Grown-Up Birthday Cake
Tips: Line your cake pans with parchment circles to make sure the layers turn out without a hitch. And if you run into any trouble with lumps in the frosting, just whisk like mad till it smooths out.
Tips: Line your cake pans with parchment circles to make sure the layers turn out without a hitch. And if you run into any trouble with lumps in the frosting, just whisk like mad till it smooths out.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- yellow cake:
- 2 1/2 cups ap flour
- 1 cup white wine or muscat
- 7 ounces raspberry jam preferably homemade, but i used bonne maman or apricot jam
- bittersweet chocolate buttercream icing:
- 1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- Carbohydrate 1184.25900036125 g
- Cholesterol 4474.025 mg
- Fat 251.498690004639 g
- Fiber 15.9150002798105 g
- Protein 184.946290048902 g
- Saturated Fat 97.7368400007338 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (2338g)
- Sodium 5207.00100605055 mg
- Sugar 1168.34400008144 g
- Trans Fat 26.3951140015385 g
- Calories 7695 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Butter and lightly flour nine-inch cake pans. Line with parchment
- Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a standing mixer, blend sugar and eggs on med-high for a minute. Slowly mix in vanilla, wine, and oil.
- Gently fold dry ingredients into cake batter until smooth.
- Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes until cake tester comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.
- Spread jam on one layer; then top with the other. Frost top layer with icing.
- Blend butter and sugar. Fold in cocoa and gradually add milk until it starts to look like icing. Mix in vanilla.
Overmixing the batter remains the fastest way to turn a tender cake dense because excess gluten development ruins the crumb structure. Incorporating the dry ingredients into the wet mixture requires a gentle folding motion until just combined.
- Sift the 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon baking soda together thoroughly to distribute the chemical leavener evenly, preventing bitter pockets in the baked layers.
- Line the nine-inch pans with parchment paper circles after greasing them to guarantee the baked layers release cleanly without tearing.
- Whisk the eggs and granulated sugar on medium-high speed for precisely one minute to dissolve the sugar granules and incorporate enough air for proper rising.
- Substitute regular unsweetened cocoa powder for the Dutch-processed cocoa only if necessary, though Dutch-processed powder provides a smoother flavor profile and darker color due to its neutralized acidity.
Cool the baked layers completely on wire racks before applying the raspberry jam filling and bittersweet chocolate buttercream. Trapped heat melts the butterfat in the frosting and destabilizes the stacked layers.
