BEST CLASSIC WHITE LAYER CAKE WITH RASPBERRY-ALMOND FILLING
A beautiful soft, fine-grained vanilla birthday cake with luscious butter frosting and raspberry jam filling from the amazing folks at America's Test Kitchen. Lemon curd works really well too. You can omit the almonds for a nut-free cake. To quickly bring the milk and egg white mixture to room temperature, set the bottom of the measuring glass in hot water and stir until it feels cool rather than cold, around 65 F. MAKE AHEAD: Cake layers can be wrapped and stored for a day; frosting can be covered with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for several hours. Once assembled, the cake should be covered with an inverted bowl or cake cover and refrigerated. Under its coat of frosting, it will remain fresh for up to three days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. There is enough frosting to pipe a border around the base and top of the cake. If you want to decorate the cake more elaborately, you should make one and a half times the frosting recipe. If desired, finish the sides of the cake with 1 cup of sliced almonds (lightly toasted works well). Recipe is from Cook's Illustrated/Baking Illustrated.
Provided by blucoat
Categories Dessert
Time 1h3m
Yield 12 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- For the Cake: Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour.
- Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.
- Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.
- Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.
- Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.
- Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.
- For the Frosting: Beat butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, milk, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed until sugar is moistened. Increase speed to medium-high (high if using handheld mixer); beat, stopping twice to scrape down bowl, until creamy and fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes. Avoid overbeating, or frosting will be too soft to pipe.
- For the Filling: Before assembling cake, set aside 3/4 cup of the frosting for decoration. Spread small dab of frosting in center of cake plate to anchor cake, and set down one cake layer. Combine 1/2 cup of remaining frosting with almonds in small bowl and spread over first layer. Carefully spread jam on top, then cover with second cake layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of assembled cake. Pipe reserved frosting around perimeter of cake at the base and the top. Cut the cake into slices and serve.
CLASSIC WHITE LAYER CAKE WITH BUTTER FROSTING AND RASPBERRY ALMOND FILLING
Steps:
- 1. Set oven rack in middle position and pre-heat to 350. 2. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with non-stick spray, place parchment rounds on bottom of pans, spray parchment rounds, and dust whole pans with flour, tapping out excess (I used non-stick spray with flour) 3. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts in 2-cup measure, mix with fork until blended 4. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter, continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs. 5. Add all but 1/2 Cup of milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 Cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Scrape down sides and beat another 20 seconds on medium. 6. Divide batter evenly between 2 pans, making sure batter is spread to sides and top is smooth. Arrange pans at least 3 inches apart and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 23-25 minutes 7. Let the cakes rest 3 minutes, loosen cake from sides of pan if necessary and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert and let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hour. 8. For the Frosting: Beat butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, milk, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed until sugar is moistened. Increase speed to medium-high, beat, stopping twice to scrape down bowl, until creamy and fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes. Avoid overbeating 9. For the Filling: Combine 1/2 cup of frosting with the toasted chopped almonds and spread over the first layer. Carefully spread the jam on top, then cover with second cake layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of assembled cake. If enough frosting left over, pipe around perimeter of cake at base and top. 10. Coat sides of cake with toasted sliced almonds and top cake with fresh raspberries.
ALMOND RASPBERRY LAYER CAKE
Steps:
- 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch (but 9-inch will work just fine) round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper. 2. In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set the dry ingredients aside. 3. Place the almond paste and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in another large bowl if using a handheld mixer. Begin to cream the mixture on low speed to break up the almond paste, then increase the speed to medium for about 2 minutes, or until the paste is broken into fine particles. 4. Add the butter and almond extract and beat it well, then the egg whites, two or three at a time, beating just long enough to incorporate after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times to make sure it is evenly mixed. 5. Dust about a third of the dry ingredients over the batter and fold in with a large rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in about half the milk. Fold in half the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk. Finally, fold in the last of the dry ingredients just until no streaks of white remain. Use a light hand and do not over-mix. Divide the batter among the three prepared cake pans. 6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out on to wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners and let them cool completely, about one hour.
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Ingredients
The ingredients for an almond raspberry layer cake recipe can be divided into the cake layers and the filling/frosting. Some of the ingredients required for making the cake are:Cake Layers
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Butter, softened
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs, large
- Almond extract
- Sour cream
- Milk
Filling/Frosting
- Fresh raspberries
- Raspberry jam
- Butter, softened
- Cream cheese, softened
- Powdered sugar
- Heavy cream
- Almond extract
- Salt