Spring Pastel Layer Cake

Cook's Illustrated White Layer Cake

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 cup whole milk (at room temperature)

6 large egg whites (3/4 cup) (at room temperature)

2 teaspoons almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 stick (12 tbsp) butter, unsalted, softened but still cool

2 9" round cake pans or 3 6" square pans

Directions

With oven rack in the center of the oven, preheat the oven to 350° F.

Prepare your baking pans, spray with Baking Spray or grease with butter. Line the bottom with wax or parchment paper and spray/grease that as well. Dump a few tablespoons of flour in each and shake it around until coated with flour. Invert and bang to remove excess flour.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the warm milk, egg whites, almond and vanilla extract.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix on low until the dry ingredients have blended. Loosely cut the butter into chunks and add to the dry flour mixture. Blend on low until the mixture looks somewhat like bread crumbs.

Slowly add in all but 1/2 cup of the milk mixture and blend for 1 1/2 minutes on medium speed (high if using a hand-held mixer). Mix in the remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and blend, scraping down the sides occasionally, and beat for another 20 seconds.

Divide batter evenly between your prepared pans. My small square pans used 2 1/4 cups batter each. Place the pans in the oven, staggering them so that they are 3" from the oven walls and each other. Use a second rack if necessary. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, the tops are lightly browned and the cake is just pulling away from the edges.

Total baking time in smaller pans was 18-20 minutes in a convection oven. 2 9" round cake pans bakes for about 23-25 minutes.

Take them from the oven and let them rest on a wire rack for about 3 minutes. Then invert them, peel off the wax paper, then turn them back right side up on the wire rack until they've cooled completely. (I left mine upside down so the tops would flatten while they cooled.)

If using the next day, freeze your cake layers by wrapping them individually or place in separate plastic bags and freeze. Remove the next morning in order to begin a crumb coat.

The only change I made to this frosting recipe, was to reduce the butter by two tablespoons. Next time, I would also make an extra 1/4 to 1/2 batch of frosting to have extra for the filling and crumb coat.

Whipped Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients

3 sticks butter, at room temperature, cut into chunks

3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar

3 tbsp whole milk

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Wilton Violet Food Coloring/Icing Gel

Wilton Teal Food Coloring/Icing Gel

Directions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the butter for 8 minutes on medium speed (#4 on a KitchenAid). Note: Make sure to set the timer and go the full 8 minutes. During this time the butter changes texture, becomes lighter in color and very fluffy.

On low speed, add the remaining ingredients, blending for another minute. Turn the mixer back up to medium speed and blend for 6 minutes more. This frosting is so whipped and fluffy, it is best used right away for spreading consistency.

Divide the frosting into three bowls, with a slightly greater amount for your top color. This color was made using Wilton Violet. Tint the bottom layer's frosting with Wilton Teal, then tint the middle layer also with the Teal color, just make sure it's lighter in shade.

Assembly

Ingredients

cake layers

frosting (3 colors)

2 small packages pastel Hershey's Eggies

silver dragées and blue jimmies

Directions

Using a sharp, serrated knife, gently cut the rounded tops of each cake layer so that they are flat. Place one layer on the bottom of your cake dish, smearing a tiny dollop of frosting underneath to hold it in place. If you wish, slide pieces of waxed paper around the bottom to capture icing drips.

Spread the desired thickness of frosting/filling on top of this layer. Then, using the side of a large knife, crush the Hershey Eggies into large chunks. Scatter them over the layer. Place the second layer on top. Frost then scatter with Eggies again. Place the final layer on top. Smooth a modest amount of frosting over the entire cake's top and sides to make a thin Crumb Coat, just enough to fill in any gaps and create a smooth finish.

Place the cake into the fridge for at least 20 minutes to set the crumb coat. Then remove and set on a cake spinner if you have one.

Using a large offset spatula, dollop a large amount of Violet frosting. Smooth it across and slightly over the edge.

Then using the darker teal color, gently place frosting around the bottom of the cake.

Repeat using the lighter teal frosting, gently patting around the cake in the center.

Using an slightly angled offset spatula or a bench scraper, slowly drag the icing across from one side to the other. Remove the excess frosting from your scraper. Repeat and blend all four sides. The different shades of icing will begin to blend and make a variety of new shades and create an ombre effect. This technique is not perfectly smooth (as you can see from my photos) but makes a pretty minimalistic cake. Scatter the top with the silver dragées and jimmies. Alternative, a large rose or a few peonies would look gorgeous on top as well.