Wednesday, March 14, 2007

White cake

I made this cake last year for my mother-in-law’s birthday party. Since she used to work as a seamstress, the cake was a pillow with sewing gadgets and a small rose.

I used Nic's white cake recipe, which is just fantastic. When I took the cakes out of the oven I felt like taking a big bite of them. Seriously – the smell was wonderful!

The recipe is perfect: the cake is delicious and firm enough to be covered with rolled fondant. I’ve made it several times with different fillings/icings and the results have been great.

The cake was lightly brushed with my traditional sugar syrup and filled with dulce de leche beaten with a dash of heavy cream - I do this to make it a bit less sweet and also to spread it more easily.

It was a hit at the party and the kids ate all the sugar decorations. :D

White cake

240ml (1 cup milk) room temperature
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
315g (2 ¼ cups) cake flour
350g (1 ¾ cups) sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
170g (3/4 cup) butter, softened

Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF.
Grease two 22cm cake pans with butter, line the bottom with parchment paper, grease the parchment paper and flour the pans.
Combine milk, eggs whites and extracts in a small bowl with a fork. Set aside.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in an electric mixer and mix at slow speed with a paddle attachment – since I don’t have it, I used the regular beaters of my mixer.
Add butter. Continue beating at slow speed until mixture looks like wet sand (If you're doing this by hand, sift the dry ingredients together and rub in butter).
Add all but 120ml (½ cup) of milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 ½ minutes. Add remaining milk mixture and beat for an additional 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Do not overmix.
Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and gently shake to smooth batter. Bake 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes then invert onto racks to cool completely before frosting.
Unfrosted cakes can be frozen for 1-2 weeks.

Serves 16-18

This recipe was posted on the Portuguese version of my blog on Sep. 27, 2006.

20 comments:

  1. Patricia, this is a thing of beauty! I especially like the little button decorations. You're hired to make cakes for me any time!

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  2. Patricia! I agree, a thing of beauty! You are so good at decorating, this is even better than Mickey was and he was pretty awesome...I love the little buttons and the needle and thread!

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  3. Wow, Patricia! This is so charming! And it's exactly wonderful treats like this that put the fear of baking into me.

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  4. I am so impressed. I bet your MIL was thrilled with the thought and effort put into this cake.

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  5. I'm always impressed by people who can decorate such amazing cakes! The detail is great.

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  6. Patricia, you are an artist! I mean truly an artist! I hope you continue with your incredible cake decorating. You've got a good book or a business in this one!

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  7. What a wonderful-looking cake! I'm sure your mother-in-law was very happy!

    Paz

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  8. Patricia, I've worked with fondant once, and it is a challenge. You did such a beautiful job, and the sewing items and scissor are so imaginative!

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  9. Patricia,

    I am astonished by the creativity of your decorations! Thumbs up!

    p/s: Thanks for dropping by my blog and taking time to comment :)

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  10. The decorations are so cute! I wish I had the patience to do things like this :(

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  11. I agree that the decorations are awesome but it's the thoughtfulness that so impressed me. You created a very special cake for your mother-in-law! Excellent job.

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  12. Your white cake looks gorgeous!! How did you make all those decorations??? I'm in awe Pat! Your mum is lucky to have ya:)

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  13. Lydia, thank you! It will be a pleasure to bake for you!

    Freya, I love decorating cakes! My brother's birthday is 2 weeks from now and I've already started thinking about the cake I'll make for him.

    Terry, I'm sure once you start baking you won't stop. ;)

    Kristen, she was happy, but Joao was more. ;)

    Brilynn, tks! And I'm amazed by your baking and cooking!

    Toni, you are so, so sweet, querida! Who knows? Maybe in the future!

    Paz, I'm so glad you stopped by!

    Sher, you are lovely. Tks for the kind words, such an inspiration.

    T.W., we could exchange info on fondant any time you want, my friend. I love working with it!

    Hi, Pablopabla, your blog is great and you can be sure I'll be back there.

    Ellie, you have always been so supportive, tks, dear!

    Tanna, she's always been so nice to me, she deserves this.

    Valentina, I made them with rolled fondant and loads of patience. lol

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  14. patricia!!! you are so talented. this is a masterpiece, to say the least. your mother-in-law must adore you! i have never used fondant. i so desperately want to learn more about baking but until my waistline starts shrinking voluntarily, i doubt i ever will... maybe i'll be more inclined when i have some rascals to eat up my creations.

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  15. Your cake decorations are always fantastic! Thanks for posting this recipe...always looking for a good basic white cake :)

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  16. What a amazing looking cake! Bravo! You are extremely talented...bowing in front of you....!

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  17. What an adorable cake!

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  18. very artistic, Patricia :)

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  19. Linda, don't even tell me about waistlines... lol
    Mine has gone wild years ago but I don't seem to have the will power to get it back where it belongs. :)
    My MIL is really good to me, I'm lucky to have her!
    Thank you for all your kind words. I love working with fondant so, when you want to start, I'd be glad to exchange info with you!

    Joey, tks, sweetie! This cake is so fabulous that I keep baking it over and over again.

    Helene, I'm so flattered! I have you on my "baking pedestal", did you know that?? :)

    Cate, tks for stopping by and for the lovely comment!

    Melting Wok, you're too kind. ;)

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  20. wow Patricia...I have to say you're a talented cake decorator! i would imagine that i probably would eat the sugar decorations too just like the children instead of eating the actual cake!

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