Today is Sara's birthday - the big 2-8 - she's twenty-eight and feeling GREAT! As a long-time friend of Sara's - I can appreciate that she likes to celebrate each and ever birthday with a white cake from the grocery store - full of sugar and butter. Well, my goal this year was to make the "loblaws" cake with a homemade version... S-U-C-C-E-S-S!
I found a recipe on Katy's Sugarlaws blog -she pretty much described exactly what Sara wants in a cake - so I figured it was worth the time and effort to try out the recipe. Followed exactly - no substitutions or additions, this is a classic birthday cake.
Bonne fête my belle Sara!
Sara's Birthday Sheet Cake
ingredients:
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened (1 stick)
1/4 tsp vanilla salt
1/4 c. heavy cream
3/4 c. water
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 tbsp b. powder
2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, cream, water, egg yolks and egg until smooth.
Add 1 cup of flour and the b. powder, beat until combined.
Add the remaining 1 1/4 c. of flour, beat until combined.
Pour the batter into a cake pan (a larger pan) and bake for 40 minutes - your toothpick should come out clean.
Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream Frosting
ingredients:
1 1/2 c. white sugar
3 egg whites
1 1/2 c. butter, softened (3 sticks)
1 tbsp vanilla
food colouring
Heat the egg whites and sugar on a double boiler. Make sure that the water doesn't boil and touch the glass boil (otherwise your eggs might curdle), keep it at a simmer. Beat them until they triple in volume - about 6 minutes on high speed with your hand mixer.
Remove from heat and beat in the vanilla and butter slowly, one tbsp at a time. Once the butter is fully incorporated, refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
When you remove the frosting from the fridge, beat it again - adding food colouring for your desired colour. I kept most of the frosting white and then mixed a bit of pink and a bit of green for 2 additional colours.
Spread the buttercream over the sides and top of the cake. Use two coats - one light bottom coat and another smooth top coat.
Use a pastry bag to pipe any decorations over the top of the cake.
After using all this butter I think I'm ready to attempt a Barefoot Contessa recipe!
1 comment:
I do not like off white dense cake therefore I have been searching for a light and fluffy pure white birthday cake similar to the cakes available at Loblaws. I have tried various recipes from the internet but they are not what I am looking for. I am surprised that the recipe calls for 3 egg yokes and 1 whole egg. Would that not make the cake more on the yellowish side as well as heavier?
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