⁘ anna bakes cupcakes ⁘

vanilla almond cake

moist three-layer vanilla and almond flavored cake with creamy vanilla buttercream frosting

recipe from Amycakes Bakes


baked in May 2023

yield: 16 servings
prep time: 1 hour
cook time: 40 minutes
difficulty level: hard

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients


Wet Ingredients


Creamed Ingredients


Whipped Ingredients


Frosting


Directions

For the cake:

  1. Preheat Oven to 325°F. Line sheet pan with parchment paper, and then spray bottom (on top of the parchment) and sides of the sheet pan with cooking spray.
  2. Sift Dry Ingredients in a bowl and then whisk until well blended.
  3. Combine and stir Wet Ingredients in a separate bowl or pitcher.
  4. With a stand mixer (preferred) or handheld mixer, cream sugar and salted butter together until creamy and fluffy.
  5. Add oil and corn syrup and beat until incorporated.
  6. Add 2 egg(s) and cream until well blended, scraping sides of the bowl as needed.
  7. On low speed, alternate adding Dry ingredients and Wet ingredients to the Creamed Ingredients, a little at a time. I do 1/3 Dry, 1/3 Wet, and so on, adding one-third at a time and blending on low after each addition. Continue to mix just until the batter looks well blended and smooth (avoid overbeating). Scrape sides of the bowl as needed.
  8. Using a whip attachment and a clean bowl, whip the 4 egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. (Make sure your bowl and beaters are clean and free from grease so that the whites will whip).
  9. Carefully fold the Whipped Whites into the cake batter, one half of the whites at a time. The batter is ready when no egg white streaks remain and it should look smooth and uniform.
  10. Spread into prepared pan and make sure the batter is evenly distributed. An offset spatula works well for this.
  11. Bake on the middle or top rack (avoid bottom rack) of preheated 325°F oven for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 300 degrees. Set the timer for an additional 8-10 minutes.
  12. Check the cake at this point. If it is jiggly at all when lightly touching the top of the cake, continue baking for 1-6 more minutes. The cake is done when a paring knife or toothpick comes out mostly clean when stuck quickly in the cake. A couple moist crumbs on your knife are fine, but they shouldn't look wet.
  13. Allow to cool completely.
  14. Leave the cake in the sheet pan, and using a slight sawing motion, cut the cooled cake into your desired cake size (8 inches) with cake rings (You can use a knife and the cake rings as a guide for any halve pieces that you cut.)
  15. Brush lightly with simple syrup.
  16. Wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap and freeze cake in the pan for 2 hours or overnight. To wrap the cake, place another sheet of parchment on top of the cake (this will prevent the plastic wrap from sticking to the cake), and wrap the whole pan with plastic wrap.

For the frosting:

  1. Whisk the powdered sugar and Instant Clearjel (if using) together until well-blended. Set aside.
  2. Using a stand mixer (preferred) or handheld mixer and a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until broken up and softened.
  3. Add the room temperature salted butter and continue to beat, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
  4. Add the shortening and beat and scrape the sides until there are no lumps.
  5. While the mixer is on low, slowly add the powdered sugar mixture.
  6. Add the pure vanilla and almond extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  7. Then beat the buttercream on high for two-three minutes. This will add air into the buttercream and make it light and fluffy.

Assemble the cake:

  1. The easiest way to layer the cake is to layer the cake from frozen the day before you plan to serve it. If serving the cake the same day you are layering it, use refrigerated cake layers instead of frozen. Piece together the bottom layer, filling in with cake scraps if needed. You can use the cake ring as a guide.
  2. Fill the three cake layers with around ¼ inch of buttercream.
  3. I recommend frosting a thin crumb coat of buttercream on the outside of the cake which will catch all the crumby edges, then allow it to set up in the freezer for about 10 minutes until the buttercream is firm. An offset icing spatula (I use the small and medium-size on all my cakes) helps with this.
  4. Then spread on the second layer of buttercream and decorate as desired.

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