My friends are all having babies!! I guess it's that time in my life where my Facebook feed has changed from drunken slurs to pictures of my friends kids and, let's face it, a little TMI about their kids bathroom (or diaper) behaviors. But hey, if you can't beat em', I guess join em'??
My friend Katie is the first of my friends who is due (in May!!). You may remember KK (aka Katie) from her Red beans and rice recipe she let me share.... hmm I know what I'm having for dinner tonight! Well, last weekend I hosted her baby shower. She wanted it to be more of a party and less of a traditional 'shower'. AKA there was no 'guess what baby food is in this diaper' game. More on her shower can be found here (coming soon). But the highlight of the shower was the gender reveal cake... and you guessed it... IT'S A BOY! Read on for a cake tutorial and the recipe!
The first part of any cake is finding an awesome recipe and man oh man do I have an awesome recipe for you! This recipe is from America's Test Kitchen which means it is tried and true! I've made quite a few cakes in my day (I took a cake decorating class at the community college in Graduate school) and this is by far one of the best cakes I've ever made. One of the guests even said, "I don't even like cake but I love this one - it is the best cake I've ever had!"
America's Test Kitchen
Classic White Cake-Serves 12
Nonstick cooking spray
2 1/4 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting the pans
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 sticks tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
America's Test Kitchen
Classic White Cake-Serves 12
Nonstick cooking spray
2 1/4 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting the pans
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 sticks tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
- Set oven rack in middle position. 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.
- Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides. Mix at medium speed 20 seconds longer.
- Mix in the first (lightest) amount of food coloring. This was the 'teal' cake in my creation. Pour approximately half of this batter into one of the prepared cake pans
- Pour in more food coloring to desired coloring. Pour remaining batter into second prepared cake pan. 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. 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.
- Once cool, cut each cake in half long ways with a sharp serrated knife.
Butter Frosting (for between the layers)
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool
4 cups confectioners' sugar (1 pound)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon whole milk
Pinch table salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool
4 cups confectioners' sugar (1 pound)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon whole milk
Pinch table salt
- 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.
- Frost between the layers of the cake and stack.
- Put cake in the fridge and let cool completely - the colder the better.
Finally, we needed that extra dark exterior layer so that you couldn't see what color the cake was! Calling Fudgy Chocolate Frosting!! There was one big alteration I made when I made this frosting. I subbed in heavy whipping cream (because we had it) for the milk. HOLY FREAKING CRAP - this stuff is insanely delicious, and not overly sweet!
Fudgy Chocolate Icing (1 exterior cake's worth)
Prep:10min › Cook:20min › Ready in: 30min
Ingredients
Fudgy Chocolate Icing (1 exterior cake's worth)
Prep:10min › Cook:20min › Ready in: 30min
Ingredients
- 101g cooking chocolate
- 220g butter
- 12 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 900g icing sugar
- 2 pinches salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (this made it more chocolatey!)
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine chocolate, butter and milk. Bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and beat in icing sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, adjusting consistency with more milk or sugar, if necessary. Let cool slightly (but not too much because then it becomes hard to spread)
- Frost outside of cake using offset spatula. Start with the top of cake and 'push' the frosting to the sides. Once the cake is level, get a warm cup of water and dip offset spatula into the water to 'smooth out' the cake. (it should look something like the photo below. It looks 'wet' because, well it is. It dries out when you put it back in the fridge.
Once the frosting is complete it's time to start the decorating. I used an inspirational image that Katie had sent me and had it open on my computer. I used PRE_MADE pink and blue icing - you know the stuff in the tubes in the baking aisle. I held the tip down and squeezed to make the circles. Let me warn you - THEY WILL BE UGLY. That's ok, we can fix that. Just randomly place pink and blue dots everywhere.
Once the dots are on the cake, take your cup of warm water again (OK you'll probably need some fresh water at this point) and wet your index finger and lightly "smash" the dots into circles. That's it. Repeat.
Tada - you have a wonderful gender reveal cake that will make your future mommy (and daddy) very happy. See some fun pics below.
Once the dots are on the cake, take your cup of warm water again (OK you'll probably need some fresh water at this point) and wet your index finger and lightly "smash" the dots into circles. That's it. Repeat.
Tada - you have a wonderful gender reveal cake that will make your future mommy (and daddy) very happy. See some fun pics below.
UPDATE
2-weeks after this article was posted, Katie and Andrew had their baby. Let's just say - ultrasound tech's can get it wrong. Mara Lily was born. I'd like to retract my blue cake and make it official - thanks photoshop -
IT'S A GIRL!
2-weeks after this article was posted, Katie and Andrew had their baby. Let's just say - ultrasound tech's can get it wrong. Mara Lily was born. I'd like to retract my blue cake and make it official - thanks photoshop -
IT'S A GIRL!
Enjoy!
*knowgirl Scarlett
*knowgirl Scarlett