11 bridesmaid bouquets!
(Don’t you like my nephew’s finger pointing to which raspberry he wants?)
(Again, I assembled these super late at night while we were doing a Settler’s of Catan tournament, so they aren’t they smoothest or most level cakes ever.) My notes are in italics.
Printable Recipe
Nonstick cooking spray
1 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 1/4 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting the pans
1 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
Set oven rack in middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour.
Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add cake flour, baking powder, and salt to mixer bowl and mix at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.
Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium speed and beat 20 seconds longer.
Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.
Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.
Assembling the cake
Make a double batch of the vanilla buttercream. Recipe below. (I only used one batch since it was so rich. It covered really well – only a few spots I had to fudge.)
Make a batch of raspberry curd (recipe below) and allow to cool completely.
Once cake layers have completely cooled, use a large serated knife to slice each layer in half horizontally.
Scoop about a cup of frosting into a piping bag with a large round tip (you can also use a ziplock bag and snip off the corner. I wouldn’t recommend doing that if you are piping swirls on top of cupcakes, but in this situation, it’s ok. No one will see what you’re piping).
Place strips of waxes paper around the plate or cake disk that you will be using for the cake. Pipe a small amount of frosting onto the center of your cake disk. This will serve as glue to hold the cake in place.
Place your first layer of cake, cut side up, on the disk. Pipe a thick ring around the edge of the cake. This will serve as a dam to keep the filling in the cake and prevent the layers from sliding around.
Spread ~1/3 to 1/2 cup of raspberry curd onto the cake. Add the top half of that cake and repeat. Add the bottom half of the other cake, cut side up again, and repeat. Place the top layer on the cake.
Apply a very thin layer of frosting on the cake. This will serve as a crumb coat and will help the final frosting to be smooth. Chill the cake for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Next, coat the cake with frosting and smooth it out. Decorate how you’d like!
Printable Recipe
20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups Confectioners’ sugar (10 ounces)
1/8 tablespoons table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
In standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds.
Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds.
Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.
Printable Recipe
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
Two 1/2-pints ripe raspberries or one 12-ounce package frozen raspberries, thawed
5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 to 3 tsp fresh lemon juice
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the raspberries, egg yolks, sugar, and salt and cook, mashing the berries and stirring frequently at first and them constantly at the end, until thickened, about 10 minutes.
Pour the mixture through a coarse strainer set over a bowl, pressing hard on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Cool to room temperature; the curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir in lemon juice to taste. Refrigerate, covere, until ready to serve, or for up to 1 month.
The recipe is from Beantown Baker and I didn’t alter a thing. I will say, however, that next time I’d use 9in pans – the 8in overflowed. (I didn’t have the smoothest icing job as I was literally assembling layers in between my turn on Settlers.) The recipe is long and time-consuming but oh so worth it!
Recipe after the break
Making this cake
1. Bake the cake layers. The cake layers can be made in advance and refrigerated or frozen. Layers should be completely cooled prior to assembling the cake
2. Make the Oreo filling
3. Stack the cake
4. Make the chocolate frosting
5. Frost and decorate the cake
Oreo Chunks
1 package Oreos
Remove 4 Oreos from the package for decorating the top of the cake.
Chop one row of the Oreos (1/4th of them), and set aside for the filling.
Chop one row of Oreos (1/4th of them), and toss with 1 Tbsp flour for the Oreo Layer and set aside.
Chop the remaining two rows of Oreos (1/2 of them), and toss with 2 Tbsp flour for the chocolate layers and set aside.
Oreo Cake Layer
1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup + 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp sugar
1.5 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 package Oreos, cut into quarters
Preheat over to 350F.
In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.
Bake for 25-30 min. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Chocolate Cake Layers (from Ina Garten)
butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
1/2 package Oreos, cut into quarters
Preheat the oven to 350. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans. (I’d use 9in)
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Stir in the Oreo chunks.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Oreo Filling
4 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 package Oreos, cut into quarters
Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup whipping cream until smooth. Add the rest of the cream and beat until it has the consistency of whipped cream (don’t overmix).
Reserve 1/2 cup to use to decorate the top of the cake. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Stir in the reserved Oreo chunks into the remaining whipped cream mixture. Immediately spread filling on top of the Oreo layer and one of the chocolate layers.
Chocolate Frosting
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp instant coffee powder
Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes.
Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy.
Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don’t whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.
Can you tell we had a blast in Seattle this weekend?!
After having a baby and everyone’s crazy summer schedule we finally got around to another supper club. I’m not going to remember the names of everyone’s dishes but Katie’s salmon appetizers were amazing!
Mike and I were in charge of the salad course and palette cleanser. We made a Grilled Shrimp “Ceviche” Salad from Gourmet’s Grilling Magazine.
This picture does not do justice to how colorful these veggies were – beets, brussel sprouts, squash – yum!
Champagne Sorbet – this was delicious and so refreshing! Recipe here. Sorry the pictures are so dark – we should do this in the middle of the day for good lighting.
I had some extra roses leftover and pulled them together into a spiralled bouquet. These make me want to do a pure cream rose wedding. (added bonus – it’d be budget savvy!)
