Maria's (and others) Snickerdoodle Cake (and cupcakes)
T&T- I do this as a 9X13 cake or cupcakes- incredibly tasty and great crumb...
Snickerdoodle Cake
(originally posted by emery)
This became DH's favorite cake and was made every year after for his BDay. It is still on the short list of requests and makes a very nice cake to serve at the holidays. - Maria
Solid vegetable shortening for greasing the pans
Flour for dusting the pans
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix (not the kind with pudding in the mix)
1 cup whole milk (don't use skim or low fat)
8 T (1 stick) butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 t ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting - See Below
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350? F. Prepare pans by generously greasing and flouring two 9-inch round cake pans. Set the pans aside.
2. Place the cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more. The batter should look well combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with a rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.
3. Bake the cakes until they are golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 27 to 29 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert them again onto another rack so that cakes are right side up. Allow them to cool completely, at least 30 minutes. Cook’s Tip: Pop the cake layers into the freezer if you have room. It only takes about 1/2 hour or so to freeze fairly firm. The cake will be much easier to frost with fewer crumbs.
4. Prepare the Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting recipe and frost cake.
5. Place this cake in the refrigerator, uncovered, until the frosting sets, about 20 minutes.
Cook’s Note: You can make this recipe in 2 8-inch square pans, frosted them as individual cakes, served one, and freeze the other (wrapped in foil, for several months). Just thaw it over night in the fridge then serve.
Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
Makes enough to frost a two layer cake thinly. If you like frosting, and this is good frosting, I highly recommend you double this recipe if you like frosting. I always do.
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 - 4 Tbsp. milk (I use 1/2 and 1/2 or cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract (don’t worry, won’t taste coconutty - just good!)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (I use a pinch more)
Blend butter in a large mixing bowl on low speed until fluffy (about 30 seconds). With mixer stopped, add confectioners' sugar, milk, vanilla, and coconut extract. Blend on low speed until well incorporated (about a minute). You may have to stop once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add cinnamon. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy (another minute or two more). Blend in up to another 1 T. milk if it's too stiff (can vary with the weather).
