Candle Cakes

The following recipe is one of my mother’s old standard recipes for cupcakes. It can be used also to make one or more candle cakes for a child's birthday (or even for an adult).

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs, well beaten
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In a medium-size mixing bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add well-beaten eggs and beat until smooth. Gradually add sifted flour and baking powder. Add vanilla.
2. For best results, line muffin wells with paper baking cups. Fill each cup 3/4 full. If any baking wells remain empty, remove paper cup and fill to half-full with water. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) until done. Cool. Remove from muffin tin.
3. For cupcakes, top with cupcake frosting and, if desired, decorate with coconut, colored sugar, or sprinkles. For a touch of elegance serve on a lace paper doily.
4. To make candle cakes, cover each cake entirely with seven-minute frosting (see below) or use the Cupcake Frosting listed below, and sprinkle thickly with shredded coconut. (For Easter cupcakes, the frosting can also be tinted with a tiny bit of pink food coloring and jelly beans placed on top.) Put a candle in the middle of each cake. Serve individually on plates or placed on individual doilies on a large platter.

Seven-Minute Frosting

• 2 egg whites, unbeaten
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine unbeaten egg whites, sugar, water, and corn syrup in top of double boiler. As you do this, beat the mixture continuously with a hand mixer until the mixture thickens and stands up in soft, snowy peaks when you lift the beater. With a good electric beater this will take approximately 12-15 minutes. Remove immediately from boiling water. Add vanilla and beat until the frosting will hold firm little ridges as it falls back from the beater. At this point it will be cool and thick enough to spread.

Cupcake Frosting

• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Add gelatin to cold water and dissolve over hot water in double boiler. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Gradually add sugar to the egg whites, beating after each addition. Then add vanilla. Very slowly, add the dissolved gelatin to the egg white mixture, beating after each addition.