Anyways, back to cake, right after I got home from my successful road test I decided it was time to celebrate a bit. In came the cake (only several hours later)! This cake recipe is very simple and yields a nice big, white cake with beautiful and extremely tasty buttercream frosting. Below the recipe for the cake and frosting is a note on how to change the amounts used in the frosting for those cake decorators out there who want extra to do some fancy things like I did. The ribbon could use some work, and the rosettes are getting there, but hey it's the first time I've ever tried something like that, so I was pretty proud. To get the pink frosting, I simply used the extra buttercream frosting, added a couple drops of pink food coloring, and stuffed it in an icing bag. Enjoy!
Elegant White Cake with Buttercream Frosting |
Cake:
- 8 tbsp. butter, softened
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1¾ cups granulated or superfine sugar
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- ½ tsp. almond extract
- 5 large egg whites
- 2¾ cups cake flour
- 1 cup milk
Buttercream:
- 6 tbsp. unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup vegetable shortening
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- 4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ to ⅓ cup milk or cream
Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans OR butter and line with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, baking powder, sugar, salt and extracts until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes. Add the egg whites to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir 1/3 of the flour into the creamed mixture, then half the milk. Repeat process, ending with flour. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl down after each addition.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cake tests done.
Make the buttercream: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, shortening, and salt till fluffy. Add about half the confectioners' sugar, and beat slowly until well blended. Add the vanilla and half the milk or cream, and beat until fluffy. Continue mixing in sugar and milk alternately until they've been completely incorporated. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.
Frost the cakes once they have completely cooled down.