White Cake: Simple but Delicious

Strawberry-topped version from this summer
A few years ago, a friend of mine was getting married and asked if I would make cupcakes for her wedding.  As an amateur baker, I was both incredibly flattered and terrified.  What if people were just indulging me and my cakes were secretly garbage?  What if I messed up?  What if I forgot an ingredient?  What if.. what if... what if!

I immediately set to Pinterest to find recipes.  Originally I had grand ideas of espresso frosting with chocolate cupcakes and lemon cupcakes with a light raspberry frosting.  But I abandoned those ideas pretty quickly as 200 cupcakes was daunting enough without getting fancy beyond my capabilities.  So I decided to do 100 white cake cupcakes and 100 chocolate cake cupcakes.  I had a chocolate cake recipe, but I didn't have a quality white cupcake recipe.  So to Pinterest!

They turned out wonderfully, and all my "what if"s were put to rest.  One of the bride's friends had a family owned bakery and said mine were the best he had ever eaten.  They turned out splendidly, all 210 cupcakes.  I used my buttercream frosting for these, but you can use whatever you'd like.

Now, this cake is delicious.  Be aware that this is a 2-step cake.  At the time, I didn't think about it and just jumped in.  But around batch #4, hubby got reaaaaal tired of hand-whipping egg whites (talk about an arm work out!).  So make sure you're ready for this OR make sure you have 2 bowls for your mixer.

Closeup (those are edible pearls)
White Wedding Cake
Adapted from here

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs (separated, egg whites in a separate bowl)
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

  1. Beat butter until smooth.  Add sugar and continue beating until light and creamy.
  2. Mix in egg yolks one at a time.  Scrape sides of bowl as needed between adding each egg.
  3. Slowly add flour, baking powder, and milk, alternating between flour and milk.  Begin with some flour, then milk, etc.  Begin and end with flour.
  4. Stir in vanilla.
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites.  Either use a whisk attachment on your mixer or use a hand-held whisk (and prepare for an arm workout).  Whisk until the egg whites make stiff peaks.  Do not overbeat.
  6. Stir in about 1/2 cup of the egg whites (just estimate, no need to measure) to the original batter.  When fully incorporated, slowly mix in the rest of the egg whites.
  7. Pour into desired baking dish and bake at 350 degrees until top is domed and golden.  For 2 eight- or nine-inch pans, this is about 35 minutes.  To ensure the cake/cupcakes are done, insert a toothpick into the center.  It should come out clean if it's done.

The full arangement

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