Classic Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting

This is a recipe for exactly what you want to see with candles on top of it on your birthday- a mass of chocolate frosting with layers of amazing vanilla cake going on amidst it all. Layers of cake created essentially as a vehicle to support the real reason birthday cake was invented- which is to eat frosting as a noble way to celebrate the day you were born.

Have you ever baked yourself a birthday cake? I really want to know the answer. It’s a total pleasure to get a cake placed in front of you, baked by someone else (or a bakery, that’s fine too), but what if no one is going to bake you a cake, like ever?

The Husband will make me a special meal for my birthday (I’m downright giddy for the birthday dinners he creates… one year it was Lamb Three Ways, and last year it was an Ode to the Potato*… I’m a spoiled bitch, I know).

BUT.

I will never get a birthday cake from him.

And no one else will ever make me one (not because everyone I know hates me [I don’t think?], but because no one makes gluten-and-chocolate-free cakes, which is what I want/need/like). Seriously- I haven’t blown candles out on an actual birthday cake since maybe the early 90s. So maybe I’m on tap for cake duty in a few months when my day of birth arrives. (This isn’t a “it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” moment; it’s an exciting “I can make my own freaking flamed-up cake if I want to” moment. Loads of potential. Maybe I’ll make a cake for every day of the week.)

For those of us proud to make our own birthday cakes- Happy Birthday to Us!

Adapted from my Buttermilk Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting recipe…

CAKE:

1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cups + 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick), softened to barely room temperature

3 – 4 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350˚, and grease two 9″ cake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
3. Pour buttermilk into a measuring cup and stir in vanilla.
4. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Reduce the speed and add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between additions.
5. Add alternating increments of the flour mixture and the vanilla-buttermilk, blending well after each addition (starting and ending with the flour mixture); this should take up to 5 minutes.
6. Pour batter into greased pans and bake 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes on rack before unmolding from pans to finish cooling (especially if using a patterned mold). Carefully cut each layer in half using a long bread knife, and either set aside with parchment paper in between layers or freeze until ready to use (again, with parchment paper between layers).
7. FROSTING: in a large bowl, sift confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder together. In a separate large bowl, cream butter with 1 cup of sugar-cocoa mixture until well combined. Add another cup of sugar-cocoa and a tablespoon of cream, beating until well combined. Add remaining sugar-cocoa and cream, beating until smooth. Beat in vanilla until fluffy. (Add more cream or confectioners’ sugar until proper spreading consistency is achieved.) Spread between layers, on top of cake, and around sides.
Tips:
- No buttermilk? I hate it when that happens. Just stir a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice into milk to equal the total amount of buttermilk called for in the recipe. Wait 5 minutes and it’ll clump up like buttermilk. Gross, but good. TOTALLY essential for the recipe- don’t think you can make this cake without it!
- Why spend so much time creaming butter & sugar, and then after adding in each egg? Just because. Stop questioning sciency stuff.
- Cupcakes- can I make them instead? You can do whatever your sweet-loving heart wants. Bake for 18 minutes (check after 15). Oh, and use liners so they turn out much neater on the sides.
- Yes, this cake freezes well. Ideally frost just before serving…
- Enjoy!
- *An Ode to the Potato 2014 Birthday Dinner: sigh. I love the basic spud, so The Husband centered the secret meal around it… there were baked potato fries with white truffle oil and parmesan truffle salt, lemon potatoes, sweet potato latkes with cheddar, bacon & sour cream, and grass-fed beef & bison tenderloin (a couple hunks of meat had to offset the starch a bit)… and the #1 wine of 2009 according to Wine Spectator, which was the 2005 Columbia Crest Cab Sav Columbia Valley Reserve. It got 95 points and was so relatively cheap, and was yummy (from what I remember?). Wow, wow, wow. Bring back that dinner!
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November 22nd, 2014 | More Sweets Please | 4 Comments | Tags: Cakes, Chocolate, Icing, Vanilla

4 Responses and Counting...

Helen Morgan 11.22.2014

I am going to make this! When is your birthday, JW? I’d like to toast you on the day :) I hope you and B are very well and very happy.
More Sweets Please

Hello there- aren’t you sweet? You can raise a glass to me on the 5th of Jan, Helen. What day were YOU born?!
Mary

Wow….first that cake looks soooo delist, and secondly your husband sounds like a real sweetie. Hope to meet him one day soon!
More Sweets Please

Yeah, maybe if you’re lucky you will one day :)