it's all about the cake

a week ago i hosted a birthday party for my daughter, ava. she was turning three and (not surprisingly) had a fairly clear vision for the type of party she wanted: tons of balloons, pizza, a "freeze dance" contest and, most importantly, a pink cake.

now, i don't know about you, but i LIVE for special occasion baking. i could throw a great party, but my moment really comes when my guests taste the cake (or tart, or pie or whatever....). most of my excitement about birthdays comes from knowing that i get to make a cake.

this is not to say that my cakes are professional by any stretch. they are not. i think professional, really artistic cakes are beautiful. i admire the patience and dedication that goes into creating a visual masterpiece that gets to be eaten (gulp!). but these are not the type of cakes i'm talking about. my cakes are not visually perfect (or even special). that's not my thing. i love to bake and make cakes because i love cake. i mean i love eating it. when my friends come over and see i've made a cake they get giddy along with me because they know i've made SURE it tastes awesome. i'm not trying to win prizes; i'm trying to blow those store-bought, super sugary cakes out of the water.

so, when it came to ava's special cake, i decided to keep it particularly pink by incorporating raspberries. i love the combination of raspberry with orange, so here's what we ended up with - layered orange-buttermilk cake with a raspberry center, frosted with pink buttercream and sprinkles. it was perfectly girly. perfectly delicious. and the perfect centerpiece to my little girls' day.

Ava's Third Birthday Cake

or, Orange Buttermilk Cake with Buttercream Frosting

For the cake:

i based my cakes off of a recipe called Esther's Orange Marmalade Cake

1 c. unsalted butter, softened

3 1/4 c. cake flour

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 2/3 c. sugar

5 large eggs, room temp

4 egg yolks, room temp

2/3 c. vegetable oil

1 T. grated orange zest

2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. buttermilk, shaken

Orange Syrup:

1 c. freshly squuezed orange juice

1/4 c. sugar

Raspberry Jam (for in between layers)

Buttercream Frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 stick salted butter, softened

1 pound confectioners sugar

1/4 c. milk

2 tsp. vanilla

Food coloring

preheat oven to 350. Lightly butter three 9-inch cake pans, line them with parchment paper, butter the paper and sprinkle with flour, shaking out the excess.

sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixture, beat the butter on medium speed until light in color. Add the sugar in a steady stream with the mixer running. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Be sure to scrape down the bowl at least once. Beat for another two minutes. Add the oil and beat well. In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk vanilla and orange zest. Fold half of the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Then add half the buttermilk mixture. Fold in the rest of the dry ingredients, the end by adding the rest of the buttermilk mixture. scrape down the bowl and divide batter evenly among the three pans. then carefully lift the about three inches off the counter and drop them down. do this three or four times to eliminate air bubbles (umm, this part is fun). Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. let cool in pans on rack for 20 minutes.

while the cakes bake, prepare orange syrup by dissolving sugar into orange juice. while the cakes are still in the pans, poke holes into cake at 1/2 inch intervals with a skewer or toothpick. spoon syrup over cakes, making sure it soaks into each layer before spooning more on.

these cakes are incredibly light, moist and delicious.

while the cakes cool, loosen up the raspberry jam by warming slightly in a saucepan or the microwave.

for the frosting, place the softened butter in a stand mixer (note: my secret to the BEST frosting - i use part salted butter. it's subtle, but the difference is amazing and really yields the type of flavor i love). beat the butter and alternately add confectioners sugar and milk. i never, ever, ever use as much sugar as buttercream frosting recipes call for. i don't like it super sweet. adjust it to your taste and just add the sugar and milk until the desired consistency, creamy and smooth, but not runny. add the vanilla and any food coloring you want (it took 4 drops to get the pink i wanted).

To Assemble:

lay strips of parchment or wax paper on the edges of your cake plate. add the first layer cake, then spoon a little frosting in the center. spoon raspberry jam on top, making sure not to spread it all the way to the edges (i got carried away and it dripped everywhere once the other layers were on). continue with your second layer, frosting, jam, then third layer. do a coat of frosting all over the cake, just to bind it and hold the crumbs on. finally (i mean, FINALLY!) do your finishing work with your final layer of frosting, carefully covering the sides and top.

a dusting of rainbow sprinkles and a crown of red raspberries, and this cake made my daughters' day!