If I'd Known You Were Coming I Would Have Baked A Cake
>> Monday, January 22, 2007
I was craving white cupcakes with chocolate frosting today. I was desirous of baking said cupcakes from scratch and not dipping the frosting from a can. And everyone knows that homemade just tastes better.
I got the girls down for their - very short- naps and began looking through my cookbooks. And do you know what I found? Every recipe I have for white cake needs at least one, if not both, of these items:
Oleo and shortening. Neither of which resides in this house.
Now oleo... There's a word that only resides in cookbooks of a certain age. Or in recipes from your grandmother. Margarine everyone knows; oleo not so much. And since margarine has all those bad fats it doesn't enter this house. Real butter only. And I'm not sure that you can interchange them because of the different fats.
And shortening... Does everyone get a vision of a gallon container of Crisco in their heads? Can you say "trans-fats"? Which then takes me back further to actual lard that I remember my mother and grandmother using quite often. Probably better for you but definately more disgusting. And more likely to become rancid. Blech!
So no cuppie-cakes. It's probably for the best. I would have had to give most of them away to keep from eating them. I seriously have no will power when it comes to baked goodies.
5 comments:
Cupcakes yum!
Did you try an online search for cupcakes? I know there are healthy recipes out there that substitute applesauce for the fat in the recipe.
I have my grandma's cookbook and all of her recipes have oleo too.
FYI Crisco now has a no transfats product. It is in a green label can. HyVee is the only place I have been able to find it. I buy lard at Wal-Mart. It is processed and has additives so doesn't need refrigeration but doesn't turn rancid. I got it to make suet for the birds and when I needed shortening and didn't have any on hand, tried it. It works great. Stays soft like good lard should. Comes in sizes from 1 lb to 5 gallon buckets.
I so love your Grandma H - she has just the answers for the questions that were running around in my head.
I was going to recommend using applesauce.
Yep, my grandma is full of information. :)
I thought of applesauce, too, but the only kind we have in the house right now is strawberry applesauce (natural stuff, no added sugar, etc). Kind of blows the whole "white cupcake" idea...
Oleo. There's a word you don't see much in today's recipes!
I had heard what Grandma said on the radio this a.m.... I actually called the Crisco company a year or so ago to inquire about shelf life. It's 2 years. Judging by the code on my can, the woman I spoke with told me mine was 6 years old. GROSS! Now I have a couple of those shortening sticks in the cupboard. You slice off what you need - no more giant can! I only use it with Christmas cookies, really.
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