I decided for my mom's birthday I wanted to make her a cake straight out of Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz. I have slowly been working my way through the book and making things along the way. This was the perfect occasion to try it!
INGREDIENTS:
(makes 3, 8-inch rounds)
- 3 cups Cake Flour
- 2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 ½ tsp. Kosher Salt
- ½ tsp. Baking Soda
- 2 sticks Unsalted Butter, room temp
- 1 ¾ cups Granulated Sugar
- ¼ Vegetable Oil
- 5 Egg Yolks
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tbs. Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Buttermilk
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare your pans by lining them with parchment and spraying them with non-stick spray.
In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, on low combine the sugar, butter, and oil.
Once smooth, increase the speed to medium-high, scraping down the sides until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Reducing the speed to medium, add the yolks, a couple at a time, beating well between each addition, followed by the whole eggs. Beat on medium-high until the mixture is light and thick. Beat in the vanilla.
On low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet until the flour has mostly disappeared. Add half the buttermilk until just combined. Then add the remaining flour in two additions, alternating with the rest of the buttermilk.
Once the last of the flour has disappeared, take it out of the stand mixer and use a spatula to fold the batter several times.
Divide the batter among the pans. Stagger the pans in the oven so there is none directly above another. Bake for 30-35 minutes until cakes pull from the sides of the pans a bit, are golden and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Switch racks and rotate the cakes after 25 minutes.
Let the cakes cool completely before decorating!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare your pans by lining them with parchment and spraying them with non-stick spray.
In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, on low combine the sugar, butter, and oil.
Once smooth, increase the speed to medium-high, scraping down the sides until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Reducing the speed to medium, add the yolks, a couple at a time, beating well between each addition, followed by the whole eggs. Beat on medium-high until the mixture is light and thick. Beat in the vanilla.
On low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet until the flour has mostly disappeared. Add half the buttermilk until just combined. Then add the remaining flour in two additions, alternating with the rest of the buttermilk.
Once the last of the flour has disappeared, take it out of the stand mixer and use a spatula to fold the batter several times.
Divide the batter among the pans. Stagger the pans in the oven so there is none directly above another. Bake for 30-35 minutes until cakes pull from the sides of the pans a bit, are golden and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Switch racks and rotate the cakes after 25 minutes.
Let the cakes cool completely before decorating!
Claire recommends leveling the cakes before stacking but I found my cakes were actually really level already, except one. So I sliced a little off that one and place it on the top upside down.
I used my Buttercream Frosting recipe, linked here. Admittedly I only made half the recipe, but probably should have made the full recipe to have a really thick layer of frosting between cake layers.
Nonetheless, I did a really quick crumb coat and topped it with some strawberries for a little color.
I was feeling super uninspired in the decorating department, just one of those days.
I highly recommend placing it in the fridge if you're not ready to eat. Although I also recommend you take it out of the fridge about 20-30 minutes before serving so it's not too cold either.
If you try this recipe let me know! The only downside, in my opinion, is it takes SO many eggs. I did find the flavor to be beyond the box mix and "special". It seemed like everyone enjoyed it. In the future, I think a flavored filling or chocolate frosting would take this up a notch for me.
As always, if you would like to save this recipe to your Pinterest or share it with friends feel free to use this image!