Wedding Cake: Rich Yellow Cake w/ Classic Butter Cream Icing
For my taste there is nothing like a classic and traditional wedding cake. Meaning a lovely vanilla cake with a delicate buttercream. That gives you a blank canvas to serve so many other flavors with it. Don't get me wrong, I love a different alternative when the setting calls for something special such as a color, flavor or design. One of my most memorable cakes I've done over my years of catering was a Dulce de Leche cake for a Dominican bride and a Jamaican groom. It was a huge hit. We also did chocolate wedding cakes long before it was in vogue. But you can never go wrong with this classic. Yellow Cake: A moist go-to yellow cake recipe that is so versatile you will use it in many applications. Obviously for a wedding cake you will need to triple or quadruple the recipe depending on the size of your cake needs.
Ingredients
Yellow Cake
- 2 sticks Sweet Butter (at room termperature)
- 2½ cups Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 3¾ cups Flour
- 2¼ tsp Baking Powder
- 2½ tsp Baking Soda
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- 2½ cups Buttermilk
Vanilla Butter Cream Icing
- 2 sticks Sweet Butter (at room temperature)
- 3-4 cups Confectioners' Sugar
- 2 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 pinch Salt
- 3 tbsp Heavy Cream
Assembly
- Apricot Jam (generous amount for spreading across cake)
Serve
- Variety of Fresh Berries (use raspberries - red and yellow, blackberries and strawberries)
- Lemon Curd (prepared separately)
- Fresh Whipped Cream (prepared separately)
Instructions
Yellow Cake
- In bowl of stand mixer cream Sweet Butter and Sugar.
- When light and fluffy add Eggs (one at a time running 20-30 seconds before adding the next) and Vanilla Extract. Beat until creamy batter is formed - about 1-2 minutes.
- In separate bowl sift together Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt.
- To Creamy batter add alternating Sifted Flour Mixture and Buttermilk. When flour is incorporated stop.
- Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and pour batter into greased and floured baking pans - two 9" pans (or in a sheet pan if you are making petit fours or a sheet cake). Bake in a 350℉ oven for 30-40 minutes (about 25 minutes for a sheet pan) or until golden and inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely.
Vanilla Butter Cream Icing
- In bowl of stand mixer cream Sweet Butter until light and fluffy.
- Slowly add Confectioners' Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Salt and Heavy Cream until desired consistency is reached.
Assembly
- For petit fours cut sheet cake in half and spread one half generously with smooth apricot jam and place remaining half of cake on top. Cut into squares a little bigger than 1” or use a small cookie cutter to make small cakes. Place small cakes on a wire cooling rack set over a sheet pan. Pour white sugar glaze over mini cakes and let icing set completely before decorating. Be creative and decorate according to the event or holiday. These are perfect for baby showers, bridal showers, holiday parties, ladies’ teas or any occasion that a delicate and elegant dessert is needed.
- For a wedding cake make sure you insert the proper support such as dowels and ridged layers between cake layers. Ice once and refrigerate cakes before assembling. Do final icing as you assemble the tiers. Save some icing for touch ups the day of the event. If you have the space, freezing the entire cake at this point is perfect for the cake to set and for ease in transporting. If you don't have adequate freezer space you can freeze each tier separately and assemble later or keep in a very cold refrigerator until needed. Freezing does insure freshness, moistness and less chance of cake collapsing accidents.
Serve
- This lovely cake is even more delicious when served with Fresh Berries, Lemon Curd and Fresh Whipped Cream.
