It’s my birthday today, guys! I shared my birthday cake with you last year, so I thought, why not continue the tradition. I also mentioned in that post last year that I was working on cooking my way through a cookbook. I did not make it all the way through in a year as I had hoped. But, I did make it pretty far and learned a TON during the process.
One thing I worked on a lot last year was different kinds of frostings. I actually don’t bake cakes all that often as they are a lot of work, and you really don’t want too many cakes sitting in eating distance of you if you can help it. I have a real problem with saying no to sweets, if you can’t tell.
Anyway, through all that frosting research, I found a few new favorites. Turns out I am a pretty big fan of Swiss meringue buttercream. It’s amazing and also super rich. Which I say, if you’re celebrating, why not? Just don’t make it every week. Which I would never do because it’s actually a fairly difficult frosting to make.
But I have a trick I learned (that I’ll share with you) that makes even the most lumpy Swiss meringue come out smooth every time.
I also decided on a funfetti cake this year. I can’t really explain why. It just sounded good to me. Oh—and yes, I decorated it with Trix. I’m 29 today, guys. If I want to decorate my birthday cake with kid’s cereal, I can!
Funfetti Buttermilk Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, makes one.
Recipe lightly adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
For the cake:
1 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 3/4 to 2 ounces rainbow sprinkles
In a bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and salt. Give that a good whisk to combine and remove any clumps from the cake flour. Set aside. In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
Then add the eggs two at a time, stirring well in between. Then stir in the vanilla extract. Now add half of the flour mixture and half of the buttermilk. Stir until combined.
Then, add the remaining flour and buttermilk and stir until combined. Last, stir in the jimmies. Add parchment paper to two round cake pans and butter the edges.
Divide the batter into the two pans. Bake at 350°F for 30-32 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans before removing to a cooling rack.
You really want these cakes to be completely cooled before adding the frosting. You could even make these a day or two ahead, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator before assembling with frosting.
For the frosting:
2 1/4 cups sugar
9 large egg whites (make crème brûlée from the yolks!)
3 cups softened (room temperature) butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In a heat proof mixing bowl or glass bowl set over simmering water, whisk the sugar and egg whites for 2-3 minutes. We’re looking to completely dissolve the sugar without cooking the eggs so our frosting with be smooth (and not grainy) in texture.
You can check if your mixture is ready by rubbing a little bit between your fingers. You should not be able to feel any sugar granules.
With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on medium for 5 minutes (this allows the mixture to cool). Then increase the speed to high and beat for another 6-7 minutes until stiff, glossy peaks form.
Reduce the speed to low and add the butter a tablespoon or two at a time while the mixer is running. You really want your butter to be at room temperature here so that it will more easily mix into the frosting.
Once you’ve added all the butter, pour in the vanilla extract. Once you’ve added all the butter, if the frosting looks lumpy or cottage cheese like—don’t freak out. This happens to me too, at least half the time I make Swiss meringue buttercream.
Trick for “fixing” lumping Swiss meringue: Remove about 1/4 cup of the mixture from the mixing bowl. Microwave on high for a few seconds, just until melted. Then, with your mixer set to medium, add the liquid frosting to the lumpy frosting. Beat until smooth.
This will make slightly more frosting than you may need, depending on how you decide to decorate your cake. But, better to have just a little too much than not enough. 🙂
What’s this poorly lit photo? Well, I wanted to show you how temperamental this buttercream can be. See the top of the cake, with the melted looking frosting? That’s from having the candles lit for just a minute or two.
This frosting is mostly butter, so it can melt or harden quickly depending what you do with it. So, keep that in mind. I find that making this just before I need it is usually the best way to go.
You can store it in the refrigerator for a few days if you need or if you just won’t have time to make it fresh before your party, but it can be difficult to get it back to room temperature so it’s smooth and spreadable again.
If you do store it, try my microwave trick again to get it smooth if you think that it’s just not looking as good as the day you made it.
Thanks for letting me share my birthday cake with you all. Wish you had been in our office late last week and I could have handed you a piece. 🙂 xo. Emma
When you are alternating adding wet and dry ingredients, you should always start and end with the dry ingredients. So you could do 1/3 of the flour, half buttermilk, 1/3 flour, 1/2 buttermilk, and the last 1/3 flour.
Also, I would suggest looking into an Ermine Buttercream. It’s soft and fluffy, and really quick to make. No pasteurizing eggs over boiling water. It’s the original and authentic frosting for a Red Velvet Cake.
I also make a French Buttercream for private clients. If they’ve ever had it before, they will request it again. It’s the most delicious of all the 6 Buttercreams. I’ve only used it for 1 wedding cake, and for the rest I use a Mock Whip Frosting that’s like whipped cream but stabilized with agar agar. It calls for 1 cup of any liquid – water and an extract or oil, champagne, framboise, kirsch, any flavor brandy or liquor, etc. On my website all the wedding cakes (but for the one with a Lemon French Buttercream – the one with yellow basketweave and daisies) are frosted and decorated with Mock Whips. I brought the Mock Whip Recipe with me from California, and it changed my hobby into an outrageous business requiring me to hire 5 employees, and I still have to turn people away.
I can send you more information if you are interested.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
By the way, this is the recipe I’ve been needing in my recipe book for years. Why is Funfetti so darn good? Thank you!
Circus & Bloom
this looks so good 🙂
maybe I’ll try this!
♥
http://dreamsaremadeforliving.blogspot.de/
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday! This frosting sounds pretty amazing. I’m going to have to try this even though dealing with the egg whites makes me a little nervous. I also love the cereal decorations you used. So cute!
How fun! Love this idea–perfect for my son’s second “ball themed” birthday party in March!
Happy Birthday!.. and what a decadent and pretty cake to celebrate with. I definitely am guilty of pinning the images too many times.
OMG! prettiest cake ever! 😀
xx nikki
www.dream-in-neon.com
I love how cute and colorful this is! 🙂
Happy Birthday Emma! I hope you had a great day. It’s my birthday today so I’m thinking of making this cake for myself today. It looks absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to try it!
Happy, happy birthday. I love that you used Trix to decorate your cake. They look like fun, little Pom Pom balls.
aw man. love a great cake. happy birthday to you!! 🙂
happy birthday!
Your cake looks so much better than mine. :)!! Love the icing and color!! http://www.campmakery.com/content/margies-million-dollar-classic-homemade-pound-cake
ha, i decided on funfetti for my birthday too, but it’s still a couple of months away. gotta plan early!
i just can’t wrap my taste buds around swiss meringue, it tastes like plain butter to me :/
Awesome! It looks delicious 🙂
Emma, happy birthday!!! May this new year in your life be special and magical and full of love and creativity! Thank you for sharing your passion with us! xo
Okay, now I really want cake..
Looks great! Swiss meringue buttercream is awesome, and it pipes like a dream. Happiest of birthdays to you, Emma!
Happy birthday Emma!!