Vanilla Cake with Buttercream

400.  And for my next trick 🍰a soft, moist, deliciously amazing Vanilla Cake with Buttercream.  Over the years I have made many cakes, tried dozens of recipes and was never very happy with the way my vanilla cakes would turn out.  It seemed they would be too sweet, dry out too quickly, be too crumbly or just not be an A+.  In my endless search, I found this recipe.  I can not take credit but can direct you to the link.  I have to say...THIS IS a delicious vanilla cake.

I made this cake for my daughter's 22nd Birthday and it was a hit.

I baked the batter in a large sheet pan and then cut out 5 layer circles from the baked cake.  Doubling the buttercream recipe was important for the extra layers.  In the center layer, I placed boysenberry filling that I made from boysenberries picked this summer.  Then I boiled the berries in a small saucepan with 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar till berries fall apart.  Then strained them to remove the seeds and ultimately added back into the sauce a few spoonfuls of seeds but not every seed...because we like them.  Next I added a corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce.  I cooled it and then placed the sauce in the center on the third layer.

The process was perfection...the cake baked so well and the buttercream was the best I have ever worked with!

I decorated the sides roughly with strokes of butter cream and then added golden flakes to one side.

What a wonderful experience and so rewarding!  Not to mention the taste...So Good!

Here is the link to the recipe for this amazing Vanilla Cake with Buttercream!  

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you're short on time and cost conscious.  You just need to cook clever and get creative!

~ Nagi of RecipeTin Eats

Coconut Cake

379.  The month of June in our family is filled with special days:  Birthdays, Anniversaries, Father's Day.  And all of these days require CAKE!  There are moments when I dream of b-day or Wedding cake, but when every week is cake, cake, cake...you have to get creative.

This year, rather than have store-bought cake we ventured into homemade cakes of variety.  The last cake we enjoyed was a homemade Coconut Cake.  My Southern Cakes cookbook by Nancie McDermott had a wonderful recipe called "Pearl Mae Oakley's Coconut Cake".  You can find the original recipe Here.

This cake was so delicious, full-flavored, satisfying, rich and lovely.

I used my own buttercream frosting and then covered the cake in sweetened coconut.

To save recipe select and drag to desktop and print or select and print from smart device.

 We all agreed this was 1000 times better than a store-bought b-day cake!

"There's lotion for your face, for your hands, for your feet, for your body.  Why?  What would happen if you put hand lotion on your feet?  Would you feet get confused and start clapping?  Each kind has something special in it - aloe, shea butter, coconut, cocoa butter, vanilla, lemon extract.  

That's not lotion.    That's one ingredient short of a Bundt cake."

~  Ellen DeGeneres