Cake Slice Bakers - July 2013: Boston Cream Pie-lets

Today the girls of The Cake Slice Bakers and I come at you with Boston Cream Pie-lets. In a way I’m glad I got another chance to make some Boston Cream Pie because last year’s cake didn’t go so well. This year’s cake did turn out much better, but yet gain I had trouble with the pudding. Gosh-darn pudding always seems to give me trouble!

Despite my pudding handicap, this cake turned out so much better than last year’s pie I think.

This cake uses so butter. In fact, the cake gets it height from whipped cream. And boy did this cake grow! I really didn’t expect the cake to grow so tall. And it’s so light on the tongue. Is that weird to say? Oh well. It really is a fabulous cake.

 

The pudding I’m assuming would taste oh so amazing if it had actually set up properly. The recipe calls for a vanilla bean, something I have never used ever! So that was actually pretty exciting. And even though my pudding didn’t set up, I still used it. I know I cooked it for long enough, it just didn’t want to set up. I put some of the vanilla sauce (that’s what I’m calling it) on the bottom of the glass and on top of the first layer of cake. The sauce absorbed into the cake and made for a wonderful texture. I don’t know how to describe the texture without it sounding gross. How about it feels like cold ice cream running through a thick slice of warm cake? Am I the only one that loves when that happens? Yes? No? Ok let’s move on.

The ganche that tops this cake has been used several times in our baking adventures for this book and as always I am very pleased with the results. I didn’t have any bar chocolate or normal sized chips on hand so I used 4 oz. of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips along with the cream and it still turned out fabulously!

All together this cake is pretty great. Not in my top favorites for this year, but definitely a contender. I think I would have liked the cake a little more if I poured the vanilla sauce over the top layer of cake too. And even though I am pudding challenged, my absolute favorite part was the vanilla pudding sauce just because of the vanilla beans. I can’t wait to use vanilla beans again!

 

Boston Cream Pie-lets
Slightly adapted from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
Cake
1 cup (minus 2 tbsp.) unbleached all-purpose flour*
2 tbsp. corn starch*
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup heavy cream, cold
½ cup + 2 tbsp. sugar
1 egg + 1 egg white (use yolk for pudding)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

*or you can use 1 cup cake flour

Pudding/Sauce
½ vanilla bean
2 cups milk
½ cup sugar, divided
4 egg yolks
¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. corn starch
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed

Ganache
½ cup heavy cream
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chips

Directions
Line an 8x8 inch square cake pan with foil. Do not grease the foil. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

To make the cake: Sift together the flour and corn starch several times. This is to get the consistency of cake flour. Or alternatively you can just use 1 cup of cake flour. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment whisk the cold heavy cream on high speed until soft, droopy peaks form. Turn the speed down to medium-low and gradually pour in the sugar. Whip the mixture until stiff peaks form. Turn the speed down to low and add the egg and egg white followed by the vanilla. With the speed still on low whisk in the flour mixture into the whipped cream in three parts. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the ingredients have been incorporated evenly.

Pour the batter into the foil-lined pan. Bake on the center rack for 20-22 minutes or until the top is slightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack while you make the pudding.

To make the pudding: Slice the vanilla bean in half, length wise. Scape out the seeds from one half of the pod and place them, along with the pod, in the sauce pan. Add the milk and a few tablespoons of sugar to the sauce pan. Place the pan over medium heat and heat until the milk is hot. While the milk is heating, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining sugar. Stir in salt and corn starch. Stir 1/3 of the hot milk over the egg yolks. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over medium-low heat until mixture begins to thicken. Strain mixer over a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Whisk in the butter until melted.

To make the ganache: In a small sauce pan, bring cream to a simmer. Place the chopped chocolate or chips into a large, heat proof bowl. Add the hot cream to the bowl. Swirl the bowl to ensure even coverage of cream on the chocolate. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap for 5 minutes. Remove lid and whisk the chocolate from the middle and outwards. Start with small circles in the middle and move outwards until all the chocolate has melted.

To assemble: Cut 2 ½ inch circles in the cake. You will get four circles, so you can use the left over cake for another 2 servings. Cut each circle in half horizontally so you have 8 circles. Place a few tablespoons of pudding on the bottom of a glass, top with one cake circle. Dollop a few more tablespoons of hot  pudding on top of the cake and top the pudding with another cake round. Cover the top cake with the chocolate ganache. Cover the cakes with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

Cake Slice Bakers - January 2013: The Classic

There was another tie for this month’s Cake Slice Bakers cake. We seem to be having a lot of those lately, but I kind of like them. Usually the cake I really want to bake is one of the options in the tie, so I get my way and eat cake that I know I will like. Selfish, yes, but I don’t care. I would much rather bake a cake that I will eat instead of bake a cake that I know I won’t eat.

The tie was between The Classic and Banana Cake with Coffee Walnut Buttercream. I know I have said before that I do not like fruits and most vegetables. I’ve been told I used to eat them all the time when I was a baby, but I don’t remember a single day in my life when I enjoyed eating a fruit or vegetable. Bananas are one of the ones that I know for sure I do not like. I have tried it multiple times alone and in smoothies. Bananas are not my thing at all, so you can tell right away which cake I decided to bake.

I made this cake for my birthday on January. I’m now 19… and I feel old. I know you’re laughing because 19 isn’t old, but I feel old. I recently found out the Polar Express came out when I was in the 5^th grade, now I’m a freshman in college, tell me that’s not old!

This cake really, truly is The Classic. It’s a yellow cake with fudgy chocolate frosting, and what’s more classic than those two flavor combinations, riddle me that! I really wanted to post it on the 7^th because I was that excited about this cake, but I abided by the rules and waited two full weeks to tell you all about this fabulous cake.

The yellow cake flavor is spot on. It’s springy, yet dense and moist at the same time. Not to mention the color is an oh so lovely and classic yellow. And the chocolate frosting? My, my, what a delight that was. There are only three ingredients in this frosting: brown sugar, heavy cream, and semi-sweet chocolate. Those three ingredients produce the best chocolate frosting I have yet to taste. I do have to warn you that using chopped chocolate will probably be much easier to melt than chocolate chips. My chips didn’t melt all the way and I spend an hour picking out chocolate chunks. I also halved the recipe below to make just one two-layer cake.

The Classic

From Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson

Makes one three-layer cake

Ingredients

Cake

1 1/3 cup (5 1/3 oz.) sifted cake flour

¾ cup + 2 tbsp. (4 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups (14 oz.) sugar

½ cup canola oil

1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract

4 egg yolks, room temperature

3 eggs, room temperature

½ cup buttermilk, room temperature

½ cup heavy whipping cream, cold

Fudge Frosting

1 lb. semi-sweet chocolate, chips or chopped

2 cups heavy whipping cream

½ cup (3 ¼ oz.) dark brown sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place a medium bowl (not plastic) in the refrigerator to chill. Line the bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Grease each pan and set aside.  

To make the cake: sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk together the mixture to ensure all ingredients are blended together.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer’s speed to low and drizzle in the oil and vanilla. Mix until combined; the mixture may look a little curdled. Blend in the egg yolks and whole eggs one at a time, adding the next as soon as the previous one has disappeared. With the mixer still on low speed, gently add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk in two parts, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl every once in a while to make sure all ingredients are being blended together.

Take the chilled bowl out of the refrigerator and pour the heavy cream into it. Whisk the heavy cream to soft peaks with a hand held whisk (just do it, it’s a nice arm workout). Gently fold the cream into the cake batter. Divide the batter equally between each prepared pan (approximately 1 lb. 6 oz. of batter will go into each pan). Gently tap the pans on the counter to release any air bubbles.

Bake until the cakes the tops spring back when lightly touched, about 35-40 minutes. I would check the cakes around the 30 minute mark though, just in case. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Flip the cakes out of their pans, leaving the parchment paper on until you assemble the cake. Let the cakes continue to cool on the rack, top side up, until they reach room temperature.

To make the frosting: put the chocolate into a medium heat-resistant bowl. Combine the cream and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the cream begins to simmer, remove from the heat quickly and pour the liquid over the chocolate. Swirl the bowl to confirm that all the chocolate is coated in hot cream. Place a lid or plastic wrap over the bowl and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. Remove the lid or plastic wrap and slowly begin to whisk the mixture, starting with small circles in the middle and working your way outward until you have smooth, glossy frosting. Stir the frosting every 5-10 minutes until it reached spreading consistency, about an hour. If the frosting stiffens up, put it in a warm place to soften up.

To assemble the cake: cut each cake layer in equal halves to create four layers. Lay one of the two cake bottoms (cut side up) on a flat plate. Using an offset spatula, frost the top with ½ cup of frosting, spreading it out to the edge of the cake. Next, align the one of the top two layers (cup side up) on top of the frosted cake and spread another ½ cup of frosting over the top of the cake. Stack the last layer (cut side down) on top of the frosted second layer. Apply a thing layer of frosting around the cake to cream a “crumb coat.” Place the cake in the fridge until the frosting is firm, about 10 minutes. Take the cake out and frost the cake with the remaining frosting.

This cake will keep up to three days when stored in an airtight container.  

Vanilla Cupcakes for Four

It’s been a really long time since I last posted. But I’m still alive. I’ve survived two weeks of college. The first week was… shall I say interesting? Not a bad interesting, but just a new experience interesting.

I really like most of my professors so far. My engineering teacher is kind of hard to understand (he’s Romanian) but he’s sweet. He assigned this research paper last week. We had to go to the Clemson website and select a professor in the engineering field we are interested in and find stuff out about what their research topics are. I learned a lot about Robust Parameter Design. It’s actually really interesting! (Robust Parameter Design is the thing that finds problems in your products before it’s put on the market.)

My chemistry teacher is pretty ok. So far she’s only going over stuff that I already now about chemistry, but I guess you have to start somewhere. My chemistry lab professor on the other hand is kind of silly. He’s Indian and has an accent and he’s kind of adorable in a crazy way. By the way, if you follow me on instagram (rblooney) you can see my awesome lab coat and goggles I have to wear at all times while in that class.

My math teacher is so-so. I’m in an analytical geometry and calculus class and so far I’m just not getting it. I took pre-calc in high school, but all the stuff I learned in that class just left my brain and I’m kind of lost. I’m just replying on patterns that I see in the problems right now. I’ve also been going to this tutoring thing, so maybe if I attend all that I can it’ll start to click.

My English class is pretty ok so far. I was totally afraid of taking the class because of my professor, though. I went to a professor rater website and every. Single. Comment. On her profile was terrible. So far I haven’t seen the bad side. She seems funny and likeable and just wants things done a certain way. But there is a place at school that reads your essay and edits it for you before you turn it in, so I’ll be going there a lot because I’m not taking any chances.

My absolute favorite class is my history class. My teacher is this oldish (he’s like grandpa old but not like super-duper old) and he is so loveable and all over the place. I can tell he really loves history, which makes me love the subject even more. My 8^th grade history teacher actually got me into history so much that I thought about pursuing history as a major, but then I had government and geography, which are two subjects I really don’t like, and then I had world history, which isn’t all that interesting to me, and then my U.S. history teacher junior year was just awful. But I’m glad I’m liking the class because he’s really fun.

Anyways, I made these cupcakes the first couple days in my new apartment/dorm. It’s an adapted version of Jessica’s cupcakes for two on How Sweet it Is. Instead of two, I made four. It was interesting baking in a new oven and in a place that isn’t a mile above sea level. But then again I’ve never had any trouble with any recipe that I’ve made when baking at sea level. I don’t believe those “high-altitude horror stories”.

So have a good Labor Day and enjoy a cupcake, or two.

Vanilla Cupcakes for Four

Adapted from How Sweet it Is

Makes 4 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 large egg, room temperature

¼ cup (96 g) sugar

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ cup (60 g) all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

3 tbsp. milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with 4 liners; set aside.

Whisk the egg and the sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla and stir in the melted butter. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir until smooth. Stir in the milk.

Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan with a cookie scoop. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Makes more than enough for 4 cupcakes

Ingredients

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 tsp. water

Directions

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together. Add in the vanilla extract. Add water 1 tsp. at a time until the frosting has reached desired consistency.

Frost cool cupcakes.

Eat and be happy.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella Swirl

Oh Nutella. I’m pretty sure everyone is in the know about this creamy hazelnut spread that is unless you live under a rock.

When I lived in Puerto Rico my parents would drop me off at Monsé’s house. Monsé was my nanny-baby sitter lady who not only took care of me and my sister, but about ten other different kids as well. She was like superwoman (in my eyes). I absolutely adored her. And when all the kids were behaving, she would let each of us pick a candy from her store (yeah, this woman had a candy shop built into her home!). I would sometimes go for a gummy hamburger, but most of the time I would chose a case of Nutella. These little cases came in the shape of the Nutella jar and came with a little plastic spatula to eat off of. It was the most magical thing ever I thought.

After we moved, I stopped eating Nutella. I don’t know why, but I’ve pretty much stayed clear of it. I think my fondness for peanut butter took over. But just the other day I had a sudden urge to use Nutella. I looked under all the recipes I had using Nutella and I found about four. Yeah, that doesn’t help much. I considered making donuts, but I wasn’t in the mood for donuts. Then I thought about making Nutella oat bars, but when I asked my sister if she’d rather have Nutella oat bars or Self-frosted Nutella cupcakes, she leaped at the cupcakes. So cupcakes it was.

I was looking at the reviews for the self-frosted cupcakes and none were too pleasant. Most of the comments were centered on the cupcakes being too dry. I searched and searched, but the only recipe I could find were very similar recipes to that one I had bookmarked. Instead of going with a mediocre cupcake recipe I decided to just get a really good vanilla cupcake base and swirl on some Nutella.

Kristin is the author of the beautifully written The Pastry Affair. I can get lost in her posts all the time. And those pictures, my god those pictures she takes are so stunning. Sometimes they make me want to cry. It’s sad, I know. Kristin’s blog is where I found the most heavenly vanilla cupcakes you will ever try, really. They are soft and delicate, not to mention so, so airy! I don’t think I’ve ever liked a cupcake more. Plus, the addition of a little swirl of Nutella makes it all the better, but next time I’m going to give these babies the true royal treatment and top them with some kind of fluffy frosting.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella Swirl
Recipe slightly adapted from The Pastry Affair
Idea from Self-Frosted Nutella Cupcakes
Makes about 9 cupcakes

Ingredients
¾ cup + 2 tbsp. (112 grams) cake flour
¾ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (96 grams) sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 ½ tbsp. Greek yogurt (full fat, low fat, or fat free)
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
Nutella

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set the bowl aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar until well combined, about 2 minutes. The mixture won’t look light and fluffy like normal. Add the egg and beat well on medium. Add the yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer down to low and gradually add the flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly stream the milk in and beat on low until the batter has become smooth.

Fill the lined muffin tins about 2/3 full. Take your Nutella (as much or as little as you want) and melt it in the microwave. This will make it easier to swirl into the batter. Once the Nutella has melted add about 1 tsp. to the tops of each cupcake. Swirl the Nutella with a tooth pick.

Place muffin pan in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center. Place pan on a cooling rack and allow cupcakes to cool completely before serving. 

Classic White Cake with Whipped Vanilla Frosting

While I was exploring a new part of the world, my sister was in Costa Rica! Yes, Costa Rica. It really surprised me.

In my high school every year Spanish 3 students get this schpeal about going to Spanish speaking countries for a considerable amount of time (either a 2 week trip, or a 4 week trip). I am terrible at Spanish (I can semi-understand people speaking it and I can read it, but I can’t speak it myself). I also have a huge comfort zone. I don’t like going outside and I don’t like trying weird exotic foods. I know I sound like a snob, but I don’t care. This is me.

My sister, however, got really into it. And all because of this new program that the Walking Tree Company (the name of the tour group) had come up with. If she decided to go, she would be going to Costa Rica for 14 days, 10 of which would be spend in the jungles helping out sea turtles! Yes, I was slightly jealous that this program wasn’t available when I took Spanish 3, but then again Becca + Jungle = Unhappy. It seemed like every day she would get more and more excited about going the trip. When it was apparent that she was committed to doing this, my parents signed her up.

My sister ended up leaving the day before I did and got back the following Tuesday of my return home. Now my sister absolutely loves eating cake, donettes, brownies, cookies, sour gummy worms, and all that jazz (She’s also a big Shirley Temple drinker and hamburger eater.) So in honor of her arrival back to civilization, I made her a white cake with vanilla frosting, her favorite!

She must have really enjoyed it, because she ate three slices in about 10 minutes. And even though she said she had an amazing time in Costa Rica, she said she was just happy to be home and eat some real food. It turns out that she ate rice and beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a majority of the time. And she was only allowed to have dessert on the last night of her stay in Costa Rica. Yup, I could definitely not handle that at all.

This cake really did not last long, no more than 12 hours once it was presented. It’s super soft and springy with the slightest hint of almond for sweetness. It really was delicious. And the frosting, although not my favorite, was definitely tasty. But be careful, the frosting gets very soft when not refrigerated. So keep the frosted cake in the fridge until a few minutes before serving.

Classic White Cake
From Baking Illustrated
Makes one 9 inch round cake

Ingredients
1 cup + 2 tbsp. cake flour
½ cup milk, room temperature
3 egg whites, room temperature
1 tsp. almond extract
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup +1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan with cooking spray, line the bottom with a round of parchment paper (you can just trace the pan and then cut), and grease the parchment. Set aside.

Whisk together the milk, egg whites, almond extract, and vanilla extract into a small bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt on low speed. Add the butter slowly and beat until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add half of the milk mixture to the crumbs. Beat on medium speed for 1 ½ minutes. Add the remaining milk mixture and beat for 30 more seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl, making sure to get the batter at the bottom of the bowl incorporated. Return the speed to medium and beat batter for another 20 seconds.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter and smooth the top. Place on the center rack and bake for about 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake rest in the pan for a few minutes before inverting it onto a cooling rack. Let the cake cool completely before frosting, about 1 ½ hours.

Whipped Vanilla Frosting
Adapted from Sweetopolita
Makes enough to crumb coat and frost one layer cake; plus about 1 cup extra

Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
1 ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Food coloring (if desired)

Directions
Beat butter on medium speed for 8 minutes in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. The butter will become very cream and pale.

Turn the speed down to low and add the remaining ingredients. Mix for 1 minute. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another 6 minutes. The frosting will be very light and fluffy. Add a small amount of food coloring.

Best used right away for ideal spreading consistency.

Lady Baltimore Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Last week I mentioned that I was turning 18 in a few days. Well I am now 18 and I am proud to say I have not done anything stupid like get a tattoo; however, one of my friends said he was going to take me to a strip club….

Annnyyways, what is a birthday without cake? A pretty sad one I would say. For the past two birthdays (first my sister’s and then my mom’s) I have been making the birthday cakes. I think it’s more special and fun that way; plus you get to control what’s going into the cake and what grocery store bakery would bake a brown sugar cake? Not many I am sure. Last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and so on, I had a store-bought cake. Well not this year; this year I opted to make my own birthday cake.

For Christmas my dad got me this really cool multi-tiered cake pan. It’s square, but it has four molds that create a three-tiered cake look. I knew I wanted to try it out at some point, and it took me all of two seconds to come to the decision that I would make my birthday cake in my new cake pan-toy. And, just so you know, it is awesome! If you properly grease the pan, the cakes come straight out and they look so adorable. The only thing I recommend is that you slice the tiers before frosting the cake because for one, it’s easier to frost, and two, you get to have a filling like a real tiered cake.

So this year I went with a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting-a.k.a a classic. I like the contrast of white and chocolate together. I originally only made two tiered cakes, but after my family and I ate both, I decided to make the cake again on Sunday (we celebrated on Saturday because I had to work on my actual birthday-the 6^th) because I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of the original cakes. The one I made on Sunday didn’t turn out nearly as pretty as the first two, but that’s ok, it still tastes great!

The cake itself is so fluffy and soft. And I think I may have mentioned before, that I am not a frosting person, I think that buttercream frostings are way too sweet (maybe I should give Swiss Meringue Buttercream a try?), but this chocolate frosting wasn’t too sweet; it was actually very tasty and soft. Then again, I did take out almost half a cup of powdered sugar out of the mix.

The recipe I have down below is enough to fill two of the multi-tiered cake molds or one 8 inch round cake pan. If you follow the link, it will give you the full recipe for a normal three-layer cake. The frosting recipe on the other hand is enough to frost a two-layer 9 inch cake or all four mini multi-tiered cakes.

**I know the pictures aren't too pretty, but that's what happens when the first "pretty" batch gets eaten and you remake the recipe in haste. 

Lady Baltimore Cake
Adapted from Sing for Your Supper

Ingredients
½ stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 pinches of salt
2 tbsp + 2 tsp milk
2 tbsp + 2 tsp water
½ tsp vanilla
2 egg whites, room temperature

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your chosen pan (if you actually have the multi-tiered cake pan, be sure to generously grease it) and set it aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until it is nice and fluffy. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together; set aside. Combine the milk, water and vanilla extract; set that aside too.
3. Add about a third of the flour mixture to the creamed butter-sugar mixture. Pour in about half of the liquid. Keep alternating the two until both are used up. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
4. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold stiffened egg whites into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan (if using the funky pan, don’t fill it more than the first two tiers). Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes (same time frame goes for the multi-tiered cake pan).
5. Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool before inverting it onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost the cake after is has been cooled completely.

Chocolate Frosting

Adapted from The Pastry Affair

Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups + 2 tbsp powdered sugar
2/3 cup natural cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until completely smooth (no lumps). Gradually add in the powdered sugar and some cocoa powder followed by a drizzle of milk. Keep doing this until you have used up the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and enough milk has been added for desired spreading consistency. Beat in the vanilla. Frost the cake to your hearts content.