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Birthday Cake — 8", Two Layers

Vanilla or chocolate, buttercream, a name piped on top. Serves 10–12.

Makes

One 8-inch two-layer cake, 12 slices

Hands on

2 h 15

All in

5 h

Oven

175 °C (350 °F)

What you need

• 2½ cups (625 ml)all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (500 ml)granulated sugar
• 1 cup (250 ml)butter, soft
• 3eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup (250 ml)milk, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp (15 ml)baking powder
• 2 tsp (10 ml)vanilla
• ½ tsp (2 ml)salt
• 1½ cups (375 ml)butter, soft — for the buttercream
• 5 cups (1.25 L)icing sugar — for the buttercream
• 3–4 tbsp (45–60 ml)cream — for the buttercream

How it goes

1. 1

   Everything at room temperature. Cold eggs and cold milk split a batter and a split batter bakes dense — this is the step that decides the cake.

2. 2

   Heat the oven to 175 °C (350 °F). Butter two 8-inch pans, line the bottoms with parchment circles, butter again.

3. 3

   Beat the butter and sugar 5 full minutes until very pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating a minute after each.

4. 4

   Add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the milk in two, starting and ending with dry. Mix only until it disappears each time.

5. 5

   Divide between the pans and bake 28–32 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out and cool completely — at least two hours. Warm cake melts buttercream.

6. 6

   Buttercream: beat the butter 5 minutes alone until it is almost white, then add the icing sugar a cup at a time, then the cream. Beat until it is light rather than sweet-and-heavy.

7. 7

   Level the layers with a serrated knife. Crumb coat thin, chill 20 minutes, then the final coat. The crumb coat is what makes a homemade cake look finished.

A couple of things

• Beating the butter alone before any sugar goes in is what separates buttercream that people eat from buttercream people scrape off.
• Spread over two days if you can: bake one day, fill and ice the next.

Contains : wheat, milk, eggs