celebrate with cake

Celebration Cake

recipe adapted from The Dessert Bible, by Christopher Kimball

makes one 6 inch round layer cake and 12 cupcakes

(also makes one 9 inch round layer cake or 24 cupcakes)

Good to know...

- Cake flour substitute = 1 cup all purpose flour - 3 tbsp of flour + 3 tbsp of cornstarch

- Use room temperature eggs and butter.

- Use a wooden spoon to aerate your flour before measuring.

- Don't over mix your cake batter otherwise too much gluten will form and your cake will turn out chewy. Just mix enough to incorporate dry ingredients.

- Don't overfill pans, 2/3 full is the maximum.

- Tap your pans to remove any air bubbles from the batter before baking.

- Place cake on a same size cardboard wrapped in foil to facilitate frosting.

- Do a crumb coating (if frosting the sides of the cake) and chill for 30 minutes before frosting.

- Use an offset spatula for frosting and a large flat spatula (warmed in hot water) for smoothing.

- Frosted cake can be made up to 2 days in advance. Store covered in the fridge (or wine fridge) and take out at least 1 hour before serving. Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days.

INGREDIENTS

Make the cake:

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1.5 sticks (12 tbsp, 170g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Soak the cake (optional):

1 cup milk

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Decorate the cake:

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting x 2

8 store bought macarons or sprinkles

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 325F (163 C). Grease and line cake pans and/or a muffin tin with cupcake liners if using.

2. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs one by one and beat until well combined.

4. Mix in flour in three parts, alternating with buttermilk. Do not over mix. Stir in vanilla.

5. Pour batter evenly into the cake pans and/or muffin tins. Tap your pans to get rid of any air bubbles. Bake for 20-25 minutes (8-10 minutes for cupcakes) or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Rotate pans halfway through baking. Let cakes cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting (about 30-45 minutes).

6. Once the cakes are cool enough, trim them with a serrated knife so that the tops are flat. Combine milk and vanilla. Soak your cake by brushing the milk solution evenly over the layers (optional).

7. Make the frosting.

8. Place one cake layer on a serving plate and cover with frosting. Repeat with remaining layers. Spread remaining frosting on top and decorate as desired.