forth. Be sure to adjust baking times if you change pan sizes. You can probably get 3 8-inch rounds with this version, if you want a high and lovely cake!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Since my family is into excess we piled sprinkles on top of the cupcakes\u2014red and blue for the Washington Capitals<\/a>, of course (we already had white icing).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

The birthday boy took cupcake decoration seriously.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
1-2-3-4 Birthday Cupcakes<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
3 cups flour
\n2-2\/3 teaspoons baking powder
\n2\/3 teaspoon salt
\n1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter at room temperature
\n2 cups sugar
\n4 eggs
\n2\u00a0teaspoons vanilla
\n1-1\/3 cups milk<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 32 cupcake tins with liners.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until they are light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla, and beat again.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into your cupcake tins.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cakes pass the toothpick test. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool. Ice with snappy butter icing (see below). Makes 32 cupcakes.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Snappy Butter Icing for 1-2-3-4 Cupcakes<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
1-1\/2 cups (3 sticks!) sweet butter at room temperature
\nconfectioner\u2019s sugar as needed (I think we used a little less than a pound)
\n2 teaspoons vanilla<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Cream the butter and add confectioner\u2019s sugar a little at a time until the icing is tasty and spreadable. Beat in the vanilla. Ice your cupcakes, and throw on some birthday sprinkles if you want to. Ices 32 cupcakes generously.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Grandmother Jan went to town with the sprinkles.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

If you enjoyed this post, please consider taking out an email subscription to my blog. Just click on the link below!<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Subscribe to In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens by Email<\/span><\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 I think I can speak for the entire Weisblat family when I say that we have had enough cake in the past week or so to last for several months. \u00a0 My nephew Michael turned ten on Thursday. Naturally, a birthday cake was in order. \u00a0 We ended up making a number of cakes\u2014two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,24],"tags":[1189,1187,1188,1190,1191,1186,227,280,406,1192],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7349"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7376,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7349\/revisions\/7376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}