Tag: layer cake

Blueberry Cake





Whew- I can’t believe this week is finally over! I’ve spent the last two weeks, using every free minute I could find, researching and writing for this past weeks set of informational posts (My Blogging Journey, How to Create a Blog, Blogging Resources and Tips, and All-time Income Report). It probably wouldn’t have taken as long if I could have devoted a regular 8 hour work day to it… but I am a stay-at-home Mom and 8 hours of anything for myself is a long gone dream. You won’t hear me complain about that ever though! I get to stare into my beautiful childrens’ faces all day- even when they are screaming back into mine, it’s still a blessing.

I wanted to end this week with something a little less textbook like and a little more fun! An ordinary recipe post wasn’t going to cut it in my mind. It had to go out in a BANG. There is nothing more exciting and celebratory than a beautiful layer cake! Beautiful being the debated word in this case- I’m quite a second rate cake decorator haha.




But who can resist a layer cake? Unless, of course, you simply don’t like cake or desserts for that matter. I’ve noticed them to be one of the most re-pinned things on Pinterest. And there are all sorts of blogs devoted to just cakes and cake decorating.




Actually ya know what- I think the reign of the cupcake can give the layer cake a run for its money. Cupcakes are the “in” thing right now. Create fancy, custom cupcakes is the cool thing to do now a days. Haven’t you ever seen those reality tv shows solely devoted to cupcakes?? DC Cupcakes, Cupcake Wars…. it just blows my mind.

Seriously?  It’s insane. A TV show about cupcakes?

Confession: I just happen to be one of their biggest fans.




Wow, talk about a tangent. Back to this cake! So yes, I decided to do a layer cake because they are exciting. Even more fun than that though? A video! Yup : ) I did my very first video tutorial for today’s post. I can see why people don’t make those more often- they are a lot of work! Between the prep, taping, clean-up, and editing- it was probably a whole two day project. The result was awesome though. Or at least I was happy with it for my first video.

A while back I made some Strawberry Cupcakes and I LOVED the technique used to make them so much that I decided to take the same recipe but turn it into a Blueberry Layer Cake. Fun, right?

You don’t see much in the line of blueberry cake anywhere. It’s always about strawberry. I think that is because most of those recipes are created with a strawberry cake mix and strawberry jell-o. There is no blueberry cake mix or bluebbery jell-o (or is there?). Blueberry cake is pretty much only an option if you want to make a cake from scratch. I’ve actually seen a number of cake recipes that have you fold whole blueberries into the batter like a muffin. Yeah, that works. But I wanted to create a recipe where blueberry was the actual cake flavor.




And then there is the question as to how to frost the cake. Blueberry cream cheese. Oh yeaaaaaaaaaa.

I apologize about the ridiculous number of photos in this post too. Layer cakes are just too pretty to photograph. I had to narrow down my photo choices from like 20 photos that I couldn’t decide between. It was torture. Once I got to 8 photos I just couldn’t go any further. Aside from the grey-ish ting to the cake layers themselves, it is so pretty!




UGH- and sorry about the frost job. Cream cheese frosting is always so soft and hard to work with. Maybe you should try to cut back the cream cheese quantity to 12 ounces (1 1/2 blocks) and keep the confectioners’ sugar the same. That will thicken it up a bit more, not great, but more so than mine was. Plus, the frosting recipe makes for a TON of extra. What to do with it? Make more cake! Haha.

So check out my first video! And while you’re at it, learn how to make a Blueberry Layer Cake hehe

  • 1 (12 ounce) bag frozen blueberries
  • For the Cupcakes:
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • 4 egg whites, room temperature
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • ¼ cup blueberry reduction (from frozen blueberries)
  • 1 Tb white vinegar
  • For the Frosting:
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 5 to 6 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • remaining blueberry reduction
  • pinch salt
  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans or line a regular 12 cup muffin tin with paper cups.
  2. Transfer blueberries to bowl, cover, and microwave until blueberries are soft and have released their juice, about 5 minutes.
  3. Place in fine-mesh strainer set over small saucepan. Firmly press fruit dry; discard blueberry solids.
  4. Bring juice to boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until syrupy and reduced to ⅓ cup, 8 to 10 minutes. Whisk milk and vinegar into juice until combined; set aside.
  5. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
  6. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to evenly combine. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk mixture (beginning and ending with the flour), beating well after each addition.
  7. For layer cake, bake for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. For cupcakes, fill cups ⅔ full and bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
  8. For the Frosting: Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix butter and cream cheese on medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds.
  9. Add 5 cups confectioners’ sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated.
  10. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  11. Add reserved blueberry reduction and salt and mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Add additional 1 cup confectioners’ sugar to thicken frosting as desired. Refrigerate until ready to use, up to 2 days.
This makes A LOT of frosting. You can dial down the cream cheese amount to 12 ounces (1½ sticks) and keep everything else the same, if desired. This will make less frosting and will also make it a little thicker for decorating purposes.

 

Chocolatiest Chocolate Cake {w/Eggnog Icing!}

THIS CAKE. If there was ever a food so perfect that it could make time stop dead in its tracks, this is it.

If you’re still searching for the perfect showstopper of a dessert for Christmas or New Year’s, this is it: two layers of rich, chocolatey cake that’s so good you’ll have a hard time convincing people you made it from scratch (don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean) covered in the lightest, fluffiest, eggnogg-iest icing. I thought I was done with sweets for a while after that last batch of cookies, but this cake was totally worth it.

 

If I’ve learned one thing in the 30 years I’ve spent on this earth, it’s that a frosted layer cake is almost always the first thing to disappear from a dessert buffet. True story! People talk a good game about cheesecake and even pie, but when it comes down to it layer cake always wins. So, go ahead and make a huge one – people will thank you. I used a 9-inch cake pan and made two layers. (“They” say a cake this size should serve 40; I say it’ll feed about 22.)

Despite my love of layer cakes, I don’t make them very often at all (I’ve posted maybe two or three on this blog). If you want to know why, it’s because they’re kind of intimidating. I get it. So before I baked this one I did a bunch of research and I think it helped a lot. It’s still doesn’t look perfect (I have a new respect for baking bloggers) but I doubt anyone will care – especially after they’ve tried a bite.

Here are a few of the tips that made assembling this cake a fairly painless process:

  • Wrap soaking-wet strips of fabric around the outside edge of yours pans before you put them in the oven (you can even buy special “even bake” strips for this). I don’t understand the science behind this, but it makes your cake bake perfectly level – they won’t dome up over the top of the pan.  It makes the layers much easier to stack later on.
  • Take an extra minute or two to line the bottoms of your pan with parchment paper instead of just greasing them. Just trace around the bottom of the pan and cut out a circle (instead of trying to scrunch it in).
  • Let the cake cool in the pans for at last 30 minutes at room temperature. The pans should be cool enough to handle with your bare hands and the edges of the cake should start to pull away before you turn the cake out. If you rush things, the cake will be much more likely to stick.
  • “Invest” in an offset spatula instead of trying to use a butter knife or plastic spatula like I’ve done in the past. (I know, I’m so lazy. And cheap.) It’s unbelievable how much easier this makes to get a smooth, even layer of frosting!
  • Do a crumb coat. We’ve all heard of them, but have you actually done it? Instead of one thick layer of frosting, it’s so much easier to do two thin layers. The first one seals in the crumbs and, once it hardens a little, it’s so easy to spread a second, pristine layer right over top.
  • Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s cake. People will love it.

 

Chocolatiest Chocolate Cake {with Eggnog Icing!}

Ingredients

For the Cake:

  • 1¾ cups Gold Medal® organic flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup brewed coffee

For the Eggnog Icing:

  • ½ cup Gold Medal® organic flour
  • 1⅓ cups light eggnog
  • 1 teaspoon rum flavoring
  • 2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1⅓ cups sugar

Preparation

Make the Cake:

  1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Line the bottoms of two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Grease the paper, then lightly coat with cocoa powder.
  2. Add the flout, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Mix on low speed for 10-15 seconds, just long enough to combine the ingredients and break up and clumps. Pour in the yogurt, oil, eggs, vanilla, and coffee. Stir on low speed just long enough to combine the ingredients into a thin batter.
  3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean (the center of the cake might not appear done, but check it anyway.) Remove the pans from the oven and let the cakes cool for 30 minutes, or until the edges begin to pull away from the pan. Run the edge of a knife around the pan to loosen, then invert onto a cooling rack. Cool cakes completely (If time allows, wrap each layer in plastic and refrigerate overnight).

Prepare the Icing:

  1. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, whisk together the flour and eggnog. Cook until very thick and paste-like, about 5 minutes. Let cool completely. Stir in the rum flavoring.
  2. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the cooled eggnog mixture; beat on high speed until very light and fluffy – 3-5 minutes.

To Assemble the Cake:

  1. If necessary, trim the tops of the cake layers to flatten them. Place one layer on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread the top of the cake with 1½ cups of icing, making the layer as even as possible. Place the second cake layer on top. Use about 2 cups of frosting to cover the cake in a very thin layer (crumb coat). Let sit at least 15 minutes to allow the frosting to harden. Use the rest of the frosting to frost the cake as desired.

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This post was sponsored by Gold Medal Flour. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep me inspired in the kitchen.

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