Martha Stewart's Vanilla Cake with Simple Buttercream Frosting

I've never tried baking a vanilla cake. I've made several versions of chocolate cakes and I'm getting tired of it.

The YouTube video of Martha Stewart demo-ing her versatile vanilla cake seduced me into making one!

Aside from this being my first vanilla cake, this is also my first time at trying to make a layer cake. Such a daunting task! If only I had another 9" baking pan LOL!

So off I went to the Baker's Hub to get me another 9" baking pan. I got my first 9" pan from SM which was springform. The one I got from Baker's Hub was not - not because they don't have it available but because I have limited budget hehehe.

I just followed the recipe. You can't go wrong because it's pretty simple.

Cake just out of the oven in my new 9" pan which I found easier to use than the springform

Now, leveling and layering the cake was easy. Thanks to my new purchase :-)

Wilton Cake Leveler (around 250PHP at Baker's Hub)

The Wilton Cake Leveler was so easy to use. I'm surprised at how easy it is actually. My cakes were leveled with no awkward knife marks that a serrated knife would make. The big advantage is that the cake is really flat.

See? Easy!

The frosting though was a different thing! I couldn't get those egg white/sugar mixture to peak!!! Damn you, cheap mixer! So, I used the tried-and-tested buttercream recipe. Buttercream is overpowering because it's too sweet but the kids love it. I guess I'm just getting old.

Wilton Cake Turntable Plus (around 750 PHP at Gourdo's)

This turntable has turned my frosting life around LOL! I used to get so frustrated when I frost my cakes. With this turntable, I was able to frost without perspiring heavily hahaha! Plus, this is very affordable compared to the big ones which are priced at 2,000PHP++! For a beginner, this is a good tool for frosting!

Make sure that when you frost, you follow Mother Martha's advise to put parchment paper strips forming a square on your cake board so you won't have to clean up icing mess after frosting :-)

Tada! This is for my son's "graduation" from playschool :-)

Final product still needs improvement. Notice that the layers are not equal, duh! I blame this on my pans which are not the same. Mental note: Next time, use similar pans :-)

PS - If you're wondering how I made the cake greeting, I owe it to this little wonder! Edible sparkle gel :-) Warning: Don't use on the sides as this easily slides off the frosting.

Pawis rating: 5 of 5 = complicated!