Several of my good friends are having birthday’s this week, so I’m reprising a cupcake favorite recipe from Johnnie Gabriel’s wonderful Southern Cooking cookbook, on request (and, you know, maybe because I’d bring the freshly baked goodies to a certain class I’m teaching tomorrow, where, possibly, they both might be in attendance.) So Barri and Mary.…this one’s for you!! Happy birthday!!!

It was lovely to get some late season fresh strawberries and have one last summer cupcake fling! Enjoy!

Johnnie Gabriel’s Yellow Layer Cake…but by the cup. With Strawberries.

1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, separated
3 cups, all purpose flour, sifted before measuring
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup chopped strawberries

Aren’t you drooling already? Now, I used heavy cream for cream, but totally missed the tablespoon size of the vanilla potion and used the more regular teaspoon amount. The cake turned out amazing, so I’m not sure I care. But there you go.

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350 Her cake recipe made 30 cupcakes for me. Your mileage may vary. So, just put a bunch of liners in a some pans and get ready.
2. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat the shortening, butter, sugar until fluffy. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
3. Add the yolks one at a time. (I had all mine in one bowl, so did my best to plop one out at a time.) Mix well after every addition.
4. In separate large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
5. In medium bowl, combine milk, buttermilk, cream, and vanilla. (We’re up to three bowls now…just sayin. I have bowls, but this recipe uses some serious bowls.)
6. Beginning and ending with the flour, alternately add the flour combo and the milk combo in four additions each. (Now, even I can do the math and realize it’s hard to end with flour that way, so just save some from the last addition. Do what Johnnie tells you. That’s my motto. So far, so good.) Scrape down the bowl after every addition, and just blend until assimilated. (aka Borg’d)
7. Now, (in yet another bowl) use a whisk or whisk attachment in your blender, and whisk the egg whites until they hold a peak. I took this to mean a soft peak, so as soon as it would “stand up” at all, I stopped.
8. Gently fold the whites into the batter in three additions.
9. In another bowl (you’re scrounging now, right? I was….) wash, clean, core and cut up a cup of strawberries. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup here, but when dividing it into cupcakes, more was better.
10. Gently fold strawberries in to the batter.
11. Fill cups approx 2/3 full (I use an ice cream scooper regularly now, the kind that has the auto ejecter handle. I’m sure that’s the technical term. Use only with supervision. The term. Not the scooper.)
12. Bake 22-26 minutes, until tester comes out clean. Tops should be a golden color. I rotated the pans halfway through. One pan was done in 22, the other in 24.
13. Set pans on racks and let cool for 15 to 20 minutes, then take the cupcakes out to cool the rest of the way.

And how heavenly do they look? Pretty darn heavenly, I’ll tell you what! Now, the frosting was a toss up for me. Johnnie recommends her Cream Cheese frosting, but we did a cheese frosting last week, and I felt the strawberries would work well with a whipped topping. And they would. With a little chunk of strawberry plopped on top for fun. But in her recipe you can fold chopped strawberries into the frosting and I thought….oh, what the hell. Let’s DO THIS. So…I did. No regrets. Again, do what Johnnie tells you.

Johnnie’s Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup butter
1 8 oz pack cream cheese
1 16 oz box confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped strawberries
(Johnnie also adds 1 cup chopped pecans as an optional ingredient. Because of the berries in this, I opted out of the option.)

Steps:
1. In large bowl (or whatever tub you’re reduced to using at this point) combine butter and cream cheese, mixing well until smooth.
2. Add the confectioners sugar in increments, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl once or twice while adding.
3. Add vanilla and blend.
4. Fold in chopped strawberries. (Again, she calls for 3/4 cup, I used 1 full cup so there would be berries on all the cupcakes.)

And what you get is strawberry heaven in a cup, let me tell you! Now, for me, the cream cheese frosting was a bit of an overkill on richness and sugary flavor, but the addition of the fresh chunks of fruit, totally cut the sweetness down and made it all work out quite deliciously. I’d still like to try my whipped topping alternative. Johnnie also recommends mixing half her cream cheese frosting with half her buttercream frosting for a different flavor. This is the only time I didn’t follow Johnnie, and I’m okay with that. Just…don’t tell her, okay? Never anger the dessert gods (and goddesses…and she is one.) I also think I’d like to try the cream cheese frosting I used on the red velvet cupcake a few weeks back. That creamy flavor would work well, especially with buttermilk in both the batter and frosting. Mmmm. And, mostly, because it gives me an excuse to make more of these!

Give this a try. A perfect spring cake, cheerful, rich, yummy, and easy to make. Just not maybe as easy to clean up after. But SO worth it!

Now, it’s time to give away this week’s Cupcake Blog Candy... an advance review copy of SUGAR RUSH!! Thanks to all of you who entered. And the lucky winner is…..Susan Harris!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend and enjoys a few Columbus Day sales on Monday! I’ll be back here with a new cupcake recipe next week…and, of course, another contest!

Until then…happy baking!

Tags: Writing //