Frosting and Cake

I'm not exactly blaming Mike for my need for desserts, but since our Annual Academy Awards Guessing Game® thingy, and the prize of fresh baked cookies has kind of changed me.

Mind you, we always have some kind of dessert in the house, though I'm not saying we should. We just do.

But since the Annual Academy Awards Guessing Game®  nothing has been store bought.

I have overcome - to a degree - my fear of baking and have come close to perfecting the chocolate chip, as well as the M&M cookie baking recipes. A batch of cookies can last us 10 days, so me and the Kitchen Aid stand-mixer are now very well acquainted. Mike's next batch of cookies (should he win), will be much much better than the last I sent his way.

But I upped the score this week. Cake.

Yes, I've made two cakes for 710's birthday (one here and one here) and now again.

This time I think I did the better job. It was a lemon blueberry layer cake.  Oh yes - layers. Plural. Three of them.

First off, the title image is wrong. I read wrong, but found the mistake before starting - ditch the baking soda and get baking powder. And also, the heavy cream is not pictured.

Baking is a labour intensive process....especially when you only have two 9" round pans. I could have cut 23 minutes off my time had I had three. But I didn't. And if you prep correctly, it really doesn't take that much time.

Even while you bake, clean up time isn't that extensive.

Cake: 
Flour - 3C
Butter - 1.5 C (unsalted, room temp)
Brown Sugar - 1/2 C packed
Granulated sugar - 1.25 C
Eggs - 4 large (room temp)
Vanilla - 1t
Baking Powder- 1T
Salt - 1/2 t
Buttermilk - 1C
Lemon Juice - of 3 medium sized lemons
Lemon Zest - of 3 medium sized lemons

Bake at 350F for 21-25 minutes.


Frosting: 
Cream Cheese - 8oz, softened (room temp)
Confectioners Sugar - 3C
Heavy Cream - 1T
Vanilla - 1t


The more detailed recipe is here.

Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add brown and granulated sugar. Mix for another 2-3. 

Add the four eggs and vanilla. 

I didn't risk breaking the eggs directly in. Good thing, as I got a small piece of shell in that bowl. 

Dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. 

Add those - and honest to g-d, the directions say to mix for 5 SECONDS on low. I went longer than 5 seconds, trust me. 

Then add lemon juice and zest. And buttermilk. 

No pic, but then you add another tablespoon of flour and the blueberries and mix by hand. They say the batter is thick, but mine became thicker with hand mixing. I probably used more lemon juice than needed, but they weren't really specific.

Two of the three: before

One of the three: after

Frosting was easy: beat the cream cheese and butter for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and confectioners sugar (always a mess. ALWAYS!).  

What their's looked like. 

What mine looked like. 

They had better lighting. 

It doesn't look horrible or anything and it tasted good. 710 was surprised when he got it, but especially when he cut into it and found three layers.

I don't think I'll be opening a bakery anytime soon, but it's nice to know I can pull it off if I have to.




Song by: Dirty Martini