Cake Flour... Whipped-cream Vanilla Cupcakes

 Like Myrna, I have had a hard time finding a homemade white cake that tastes as good as many cake mixes.  Cake mix manufacturers use emulsifiers and other ingredients that aren’t available to the home cook to make their cakes light.  This recipe from "The Fannie Farmer Baking Book" makes a cake that I think is comparable to a good cake mix – light and with a very good flavor and fine texture.  It sounds rich until you realize that the cream is the only fat in the recipe and that there are no egg yolks either.  They are only around 100 calories each.

 It sounds like more work than it actually is – it goes together very quickly and bakes in 15 minutes.  Don’t overbake.  I use paper baking cups for these. (The one tablespoon of vanilla is correct!).

 Whipped-cream Vanilla Cupcakes

  2        Cups  Cake Flour

  1        Cup  Sugar

  1        Tablespoon  Baking Powder

     ½   Teaspoon  Salt

  3        Large  Egg Whites -- about 1/2 cup

  1        Cup  Heavy Cream

     ½   Cup  Water

  1        Tablespoon  Vanilla Extract                      

1.      Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease the muffin pans, line them with fluted paper baking cups or spray them with non-stick coating.
2.      Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and sift them together onto a large piece of waxed paper.  Set aside.
3.      In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff but moist, and stand in peaks that droop just slightly when the beater is lifted.
4.      Proceed immediately to the cream; pour it into another mixing bowl and beat until it forms stiff peaks.  Fold the whipped cream and beaten egg whites together jut until blended.  Stir the water and vanilla together and add to the egg-white-cream mixture, stirring just to blend.
5.      Sprinkle on the flour mixture gradually, 1/3 at a time, and turn on the mixer on LOW speed just until no drifts of unblended flour remain.  Repeat with the remaining 2 portions for flour mixture, scraping around the edges with a rubber spatula.
6.      Spoon the batter lightly into the prepared pans, filling each cup half full.
7.      Bake about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and let cool a moment, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
Frost with your favorite frosting.  These freeze beautifully.
24 Cupcakes

Per Serving: 103 Calories; 4g Fat (32.6% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 16g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 14mg Cholesterol; 116mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.