Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream

I made this for a wedding cake I made this weekend, everyone loved it. This might be one of the best yellow cakes I've ever tried, it light, buttery and moist.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake 
Makes one three-layer 9-inch round cake 

3 3/4 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups plus 1/3 cup buttermilk
5 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
2. Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 1 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Mix on low speed briefly to blend; then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining 1/3 cup buttermilk until well blended. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the cake batter at a time, folding it in completely after each addition. There will be 9 cups of batter; our 3 cups batter into each pan.
4. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Turn the layers out onto wire racks by placing a rack on top of a pan, inverting it, and lifting off the pan. Peel off the paper liners and let cool completely.

While cake is baking, you can start preparing the buttercream. I love using Italian Meringue Buttercream because it light & fluffy, has less sugar then traditional (american) buttercream and decorator frosting. I am not going to lie, at first I was intimidated by the thought of making meringue and adding hot sugar but if you have a standmixer it's so easy!

Italian Meringue Buttercream

5 eggs whites (large)

10 ounces (1 1/4 cups) extra-fine granulated sugar, divided

1/4 cup water

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, soften

-candy thermometer & standmixer with whisk attachment would be helpful

1. Separate the eggs and place the whites in the bowl of the standing mixer fitted with a wire whip attachment. Reserve the yolks for another use.
2. Measure 1 cup of the sugar into a heavy-bottomed 1-quart saucepan with 1/4 cup water. Gently stir to combine; I use the candy thermometer for this. Leave the candy thermometer in the saucepan, numbers facing down to balance the thermometer.
3. Measure the 1/4 cup sugar into a small bowl and set aside.
4. Cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces and set aside in a medium bowl.
5. Begin making the sugar syrup. Place the saucepan with the sugar and water over medium-high heat. Partially cover with a lid to capture the evaporating water -- this helps to moisten the sides of the saucepan to prevent sugar crystals separating from the syrup.
6. Begin whipping the egg whites to stiff peak in a standing mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment set to high speed. When the whites are at stiff peak you have a meringue. Keep the mixer running and pour the 1/4 cup of sugar into the meringue.
7. Raise the heat to bring the syrup to 245 degrees if it is not there already. When the syrup is at 245 degrees, remove the thermometer.
8. Slowly pour the syrup into the meringue when pouring, keep your eye on the bowl. Aim for the space between the mixer bowl and the revolving wire whip. To maintain the same rate of pouring, pour slowly and raise the saucepan from your shoulder. Twisting at the wrist or elbow tends to throw off my aim.
9. After 1 to 2 minutes reduce the speed to medium for about 3 to 4 minutes or until the meringue is cooled.
10. Add the butter one tablespoon at a time. Increase the speed to high for one to two minutes to fully combine the butter with the meringue.
11. At this point, flavorings can be added to the base recipe for Italian meringue buttercream, below is an example of the amount of flavoring to add to the buttercream.
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract or any extract (almond, orange, etc.)
-1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate, melted
-2 to 4 tablespoons (to taste) dark rum
-2 to 4 tablespoons (to taste) amaretto/coffee
-1/4 to 1/2 cup raspberry puree
-2 tablespoons lemon liqueur (lemoncello)
-1 teaspoon orange oil
-1 teaspoon lime oil

Cannoli Cake

This cake was absolute heaven!  Since my daughter's first birthday I have become a cake making enthusiast.  I love to bake and design things and found working with fondant was rather fun.  I made my daughter's 1st birthday cake and after it turned out so well, I decided to try my hand at making more cakes for practice.  When my friend told me she was having a baby I offered to make her baby shower cake to practice my new hobby and she was ecstatic.  She is Italian and requested cannoli filling in her cake if I could manage it.  Well, I did even better and found a whole cake flavored like a cannoli!  Due to all the cream and ricotta in the filling and whipped frosting, I stored this cake in the fridge and I have to say that it tasted even better after a day in the fridge. 

My daughter's cake- my 1st attempt at fondant!

I'll be making her formal baby shower cake this weekend in the shape of a puppy.  The pictures here are of the test cake complete with brown dye fail on the top of the cake.  This whipped frosting disintegrated when mixed with food color gel, so I will be using a Swiss buttercream on the outside of the cake before covering in fondant.  If you don't need to tint the frosting the whipped frosting in this recipe was absolute heaven! 

Recipe is courtesy of http://www.sargento.com/.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs (it's best if eggs are at room temp before adding sugar)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
• 1 recipe Ricotta Filling
• 1 recipe Whipped Cream Frosting
• Fresh berries or candied cherries, for garnish

Ricotta Filling:

• 2 cups (15 oz.) Sargento® Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese
• 3 Tbsp. sugar (I actually added double the sugar to get the filling a bit sweeter, but I have a huge sweet tooth!)
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup whipping cream, whipped
• 1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

Whipped Cream Frosting:

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 2 Tbsp. confectioners sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

 Directions

1. Beat eggs and sugar on medium speed in bowl with an electric mixer 5 minutes or until thick. Gently fold in flour and butter; pour into greased and floured 8-inch round cake pan. Bake in preheated 350°F oven 40 minutes or until cake feels firm when touched in center. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
2. To make Ricotta Filling: Beat Ricotta cheese, sugar and vanilla on medium speed in bowl with electric mixer 3 minutes. Fold in whipped cream and chocolate chips.
3. To make Whipped Cream Frosting: Beat cream on high speed in bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar and vanilla.
4. Cut cake in half horizontally using sharp serrated knife. Cut each layer in half again horizontally. Place 1 layer on serving platter; spread with one-third Ricotta filling. Repeat procedure, ending with cake layer. No sooner than 6 hours before serving, frost sides and top of cake with all but 1 cup frosting. Decorate with remaining frosting, chopped chocolate and fruit. Refrigerate until serving time.  

Adult Cupcakes: Raspberry-filled Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chambord ganache & Mascarpone frosting

A few years back my husband wanted a sophisticated birthday cake, I found this recipe for cupcakes which I made into a car shaped birthday cake... OMG this cake as to die for!

Source

Ingredients

Cupcakes

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) organic cocoa

3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 large organic eggs

3/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder

3/4 cup (5 Ounces) sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup(4 ounces)sour cream

Raspberry Filling

1 10 oz. package frozen raspberries with sugar

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Chambord Ganache

3/8 cup heavy cream

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

4 ounces dark chocolate chips

1 1/2 teaspoon Chambord

Mascarpone Frosting

4 ounces mascarpone cheese

3/8 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1/2 cup whipped heavy cream

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have 1/2-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.

Method

Combine the butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a glass bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water. Heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
Sieve the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine and add espresso powder, sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogenous and thick. Take care not to overbeat the batter.
Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out almost clean, 15 to 18 minutes.Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

Raspberry Filling
Thaw raspberries and drain. You should have almost 3/4 cup liquid/juice. Put liquid in a small saucepan and combine with sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Cook stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil and is very thick. Let cool. Stir in raspberries without the extra juice that drains further (you want the filling to be thick). Fill cupcakes by removing a small piece in the middle of the cupcake, fill hole with about 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons of filling. Trim the piece you have cut out and place back over the filling in the cupcake. You can also pipe filling into the cupcake, however, this is pretty thick, so it is more difficult.

Chambord Ganache
Bring cream and butter just to a boil. Pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk until glossy and smooth. Add Chambord. Let mixture sit 5 minutes to set before frosting cupcakes.

Mascarpone Frosting
Beat together mascarpone cheese and sugar until smooth. Gently fold in whipped cream until combined. Place in a decorating bag and decorate tops of cupcakes as desired

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a repeat from my blog but thought it would be appreciated here too.

I just made this recipe last night, and it turned out great (moist and delicious) , I definitely making this again, I mad a few changes to the recipe adding Cinnamon, less sugar, and using milk + lemon juice rather than buttermilk.

Photo source

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups ripe, mashed bananas (approximatively 3 bananas)

2 teaspoon lemon juice

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (heaping spoonfuls)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup softened butter (3 sticks butter)

2 cups sugar *I probably only added 1 1/2 cups 

3 large eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

Cream Cheese frosting:

1/2 cups of softened butter (1 stick)

1 - 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups confectioner (powdered) sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees  *Since I've notice my oven does not always heat properly I actually preheated to 300 degrees and then when I put the cake in turned it down to 275

2. Grease and flour a 9x13" pan

3. In a small bowl, mash up banana & lemon; set aside

4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside *I added about a tablespoon of Cinnamon

5. In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy. *this is where I love my KA standmixer

6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla extract

7. Add in approximatively on cup of flour mixture, mixing alternately with buttermilk (approx. 1/2 cup) until all flour mixture and buttermilk is added.

8. Stir in banana mixture.

9. Pour batter into pan, bake for approximatively one hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

10. Remove from oven and place directly into freezer for 45 minutes, this will make the cake very moist. *For you cold weather ladies, I stuck my cake outside with the snow (as long as it wasn't currently snowing or raining)

11. While cake is chilling prepare the frosting, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth

12. Beat in vanilla extract.

13. Add in about half of powdered sugar, beat at low speed until combined, then beat at high speed until smooth.

14. Taste frosting, continue adding powdered sugar until frosting reaches your desired sweetness *I never add the total 3 1/2 cups of adding powdered sugar 

15. Spread frosting over cooled cake

16. Sprinkle walnuts over frosting

~ Homemade Goddess