LUE: The Cake Is Real
Mar. 8th, 2025 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
notquiteisraeliOh, yes, the cake is real. I baked it from scratch. I made the icing from scratch. And today we presented it to my father-in-law, whose birthday is tomorrow. He's turning 82.
We also told him about his present - in April, we're taking him to see the Israel Philharmonic, followed by lunch at the restaurant of his choice. He was delighted. We had an excellent afternoon, eating the cake (it turned out amazingly well) and drinking coffee.
It wasn't easy to make. I don't have a mixer (and I told Eyal that if he wants me to bake again, there will be a KitchenAid stand mixer - I said I'd go halfsies, and he finally agreed when I promised challah every week). So the butter and sugar for both cake and icing were creamed by hand, which is not impossible but is a tremendous workout.
That being said, both cake and icing are fairly simple as recipes go - a yellow cake with chocolate buttercream icing. Including recipe here.
Adapted from Mint + Mallow by Jocelyn Salvatoriello
Ingredients
Cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 large eggs
Frosting:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
Method
Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Lightly grease bottom (NOT sides) of 13 x 9 pan. On top of that, fit a piece of parchment paper to bottom of pan, then grease parchment paper.
2. Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until well-blended, light, and fluffy (about 2 minutes on medium high with mixer).
3. Add in all other ingredients and beat together for 2 minutes on medium until smooth.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Spread evenly. Bake 45-50 minutes until center of top is golden brown, fully set, and springs back lightly when touched.
5. Allow cake to fully cool before frosting.
Frosting:
1. Add all ingredients to bowl. Beat on low for 30 seconds, until dry ingredients and liquids are just incorporated.
2. Increase speed to medium-high. Beat for additional 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Frost cake. Will frost one 13 x 9 sheet cake.
We also told him about his present - in April, we're taking him to see the Israel Philharmonic, followed by lunch at the restaurant of his choice. He was delighted. We had an excellent afternoon, eating the cake (it turned out amazingly well) and drinking coffee.
It wasn't easy to make. I don't have a mixer (and I told Eyal that if he wants me to bake again, there will be a KitchenAid stand mixer - I said I'd go halfsies, and he finally agreed when I promised challah every week). So the butter and sugar for both cake and icing were creamed by hand, which is not impossible but is a tremendous workout.
That being said, both cake and icing are fairly simple as recipes go - a yellow cake with chocolate buttercream icing. Including recipe here.
Adapted from Mint + Mallow by Jocelyn Salvatoriello
Ingredients
Cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 large eggs
Frosting:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
Method
Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Lightly grease bottom (NOT sides) of 13 x 9 pan. On top of that, fit a piece of parchment paper to bottom of pan, then grease parchment paper.
2. Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until well-blended, light, and fluffy (about 2 minutes on medium high with mixer).
3. Add in all other ingredients and beat together for 2 minutes on medium until smooth.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Spread evenly. Bake 45-50 minutes until center of top is golden brown, fully set, and springs back lightly when touched.
5. Allow cake to fully cool before frosting.
Frosting:
1. Add all ingredients to bowl. Beat on low for 30 seconds, until dry ingredients and liquids are just incorporated.
2. Increase speed to medium-high. Beat for additional 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Frost cake. Will frost one 13 x 9 sheet cake.
