Vanilla Cake

I thought I'd found the one. The cake recipe to be my favorite, my go to. And I had. I'd found a super-simple, mix it all together kind of recipe that tasted soft and light. And then there was you.

It started out as a quick run-in. A colleague of mine mentioned she was making a cake for her son's birthday, and sent a photo of a beautifully decorated cake shaped like the number eight. I loved how it looked, and in my desire to befriend all baked goods, asked for the recipe. It was touted as "the best vanilla cake recipe", a serious claim. I skimmed it over, mentally made some notes, then moved on.

Just a few days later, my friend booked her son's birthday party. As fate would have it, he was turning the same age. I realized I had an opportunity to play.

Now, I don't qualify myself as much of a decorator. Never have. I can make it taste damn good, but leave pretty to the pros. Still though, last year I'd made him a shark-shaped cupcake cake, and this year decided to make the baking a tradition and go for round two. I was going for a cake shaped like the number 8 since little dude was turning 8

I thought back to that recipe I'd reviewed. Trying a new recipe for a birthday party is a little risky, and some comments indicated that even slight over-baking wrecked the texture. Still though, my gut told me this was the one.

Before I go on, I want to note that the original post (linked at the bottom) has some great pointers for the recipe and even a chart to adapt the cake to different size pans. One takeaway I had is to keep an eye on the time as overbaking can result in a tough cake - there are definitely benefits to checking out the comments on busier blogs.

In my typical style, I made a few adjustments, and though the original blogger insisted on a triple layer version, I went with a two layer version - I only had so many pans, after all, so making two small cakes would have meant a whole lotta pans. It was easy enough to start, creaming the doodles out of the butter and sugar.

I added in the flour, baking powder, and salt after beating the eggs in, and lastly stirred in the buttermilk. Every cake I've ever made with buttermilk has been a bit of gold, and after trying a small sample of batter, it was clear I was down the right path.

I mixed some green and blue sprinkles to the batter since this was for a boy's birthday party, giving it a bit of a funfetti look, then spread the batter into pans. The original recipe was for three 9-inch pans, but I actually used four pans to make the eight; two smaller 7-inch pans for the top of the eight, two larger 9-inch pans for the base. I did my best to guesstimate splitting it up since it was an odd split, and actually magically baked them all for the same quantity of time. Everything went fine!

After they cooled it slightly, I set the first layers out on some parchment paper.

The cakes had risen slightly differently, but that was nothing a little bit of cake leveling and adding icing between layers couldn't fix.  I used biscuit cutters to take out the centers of the cakes. This was my testing opportunity, and wow, wow, wow. I had made the right choice. This recipe was perfect. But flavor aside, the decorating was just beginning. The first layer was a sloppy crumb coat just to tidy things up and get a base going.

I then used a frosting tip to add detail to the cake, adding a small bit of texture to the top layer.

I only frosted the top of the cakes, letting the sides show. I like that look. I had picked up some donut holes as I considered adding some to the cake as decorations themselves, but it didn't feel like a good fit. I cut them in half and arranged them around the cake.

Though I'm no decorator, this was certainly one of my prettiest projects. It looked a little too plain with no color, though, and since my friend's son loves blueberries, I outlined the cake with fresh berries. I also topped the donut hole halves with frosting to sneakily trick observers into thinking they were cupcakes. There we go!

The decorating of the one my colleague had done was stunning. She had perfect little marshmallow-looking texture on top, some shiny sprinkles, pretzels, and even fruit and mini-cupcakes. I was quite impressed! I went a bit simpler, using a buttercream (she used a Chantilly, which, yum!) And blueberries thanks to a tip that this was his preference. It came out pretty darn pretty and that's just the beginning.

It was light in texture, almost angel food-like. This was also commented by some of the party-goers. The competition was real, though, as someone had also brought a Publix cake.

For anyone not in the Southeast, Publix is a grocery gem. Friendly service, strict quality, and oh so great baked goods. My dream retirement job is to bake at Publix. Learn to write witty remarks in frosting. Learn to me perfection. 

Well, in the midst of the great cake off, I received what was quite possibly my favorite compliment as a baker: "This cake is better than Publix's!" Commence. The. Downpour. Life achievement unlocked.

Of course, I can't take all the credit. As a baker I am a mere translator of words in recipes to real-life. My alterations included using only butter rather than butter and oil and adding one of my favorite dessert additions: almond extract. There's no turning back once you start using it. And in my opinion, almond icing is the king of all.

In terms of the cake pans, I have kept the original recommendation of three pans, despite my spreading this into four.

Vanilla Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (at room temperature)

3 large eggs (at room temperature)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F, and prepare cake pans by spraying with non-stick baking spray. In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Mix in buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and almond extracts and continue beating until well-combined. Gradually mix in flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir until combined. Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Frost as desired.

adapted from the most amazing vanilla cake

Update:

I scaled the recipe down to a two-layer version, and here is the ingredient list:

3/4 cup butter (actually measured scale is 2/3 cup, but I did 3/4)
3/4 white sugar

1/4 brown sugar (can be swapped out for white sugar)
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

It worked out well and kept the same texture!