In celebration of my hubbies birthday I transformed his favorite birthday cake into cupcakes. This cake has a unique (hard to describe) flavor, and the topping which is made with walnuts, sugar, and heavy cream make it sweet, rich, and addicting.
This recipe that has been passed down in my hubbies family has put me to the test. The first time I made the cake it turned out dry as a bone, and the frosting turned out like rock candy – not good!
With a little tweaking of Grandma B’s original recipe I came up with a moister cake. And yes, my husband noticed it wasn’t as dense too. I swear I can’t get anything past him.
I’m not going to share the original recipe with you because I would hate for you to have the same bad experience I had, so here is my adapted version.
Grandma B’s Birthday Cake
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 stick of margarine, softened
1/4 c. olive oil
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. lemon or vanilla extract (I used lemon, but prefer vanilla)
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. skim milk
Walnut Frosting
1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupcake tins with papers.
In a large mixing bowl, add sugars, butter, oil, and eggs; beat until light and creamy. Add baking powder, baking soda, and extract; mix together. Add flour and milk; mix until all ingredients are completely blended.
Bake until cupcakes are golden brown and toothpick comes clean when inserted into center – about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Once cool, remove cupcake papers and place cupcakes on large cake plate; set aside.
Place walnuts, sugar, and heavy cream into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil; stirring constantly. When mixture boils for about 1 minute and starts to look frothy, remove from heat. Pour topping over baked cupcakes. Allow to cool at room temperature before serving.
Do you like to fix recipes that you haven’t had the best of luck with, or do you toss them and keep looking?
THE JOY OF CAKING 
That looks so good!! I want to try some :).
I really wished I had someone to share all of this “bad” food with. I bake entirely way too much 🙂
Oops, forgot to send belated birthday wishes to your hubby.
Good birthday or anytime cake. When I come across a not too favorable cake recipe I may try it at least once more before tossing it.
Happy belated birthday to your hubby
Thank you Roxana. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Yum! Looks delicious!
Your cakes look wonderful. I generally try to persevere with a recipe which isn’t working, especially when it for something which is really personal to someone, like these lovely cakes for your husband
A girl after my own heart! If at first you don’t suceed – try, try, again 🙂
The cake looks delicious! Unfortunately, I tend to give up if a recipe doesn’t work out (which is more often than I care to admit!) and search for a fool proof version 🙂 I love your photos!
I know it’s frustrating when you spend time (and money) to make something that doesn’t turn out as expected. A lot of times I will take a couple recipes for the same type of cookie, cake, etc., and compare them before I bake. It really helps to compare ahead of time. You might see where one recipe doesn’t call for enough shortening, or the other calls for entirely too much flour. Give it a try next time. Thanks for the compliment too!
Great tip – thank you! I’ll definitely try this next time x