This is the softest and fluffiest vanilla cake covered in the vanilla swiss meringue
buttercream.
It’s easy to make so don’t be scared away by the layers.
Welcome to recipes by Carina where I share with you how to make classic and simply delicious
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To make this cake we’re going to be using the reverse creaming method which is a technique
that leads to finer, silkier and softer cakes that bake more evenly.
It’s great for a delicate flavour like vanilla.
This just means we’re mixing the butter in with the dry ingredients rather than the
traditional method of creaming butter and sugar together.
In the bowl of your stand mixer or a large bowl if you are using hand mixer measure out
2 cups or 250g of standard or all purpose flour.
You can use cake flour for this recipe, it’ll be even more delicate but normal flour works
perfectly well.
You’ll notice I give the recipe amounts in metric and imperial, cups, grams and ounces
so no mater where in the world you live you should find this recipe easy enough to follow.
If you would like the full recipe for this vanilla cake it will be on my website as well
as the full measurements listed in the description box below.
To the flour measure out 2 thirds of a cup of white sugar.
You can make this recipe by hand, but it’s much easier with a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
If you enjoy baking I would definitely recommend getting a hand mixer, they’re not too expensive
and you’ll definitely need it if you want to make the Swiss meringue buttercream.
To make our cake super light and airy we’ll need some baking powder as well as baking
soda to provide some lift.
You can’t substitute one for the other here so make sure you have both as they are different
ingredients that provide different results.
You’ll need 1 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 a tsp of baking soda, add these both to the
bowl with the flour and sugar.
Finally you’ll need a pinch of salt.
Using your stand mixer or hand mixer on low speed mix the ingredients together for few
seconds or so or until they’re well combined.
With the mixer running on low speed or while you’re still holding the hand mixer start
to add your butter.
You’ll need 1 Cup, 2 sticks or 225 grams of butter for this recipe.
Make sure it’s completely at room temperature here, I’ll usually leave mine out of the
fridge from the night before.
It’s easiest to have it cut into large pieces so you can easily add one piece after the
other.
This is kind of a similar technique here as if you were to be making pastry, ideally you
want the mixture to start to resemble course sand.
The reverse creaming method works by coating all the little granules of flour in butter,
sort of by waterproofing it or providing a protective barrier.
When you add the wet ingredients they aren’t able to hydrate the flour which in turn doesn’t
allow it produce gluten and gluten is what leads to chewier and more dense goods like
bread.
If you were to taste a creamed and reversed creamed cake side by side the flavour would
be the same but the structure and texture are what’s different.
Both have their pros and cons but for a vanilla layer cake reversed is definitely the preference.
As you can see here your trying to get it to about this point, a little finer would
be okay.
There are still a few bits of butter but it around this kind of texture will work perfectly.
Let me know in the comments below what your favourite flavour of cake is.
I have so many different recipes now of cakes, I’ll have a playlist linked below if your
looking for some inspiration.
Mine would probably be carrot cake or banana cake, I don’t think you can ever go past
a good cream cheese icing or frosting.
In a smaller bowl we’re going to combine the wet ingredients for the vanilla cake.
We’ll need three good quality room temp eggs.
If you store them in the fridge just remove them about 30 mins to an hour before you start
baking or if you’ve forgotten to do that you can sit them in warm water for 5-10 minutes.
Crack each one in to the bowl followed by 2/3 of a cup of sugar.
We added sugar earlier with the flour as well but adding it all at beginning would have
been too much, causing it to cream a little with the butter.
We’ll also need half a cup of milk and half a cup of sour cream.
The sour cream adds moisture as well as a little tang to the cake, its what’s going
to activate the baking soda we added to the dry ingredients earlier.
If you don’t have sour cream you can also substitute with natural unsweetened yoghurt
or greek yoghurt or failing that you can use a cup of milk instead but make sure to use
all baking powder instead of the baking soda as the cake will have a bitter flavour.
Lastly we’ll need two teaspoon of vanilla.
I like the one with beans in it so you get those running through the cake, since that’s
the only flavour we’re using here make sure your’s is the best quality you can find.
Use a whisk to mix the wet ingredients together, combining them well, breaking up the eggs.
Pour half of the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix on low
speed until just about fully combined.
Follow with the second half and mix the cake batter together on low to medium speed for
about a minute or so.
We don’t have to be as careful here with over mixing as doing the reverse creaming
method we haven’t allowed much gluten to form.
Mixing now we’re actually trying to develop the smallest amount of gluten just so the
cake holds together well but still not the same as if we were to be doing the traditional
creaming method.
Pour the cake batter into 3 lined and greased 6 inch or 15cm cake pans.
Alternatively you can use 2 8 inch or 20cm cake pans instead and have a 2 layer cake.
Bake in a 180 C or 350 F oven for 25-30 minutes or until the centre of the cake springs back
when lightly pressed.
Leave to cool completely before decorating.
To decorate the cake there are a couple of different options you can choose from, theres
traditional buttercream which is butter and powdered sugar whipped together or Swiss Meringue
Buttercream.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream can take a little longer to make but it has a much silkier texture
and isn’t as sweet.
I’ll have the full recipe for both listed below as well as the videos which are very
informative if you haven’t made it before.
Today I’m making the Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream which uses a sweetened whipped
meringue that butter is creamed into.
It’s my favourite for this type of cake as you want it between the layers of cake
as well as on the outside and traditional buttercream can sometimes be too sweet and
overpowering for that.
Make sure your cakes have completely cooled to room temperature before you start to decorate
them.
I’ve used a serrated knife and levelled off the tops just so they are perfectly flat
but you’ll find that these cakes don’t form too much of a dome so you can easily
skip this step if you want to.
Start with one of your cakes and add about a 1/3 of a cup of the buttercream.
Using an offset spatula spread it as evenly as you can over the cake.
If you don’t have an offset spatula you can use a knife, spoon or rubber spatula but
this tool makes such easy work of it.
I’ll have the one I’m using linked below, it’s my favourite.
Follow with a second cake, pressing it down evenly and top with another 1/3 cup of the
Swiss meringue buttercream.
Once it’s smoothed out finally follow up with the third cake, turning upside down so
you get the perfectly flat bottom as the top of the cake.
If you made this using two 8 inch or 20cm cakes instead I would recommend using just
over half a cup of the buttercream between the two layers.
Add a big scoop of the buttercream to the top of the cake and cover it all in a thin
layer, this is the crumb coat.
We’ll add more later on but this just keeps all the crumbs form the cake contained so
when your smoothing over the final layer you don’t get bits of cake every where.
Place it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill and set.
And finally follow up with the final coat.
If your way better than me at this you can smooth it flat but I find thats just too much
work so I go for more swirls as the finished look.
Before serving place the cake in the fridge for another 30 minutes just to let the Swiss
Meringue Buttercream set.
Slice it and enjoy!
This cake is simple being just vanilla flavoured but so delicious.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe, if you make any of my recipes please send me a photo of
your recreation, I love receiving them!
Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in my next video.