Pistachio Cupcakes from Homemade Yellow Cake Mix and Maddie and Me plus Maya Angelou

These beautiful and delicious pistachio cupcakes were made using homemade yellow cake mix.

Maddie and Me Plus Maya Angelou

Everybody admires and respects the great poet, Maya Angelou.  When she passed away I happened to be surfing the channels on my TV when I saw Oprah interviewing Maya Angelou at Oprah's station OWN.  I always was mesmerized by Maya Angelou's deep voice and equally deep insights and decided to watch the program filmed in the nineties entitled Conversations with Maya Angelou. 

In the early segment of this show, Maya gave the details of how she was invited to give the poem during former President Bill Clinton's first presidential inauguration.  She also described how she constructed the poem based on several elements found in songs and poems she had encountered in her childhood.  She also expressed that she wished she had more time to compose the poem.  One could just imagine how this iconic poem would have turned out if she did have more time.

Oprah asked her if that moment at the podium that day was the most important part of her life.  She answered, "It would be ungrateful for me to say it is not.  But it is only one of them."  It turned out what she considered the most important part of her life happened privately and not in the public arena. 

In 1953, she had a voice teacher who also conducted spiritual readings of the bible and truths at her house.  He would ask his highly talented voice students to read during those meetings and that particular day, Maya was asked to read the phrase, "God loves me".  He made her read it not once but several times which both embarassed and perplexed her.  The fourth time he asked her, her voice teacher instructed her, "Maya, now try to know it".  So Maya read the phrase slowly, heeding her teacher's advice to mindfully process the phrase.  What was revealed to her was so profound the experience brought tears to her eyes .  She finally knew what the phrase meant.  God really loved her.  Upon realizing this truth, she felt as if the skies opened up and that she could do anything. 

This particular scene in this show is one of the gifts I received this summer.  I taped the whole program and had watched this powerful segment repeatedly even sharing it with my friends who have visited me at home.

I did have another gift this summer.   It was when I knew that Maddie, my granddaughter who turned one today, loved me.   She could not talk yet and neither could she reciprocate ones affection by the usual motion of kissing you back or holding out her arms for you to take her when you hold out yours.  She does clamor for her mom, Wendy, and even cries, when she loses sight of her even for one minute.   The mother-daughter attachment is clearly there.  But she had not shown such signs of endearment with me.

We went to Idlewild Amusement Park on a Thursday two weeks ago.  Since Maddie could not meet the height requirement for almost all the rides, we were limited to taking the train and the merry-go-round only. The train took us around the beautiful scenic Idlewild grounds which I found to be very restful.  We would have taken the train again had the seats not been so low.  I made a spectacle of myself trying to get out of them. There were actually several ladies in the line waiting for their turn to ride the train watching and holding their breath as I was trying to figure out how to get off the train.  When I finally did I saw them give a sigh of relief and so did I.  Embarrassing as it was, we all had a good laugh.  Whew!

Idlewild was really huge and it took us some time to find the merry-go-round.  When we did we actually rode it twice.  The first time, Wendy and I sat on the bench with Maddie sitting on her Mom's lap.  We decided to take the ride again immediately after and this time we would try to make Maddie ride the stationary horse with us two holding her.  Wendy who was situated near the side close to the perimeter was told to move since that was not allowed and  I found myself alone with Maddie.  Maddie who by now was processing the fact she was riding the horse, got scared and she reached out her arms to me to take her which I did.  I was taken by surprise because I had never seen her do that.  I would have expected her to cry for her mom to get her.  I gradually put her back in the horse and she actually agreed to stay.

During her ride on the horse, I put my arms tightly and lovingly around Maddie as the merry-go-round whirled us on its tracks.  Meanwhile her mom took pictures and videos. Throughout the ride, Maddie did not cry at all or was she afraid.  She just soaked it all in and I was so proud of her. 

After a short stint in the kiddie pool, we went home and had dinner at our house.   After she ate,  Maddie was maneuvering around the house by crawling since she could not walk yet.  I found her beside me while I was at my computer in my office.  My husband who was following her, witnessed this and said that possibly she wanted me to put her in my lap to see YouTube shows of nursery rhymes.  We had done this together several times before and she really enjoyed watching and dancing to the music.  But before I could get her to do our YouTube session, she was out and about the whole house again.

When it was time for them to go home, her mom put her in her car seat.  My husband and I were shocked when she cried.  She did not seem to want to go home!  She had never done that before.  She usually was dying to go home and always had a smile once she got into her car seat.  It appeared to us this time she wanted to stay at our house. 

That night I had this warm feeling in my heart as I was reviewing what happened that day. I actually had a hard time sleeping since I was so happy  realizing that Maddie showed in many ways she trusted and loved me. 

A week later Maddie came to visit and when it was time for them to go home, her mom placed her in the car seat as usual.  This time she did not cry and actually even smiled at me and did a baby good bye gesture with her hand.  I know she did not cry like she did that "Maddie loves me" revelation day.   I know I might just have been reading too much of the whole thing that day but I will still always cherish that moment in the merry-go-round and the rest of that day at our house.

Happy Birthday Maddie.  I love you! 

This is the recipe of the Pistachio Cupcakes I made today to celebrate Maddie's first birthday.  I used the Homemade Yellow Cake Mix I custom made to meet some dietary needs I wanted fulfilled.

Pistachio Cupcakes from Homemade Yellow Cake Mix

I always wanted to make homemade yellow cake mix for two reasons:  I wanted to substitute some of the sugar with Splenda sugar substitute since I am diabetic and I also wanted it to be dairy free since I have a friend whose husband is allergic to dairy. 

I searched the web for a yellow cake mix recipe made from scratch and decided to base my version on the one in the blog I Am Baker.  What I then did was multiply the ingredients in the recipe by four to make a huge batch and substituted half the amount of the sugar called for with Splenda. 

To test the recipe, I used 3 3/4 cups of the homemade yellow cake mix to make the Pistachio Cupcakes. 

             

Here are the recipes for the Homemade Yellow Cake Mix and Pistachio Cupcakes.  I tested whether the cake mix actually worked by bringing some mini Pistachio Cupcakes made with the mix to a meeting.  One of those who attended requested to take some home and another person said it tasted like what they would have been if one used store bought yellow cake mix. 

I could have just measured the ingredients in the mix for one recipe but everytime I think of that I get kind of lazy.  I prefer psychologically to use a boxed cake mix but I always was bothered by the fact I really do not know how much sugar they put in or if there is dairy or shortening incorporated in it.  I finally found a way to make a big batch of a customized yellow cake mix that works.  I invite you to try it.

Homemade Yellow Cake Mix (equivalent to 4 boxes of store bought yellow cake mix)

(Adapted from the I Am Baker)

Ingredients:

• 9 cups flour
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups Splenda sugar substitute
• 4 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 4 tsp salt

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients in a large jar using a spoon. Shake the jar to
ensure all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.   Use 3 3/4 cups to equal 1 box yellow cake mix called for in a recipe.

Pistachio Cupcakes

(adapted from Allrecipes.com and a comment made by a reviewer)

Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 cups of the Homemade Yellow Cake Mix prepared above or one box of store bought yellow cake mix
• 1 small package (3.4 oz) pistachio pudding
• 1/2 cup sugar or Splenda 
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 8 oz cup of sour cream
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 7 drops green food coloring

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line the muffin pan with paper liner.

In a large bowl mix together the cake mix and pudding mix.  Make a well in the center and pour in sugar, eggs, water, oil, sour cream, almond extract and green food coloring.  Mix all the ingredients until well blended.

Pour the batter in cupcake pans lined with paper liner or see notes below.  Bake the regular sized cupcakes for 17 minutes while the mini cupcakes for 10 minutes.

Notes:

I used part of the batter to make 12 regular sized muffins by filling half-way Paper Eskimo brand sturdy paper baking cups.  I then placed the cups on a flat pan.  I did not have to use a muffin pan.  I decided not to use any icing and just placed the cupcake flag toppers that came with the Paper Eskimo paper baking cups set.  The set also came with birthday candles of which I used one to mark Maddie's first birthday.

I used the rest of the batter by filling 3/4 full mini muffin pans lined with paper liners.   I was able to make 36 mini muffins.  When I brought some to a meeting I just placed some Cool Whip on top of the mini muffins. 

Maddie and me in zebra prints.