Regarding the shortening: would it be worth it to replace it with
butter? I suppose I could use a little extra butter (to compensate for
the lower fat content) and cut back a little on the milk.


Concord Grape Cake
Grape layer sifts through batter and will be on the bottom. This works
well with sweetened sour cherries, peaches or plums.
2 lb. Concord grapes
3/4 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Wash grapes and separate skins from pulp. Cook pulp until softened,
about 5 minutes. Put through sieve to remove seeds. Add skins to pulp.
Stir in 3/4 cup sugar and cook until skins are tender, about 15 minutes.
There should be about 2 cups of this grape mixture.

Sift flour with baking powder, salt and sugar into bowl. Add
shortening, 1/2 cup of the milk, egg and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes at low
speed on electric mixer or 300 strokes by hand. Add remaining milk and
beat 30 seconds or 75 strokes.

Pour into well greased 9 x 12 x 2-inch pans. Spread grape pulp over top
of batter. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or
until cake tests done.

Yields 12 servings

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"Scott" > wrote in message
...
> Regarding the shortening: would it be worth it to replace it with
> butter? I suppose I could use a little extra butter (to compensate for
> the lower fat content) and cut back a little on the milk.
>
>
> Concord Grape Cake
> Grape layer sifts through batter and will be on the bottom. This works
> well with sweetened sour cherries, peaches or plums.
> 2 lb. Concord grapes
> 3/4 c. sugar
> 2 c. flour
> 2 tsp. baking powder
> 3/4 tsp. salt
> 1 1/3 c. sugar
> 1/2 c. shortening
> 2 eggs
> 1 c. milk
> 1 tsp. vanilla
>
> Wash grapes and separate skins from pulp. Cook pulp until softened,
> about 5 minutes. Put through sieve to remove seeds. Add skins to pulp.
> Stir in 3/4 cup sugar and cook until skins are tender, about 15 minutes.
> There should be about 2 cups of this grape mixture.
>
> Sift flour with baking powder, salt and sugar into bowl. Add
> shortening, 1/2 cup of the milk, egg and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes at low
> speed on electric mixer or 300 strokes by hand. Add remaining milk and
> beat 30 seconds or 75 strokes.
>
> Pour into well greased 9 x 12 x 2-inch pans. Spread grape pulp over top
> of batter. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or
> until cake tests done.
>
> Yields 12 servings

Honestly, I would just substitute the butter 1:1 and forget about trying to
compensate for the fat and liquid. There will be variations in the liquid
due to the grapes, the size of the eggs, and the accuracy of the way you
measure the milk. If it were a much larger volume of batter for dozens of
cakes, it might be worth the effort. According to the USDA database, 1/2
cup of household composite shorting is 102.5 grams and 1/2 cup of butter is
113 grams. The butter has 20 grams of water, leaving about 93 grams of fat
( yes, there are some sugar and milk proteins). I don't think that the 9
grams of fat difference between the shorting and butter will be noticeable.
Also, if you are using measuring cups (as opposed to a scale) to measure the
milk, you could easily be +/= 20 grams of liquid and not even realize it -
the same goes for the way you measure the flour. That is the reality of
home baking, particularly if you measure ingredients by volume.