Vanilla Cake

Come May 16th, I will be an official wedding cake baker. Because on May 16th my best friend is getting married and I am making her wedding cake! Am I nervous about making the cake, yes. Kind of freaking out about the cake, yes. Excited about being a wedding cake baker, yes! I’m just praying it turns out.

I’m not nervous about the actual cake itself. It’s just a matter of finding the right recipe; that part doesn’t scare me. I’m confident that after some trial and error, I will find a recipe that works perfectly. I am, however, terrified about decorating the cake because I have never decorated a cake before. I’ve only ever slathered frosting on top and called it a day. Was it delicious, yes? Wedding cake worthy, no.

To help in my efforts of becoming a wedding cake baker, I signed up for a “Building Buttercream” class at my local Joann’s. The class was 2 nights from 6-9pm. It was 6 hours of cake decorating practice and I learned a lot! These pictures show my finished product. I wouldn’t say I’m pro yet but I’m definitely close. I mean, I bet I could give Duff from Ace of Cakes a run for his money…

Ok, I definitely can’t but for our second class, we had to bring in homemade buttercream frosting and cake so I made Duff’s vanilla cake. It was so delicious! It wasn’t too dense like a lot of homemade cakes I’ve had in the past and paired with the buttercream, it was delicious! I made enough batter for 2 8′ pans but only one of the cakes survived… I didn’t quite cook the other one well enough. Ooops! At least one made it and it’s definitely worth making again. Last week we had chocolate cake, this week we have vanilla! Hope you enjoy 🙂

-Kelly

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 sticks of butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 6 eggs
• 3 tbsp oil (I used canola oil)
• 2/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Spray 2 8′ or 9′ baking pans and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar for about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add in vanilla and then eggs, one at a time.
4. Add in buttermilk and oil and mix until incorporated.
5. Mix in flour, baking soda and baking powder.
6. Pour evenly into baking pans and bake for 18-20 minutes.
7. Let cool completely and then frost as desired.
8. Enjoy!