I owe you an apology. The white cake recipe I’ve been using, it’s…well, it’s a pain in the ass. There’s no subtler way to put it. I’m sorry.
Sure, that cake is delicious—it’s cake!—but it’s not delicious enough to require four bowls, ample sifting, a whisk, a spatula, a mixer and whipped egg whites. Few things are.
After being asked to make a few Funfetti cakes earlier this year (and subsequently washing every mixing bowl I own and deep-cleaning sifted flour out of every crevice of my kitchen a few times), I realized the error of my overly-complicated ways and went back to the drawing board.
It should go without saying that it’s silly to rely on a recipe you dread making when you have the ability to make one that is simpler and yields better results.
Simpler and better is exactly what you’ll find with this new, improved White Cake recipe. This rich, tender, fine-crumbed cake is a one-bowl endeavor, and while it does require a mixer, you don’t have to sift anything or whip egg whites. I’m calling it a huge win.
This cake comes together differently than the others you’ll find on this site. Instead of the usual creaming method (creaming butter and sugar before adding eggs, dry ingredients and milk), this recipe is made using the reverse creaming method, which might be my new favorite way to make cakes. Let me walk you through the process.
Start by combining flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl—the only mixing bowl you’ll need for this recipe. Give those a good stir with a whisk or a low mixer before adding all your softened butter.
You read that correctly. Add all your softened butter directly to the dry ingredients.
Next up, use your mixer to combine the two. This will take a few minutes and produce a rubbly, sandy-looking mixture. The purpose of doing this is to coat the flour with fat before adding the liquid ingredients. The butter creates a barrier that impedes gluten-development, producing a softer, more tender cake.
And speaking of gluten-development, the last two steps are adding liquid ingredients (egg whites, extracts, and buttermilk), which are what will activate the gluten in the flour. Mix just until combined before dividing the batter into two pans and baking.
Once the cake layers are cool, you may fill and frost them however you like. I kept it simple this time around with a white buttercream (just my vanilla buttercream with less vanilla) and went for the naked cake look.
Ooooh. Ahhhhh.
You’ll love this White Cake for its buttery vanilla-almond flavor, fine crumb, and did I mention it only requires one bowl?????!!!!!🙌😍💪🍰🎉 
It’s great on its own, but is also a wonderful blank slate for all sorts of applications. Feeling like Funfetti? Add some sprinkles to the batter before baking. Embarking on your own wedding cake adventure? Layer it with Lazy Lemon Curd and finish it with a coat of Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Looking for the perfect fireworks-watching treat for your Fourth of July party? Give this recipe the Red, White & Blueberry treatment.
Or maybe get brave and wild and do all three, because this White Cake is just that simple and just that good.
White Cake
makes one 9-inch round layer cake
2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into small pieces
4 large egg whites, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
White Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)
3-5 tablespoons heavy cream
sprinkles and/or decorative sugar, if desired
Place an oven rack in the center position. Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment and grease again. Set aside.
Combine flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk ingredients together (I like to do this by running my mixer on its lowest speed for about a minute).
Add butter to dry ingredients. Run the mixer on low speed to mix in the butter until there are no large pieces and the texture is sort of rubbly. This will take a few minutes.
Add egg whites, vanilla, and optional almond extract to the bowl. Mix until combined. Running the mixer on medium, add the buttermilk in two installments and mix until combined. Scrape down the bowl to ensure even mixing.
Divide batter among prepared pans. Tap each full pan on the counter five times to release any large air bubbles. Bake layers on the center rack for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Let let layers cool in their pans for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edges of the layer before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Beat in confectioner’s sugar in two installments, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Beat in salt, vanilla, and optional almond extract. Add in heavy cream until desired consistency is reached. Frost and layer cooled cakes as desired. Top with sprinkles and/or decorative sugar immediately after frosting, if desired.
Layer cake will keep covered at room temperature for up to three days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
I make a lot of cakes—a lot. In any given month, I make at least ten, plus any that are tested and posted on this blog. What can I say? I have friends who like to celebrate and like my cakes. I’m flattered.
Of course, this means that making cake—something that once only brought joy—can sometimes be a slog. I don’t necessarily mind when baking feels like work (because it is my work), but I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t wait to come home and bake layers after a long day of blogging and personal cheffing. The joy understandably gets a little lost when I’m making a double batch of vanilla layers at 11pm on a Tuesday.
But when inspiration strikes and I can be creative, it could be 4am and I’d be psyched to be baking. My roommate might not particularly like it, but I’d be in heaven.
Such was the case last month when I made a cake for a 
And so that request for a strawberry element somehow meshed with vanilla and chocolate and became 
Y’all. Y’ALL. This cake. It is a thing. A real undertaking. A project best done over the course of two days. The most intricate cake work that’s ever been on this blog (aside from the 
But I am also completely obsessed with it. I mean, what’s not to love about this checkerboard chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry interior and the ruffled tricolor buttercream exterior? It’s the most fun!
The cake layers are all made from one batter. Once it’s mixed together, it’s divided in thirds. One is left plain—that’s the vanilla layer. Another is spiked with freeze-dried strawberries, and the last with cocoa powder and melted chocolate.
They’re baked, cooled, evened…
…and then punched into rings and reassembled.
And layered in a specific order with thin layers of vanilla buttercream.
And then decorated in the most fun (and shockingly easy!) ruffle pattern. Or, you know, however you like.
When all is said and done and sliced and served, all your friends’ minds will be blown at your Neapolitan Cake prowess. As they freaking should be.
Nobody throws a dinner party quite like my friend, David. He can make a multi-course meal for fifty without panicking for a second, and he’s been known to throw impromptu dinner & a movie nights for twenty without the slightest hesitation.
Both the man and his food are sophisticated without being pretentious—think ham smoked on his roof, cold salmon with dill & yogurt, habanero cheese grits, herby roasted potatoes, tomato & avocado salad with pesto, and a recipe for brussels sprouts that haunts my dreams. And that’s to say nothing of the things he can do with a Costco croissant and a bulb of fennel! I could go on, but the bottom line is that David makes unfussy food that is outrageously delicious, and if you are ever so lucky as to be invited for dinner at his apartment, you must must must go. If not for the main menu or the love of his three-legged cat, go for the Boterkoek.
If you have never heard of Boterkoek (pronounced “bow-ter-kook”), it’s Dutch for “butter cake,” and it’s about to be your new favorite dessert for any and all occasions. David is of Dutch descent and makes it frequently (usually from Heleen A.M. Halverhout’s 
As its name states, this cake is ridiculously buttery. It’s also sweet, simple, and the sort of thing that works just as well for dinner with friends as it does for delivering to new parents or keeping around to pick on over the course of a lazy weekend.
Boterkoek is made from a dough rather than a batter. It includes softened butter (duh), sugar, an egg, flour, vanilla and almond extracts, and minced candied ginger. There’s no leavener, but the final product isn’t terribly dense. I attribute that to beating the softened butter until it’s good and fluffy.
As with all of David’s go-to recipes, this one is decidedly unfussy. The most annoying part of making a Boterkoek is reserving a teaspoon of the beaten egg for brushing over the top of the cake. No bother, really. The thin layer of egg wash makes for a golden top, and a crosshatch pattern carved out with the tines of a fork gives way to crispy edges and a magazine-quality presentation.
I haven’t even mentioned the flavor! Boterkoek is rich and buttery with a touch of almond flavor and a little sharpness from the candied ginger. The texture falls somewhere between a cake, shortbread and a blondie—it’s best eaten with a fork when it’s warm, but can be handheld when it’s room temperature.
Boterkoek is what I like to call an everyday cake; it can be made easily with few ingredients, doesn’t require layering or frosting, and works for almost any casual occasion including, of course, a dinner party at David’s. Or, you know, watching Netflix in your oldest/best pajamas.
Either way, you shouldn’t skimp on the ice cream.
I sort of expected to have a little cake assembly drama to tell you about, but the truth is that it basically went off without a hitch.
When last we spoke, I painstakingly laid out my wedding weekend plan…and then I promptly changed it. After making the fillings on Friday morning, I started fearing that if I filled the cakes that night, the mocha and caramel puddings would soak into the layers too much by Sunday, leaving everything sort of…mushy. Gross.
Instead, I chose to get up early on Saturday morning to torte, fill, and level the tiers. As you might have expected, the 14-inch base took the longest, clocking in at 1:40. The 10-inch center and 6-inch topper took 90 minutes combined. Each tier ended up being 3 1/2-inches tall.
When I returned home, I made a triple batch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I used a dozen egg whites (leftover from the fillings), which I had stored overnight in a very clean, dry mason jar. It was crazy humid here on Saturday so I had to give the frosting a few 15 minute chills to keep it workable. Crumb-coating, frosting, and doweling took about two hours, although I probably could have done it faster if I hadn’t been so tired from getting up so early. I refrigerated all the tiers uncovered overnight.
On Sunday morning, I made a double batch (8 egg whites) of Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I divided it among four piping bags and refrigerated them while I went to have my hair done. #bridesmaidlife 
I got home about an hour before the cake and I were scheduled to be picked up and taken to the venue. I scurried around my apartment, grabbing anything that seemed like it might be important. Think icing spatulas of every conceivable variety, loads of ziplock bags, scissors, tape, three piping bags fitted with couplers and star tips, extra cake dowels, a weight-bearing central dowel, a permanent marker for marking those extra dowels, a box of food safety gloves, and a dozen damp paper towels. And insulated cooler bags. And wax paper. And aprons.
Also, a bridesmaid’s dress, four-inch heels (because I was too busy worrying about cake to get my dress tailored), makeup, deodorant, jewelry, and my trusty friend, VJ.
We loaded all the tiers into the back of my friend, David’s Volvo station wagon and set off for the Central Park Boathouse.
My favorite part of assembling tiered cakes remains inserting the central dowel. I used a 3/8-inch dowel that I sharpened with a vegetable peeler, and it popped through the cake boards just fine. I couldn’t find much information on how thick the central dowel should be, so this diameter (1.5x the tier dowels) was a guess. I saw the cake lifted and moved three times without incident, so I suppose it was a good guess.
Once the cake was assembled, I got myself glammed up to be a bridesmaid. The ceremony and reception were beautiful.
The cake was sliced at the end of the night and it looked just how I had hoped it would. I love those alternating stripes of filling!
I got loads of compliments on this cake. The guests loved the mix of flavors and that this wedding cake was lighter than most—a benefit of using puddings and Swiss Meringue Buttercream instead of all-butter American buttercream.
There was also one peanut-allergic teenager who was so happy this cake was peanut-free that he gave me a bear hug and ate two slices! Who knew so many people have peanut butter wedding cakes?!
The bride and groom were happy with it too, and that is the most important part. I’ve known Ariella and Bob for several years now and love them both. Ariella, in particular, was a huge support when I began to take baking seriously, so I was really touched that she wanted an E2 cake for her big day. It was such an honor to be asked to participate in their wedding day as both a baker and a bridesmaid.
The official cake-count has now been brought up to sixteen since last Monday. Oy. But in keeping with this week’s theme of 
I did break my own step-by-step photos rule though. #sorrynotsorry
When cakes #14 & #15 were picked up on Monday afternoon, my client paused before driving off to say how much he loved a vanilla cake with cinnamon buttercream that I had made last month. While he had ordered the cake, he couldn’t decide which flavors he wanted, so he let me surprise him.
I could have gone in many directions: 
Now, I have never had someone ask for a cake with Cinnamon Buttercream. Not once. But every time I have put it on a cake, I get texts and emails like you wouldn’t believe. People love butter, sugar, cinnamon, and cream whipped until fluffy and slathered between layers of cake.
Do you know why?
It’s because butter, sugar, cinnamon, and cream are freaking delicious!
Also delicious? My buttery 
If you follow me on 
Or just keep a little bowl of Cinnamon Buttercream in the fridge and eat it with graham crackers. Not that I’d know anything about that.
While this particular combination of cake and frosting is great on its own, a little extra flourish of cinnamon-sugar never hurts.
There. Now it’s perfect.
I think I’ll call this one Sweet Sixteen.
e2 bakes brooklyn 