Just Give Me What I Want - Birthday Cake
Birthdays are a celebration. Or, to be more exact, it's about celebrating someone. Remembering that special day when that special someone came into the world. Growing up, I always felt celebrated on my birthday. And perhaps I have taken birthdays for granted.
My parents had a standard list of birthday rituals. There were always paper streamers, typically two contrasting colors intertwined above the dining table. Pink and purple, pink and white, or sometimes yellow. All cheerful birthday colors. And there were balloons. Simple latex balloons as a kid and later a trio of helium balloons screaming happy birthday. As the birthday girl (or boy) there were elaborately wrapped gifts that were fondly referred to as "empty boxes." What could possibly be in them?
And there was always a special cake. My favorite was german sweet chocolate cake, and you can find a recipe for that here. And my brother loved hummingbird cake, also here on the blog. Every few years, there were other cakes, but my mom would return to the classics. One year I asked for an elaborate coconut pineapple cake. It had several layers of a yellow cake, with a rich, thick pineapple filling, and a creamy coconut frosting. The cake was new and complicated, and the layers fell flat. It looked like a pancake with frosting. I was so disappointed. My mom patiently remade the entire thing, something I will never forget.
And so this year, for G's birthday, I decided on a yellow cake with a blackberry filling and a fluffy cream cheese and buttercream frosting. It was from a lovely baking blog, Sally's Baking Addiction, and the photos were beautiful. I thought it would make everyone happy. Vanilla for G, fruit for the kids. But it did not. G is a fan of chocolate, coffee, and more coffee. He once made a cake with so much coffee that Flower could not sleep for hours after having a slice.
And so he did not feel celebrated at all. Instead, he had a fruity berry concoction that was all that he did not want. Birthdays and birthday cakes are simple. They take us back to being a kid, to a time when we are carefree, and things were easy. As an adult, I think birthdays do remind us of that time. Of a time, when we get everything we want (or close to it), the way we want it. I may not really have gotten everything as a kid, but on my birthday it sure seemed like I did. And for a moment, I forgot that, that wanting something that celebrates us, even if it sometimes doesn't make a whole lot of sense to others.
And so we got G a lovely yellow cake with a chocolate truffle filling and a buttercream frosting from our local bakery. He was happy and felt celebrated. We have a lot of blackberry cake on our hands, but sometimes that's ok.
Birthday Cake
This is a lovely yellow cake with buttercream frosting. It's the perfect celebration birthday cake. Its a little bit of a blank canvas and can easily be flavored with almond as well. Its made with technique called reverse creaming popularized by Rose Levy Beranbaum and found in her book The Cake Bible published in 1988. Instead of creaming butter and sugar, you kind of do things in reverse. Mix the butter with all the dry ingredients. Then add in eggs and milk, kind of in "reverse". The result is delicious cake with a tender crumb. It holds up well in layers and is pretty foolproof.
I frosted it with a classic Swiss buttercream frosting. It's not from the book, but is a standard recipe. It's easy and not too sweet. You can easily flavor this as well.
Adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum, The Cake Bible
Serves 8
Cake
1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces, plus more for pans
2 cups cake flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon. salt
4 large eggs (room temperature)
1½ cups milk (room temperature)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Buttercream Frosting
6 large egg whites
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8 inch cake pans. Line each with parchment paper and then butter the parchment paper.
In a bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or an electric mixer on low speed, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. This will take about 30 seconds or so.
Now add the butter in. It should be room temperature and cut into pieces. All the ingredients should be at room temperature so when they are mixed they can come together as an emulsion. If they are cold, then they will separate instead. Mix on medium speed until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. It will look weird, don't worry.
With the mixer on medium high speed, add the eggs and vanilla. Mix for about one minute until pale and creamy. Divide batter into prepared pans.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes until the cakes are golden and a knife inserted comes out clean. Let cakes cook in pans for about ten minutes, then turn onto a rack, removed parchment and let cool completely.
Buttercream Frosting
In a heatproof bowl, whisk the sugar into the egg whites.
Over medium heat, gently bring 2 inches of water to a simmer. Gently set the bowl over the saucepan. Whisk the egg whites and sugar constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture looks thin. A candy thermometer should read 160 degrees F.
Quickly transfer to a standing mixer with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff glossy peaks form. This will take 10-15 minutes. Now switch to a paddle attachment and add the butter one tablespoon at a time. Beat on medium high speed. After all the butter has been added beat at medium speed and add the vanilla and salt.
The buttercream should be thick and smooth and ready to use.
To frost cake. Place one layer of the cake on a cake stand. Spread about a half a cup of frosting over the layer. Then gently top with the second layer. Frost the cake with a thin layer of frosting, a "crumb coat". Then refridgerate for 15 minutes. This sets up the frosting so the next layer will go on smoothly. Take out of the fridge and frost with the remaining frosting.
Decorate with sprinkles or decorations of your choice.