But I've been making them since I was a teenager and I love doing it. Well, since my baby brother decided that he wanted me to make his wedding cake...my first ever wedding cake, I've been studying, reading, and practicing every chance I get.
When my pans arrived yesterday, I immediately wanted to play with them. And since my brother and very sweet soon to be sister-in-law haven't decided between Marshmallow Fondant and Buttercream...I decided to bake 2 miniature cakes for them to look at.
Before I trick you into thinking I actually finished two cakes yesterday, let me say....I didn't. But maybe I'll make more progress today.
In the meantime, here's what I did get done. Did get done? Is that grammatically correct? It sounds funny.
*recipe edited - I only use 3 eggs*
Super Moist {Durable} Vanilla Cake
Or Wedding Cake*
I know this recipe is slightly vague, but so far, it looks great. I haven't tasted it yet, but I can tell already that it's much denser and sturdier than plain boxed mix. I'll let you know about the flavor in a day or so! Update: This cake is delicious, moist, and dense enough to stand up to multiple tiers! I love it!1 white cake mix **see my notes below!!3 whole eggs (I also read you can use egg whites only for a 'whiter' cake)**1/2 cup water1/2 cup oil1 cup sour cream1 small box instant vanilla pudding (or flavor to match your cake mix)
Thoroughly mix all ingredients together. Bake at 325° for about 25-35 minutes (depending on pan size), until just under done. It will finish baking as it cools (or so I'm told).
*If you want a pure white (no egg whites or dyes from the pudding, check out my True White Cake (White Almond Sour Cream Cake) recipe.
**Pillsbury Cake mixes are my brand of choice for white, yellow, butter and strawberry cakes. When I do chocolate cake, I use Duncan Hines and when I do carrot cake, it's Betty Crocker.
**For quite a long time, I used 4 whole eggs in this recipe, and then I cut back to 3. I don't see a huge difference other than saving a few cents on eggs, but I think with either 3 or 4 eggs, it's a great recipe!
So, I doubled this recipe and baked (2) 4 inch squares, (2) 6 inch squares, and (2) 8 inch squares. *I had to make an extra plain cake mix to fill the last 8 inch pan because I ran out of batter. For it, I just used regular cake mix because I was running low on sour cream. When I do the real cake, it will all be the recipe above (if the bride and groom approve)!
When I was done baking and letting all those layers cool, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and stuck them in the freezer...
Everything I've read says that they're much easier to handle and put icing on if they're frozen. Oh, and they crumble less - and I'm all about icing without crumbs!
Two notes here....about that picture. First, I couldn't for-the-life-of-me, get that stupid plastic wrap to stick tightly around that cake or to itself. Is is possible to have faulty plastic wrap? Or could I be that goofy? Is there some secret to plastic wrap on cake? Anyway.
Second, I have no explanation for why the cakes are two different colors. All except the bottom layer on the cake on the right are the same batter. I could understand if that single layer alone was lighter, and the rest dark...but who knows? A trick of the eye? I'm baffled.
So that's where I quit yesterday. I wrapped those cute little cakes up and stuck them in the freezer. Today...I plan to make buttercream and fondant, and possibly start the icing process. We'll see how far I get. Stay tuned for the next step - I hope to show you tomorrow!
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I'm a little confused. You said you had to make a plain cake mix because you were running low on sour cream...there is no sour cream in the recipe you were using? Am I missing something? I was thinking about trying this myself. (Not for a wedding!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing that out Jan - so glad you caught it! The recipe includes 1 cup of sour cream! That's what I get for not proofreading my own writing!
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