Sky’s 3rd Birthday Cake

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And finally…the moment I’ve been waiting for…the reveal of Sky’s 3rd Birthday Cake!!! Although my little girl loves helping me in the kitchen with the cooking and baking I do, I reserve one special surprise for her every year on her birthday and that is her cake! I love the delight in her eyes every year when she sees it for the first time. It warms my heart! This year’s cake is two tiers. The bottom tier is made of three layers of my fresh strawberry cake, and the top is made of three layers of my vanilla cake. The entire thing is frosted with my delicious Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. This one was fun to make!

Let’s start with the bottom tier and discuss the ingredients you need for my Fresh Strawberry Cake in Sky’s 3rd Birthday Cake. You are going to need frozen strawberries to make a strawberry reduction, flour, baking powder, Himalayan pink salt, unsalted butter, vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, milk, LorAnn Strawberry Baking Emulsion (I think this is the absolute best strawberry extract I’ve ever used. It has an incredible flavor that helps to intensify the taste of the cake. If you do not have any however, you can certainly use any other strawberry extract as a substitute), and red gel food coloring.

To make this cake, begin preparing the strawberry reduction. When I plan on making this cake, I generally like to prepare the reduction at least a day in advance so that it has time to cool completely. To make the reduction, empty the thawed strawberries into a blender or food processer and puree them to a smooth liquid. Then, empty the puree into a saucepan and cook it over medium heat. Allow the liquid to come to a slow boil, stirring periodically to avoid burning, until it has thickened and reduced by half; about 15-20 minutes. When it’s done cooking, refrigerate it in an airtight container until you are ready to use it, or overnight. NOTE: this should be at least room temperature before adding it to the batter.

Next, preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare 3 (9-inch) cake pans by greasing the sides and placing parchment paper rounds in the bottoms. Set these aside until you are ready to use them.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisking gently to incorporate completely; set aside. In a large bowl, add the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract and beat with a hand mixer on high until light and fluffy; about 3-5 minutes. Do not hold back on the creaming time. Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing until just combined after each. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Pour in the milk and mix well. Add in the strawberry reduction, strawberry baking emulsion and red gel food coloring and gently fold in until all of the ingredients are well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until completely incorporated. The batter will be thick. Do not overmix.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely.

My Vanilla Cake in Sky’s 3rd Birthday Cake uses the same ingredients as my Fresh Strawberry Cake, however I omit all of the strawberry ingredients (i.e. the strawberry reduction, strawberry baking emulsion, and the red gel food coloring). So for my vanilla cake, you are only going to need flour, baking powder, Himalayan pink salt, unsalted butter, vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs and milk.

If you choose to make this cake immediately after the Fresh Strawberry Cake, your oven should already be preheated. If you decided however to make it at a different time, begin by preheating your oven to 350°F. Next, prepare three (6-inch) cake pans by greasing the sides and placing parchment paper rounds in the bottoms.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisking gently to incorporate completely; set aside. In a large bowl, add the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract and beat with a hand mixer on high until light and fluffy; about 3-5 minutes. Do not hold back on the creaming time. Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing until just combined after each. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Pour in the milk and mix well. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until they are completely incorporated. The batter will be thick. Do not overmix.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely. NOTE: This recipe is written to make four 8-inch cake layers, so you will have leftover batter when using three 6-inch cake pans. I suggest making a dozen cupcakes in addition to your cake layers like I did so you don’t waste any of the delicious batter.

Finally, you will want to make your Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. For this cake, I quadrupled my normal Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe. To make the frosting, you are going to need vegetable shortening, salted butter, vanilla extract, confectioners’ sugar (like a lot of it), and milk (or heavy cream). I prefer to use heavy cream when I make this recipe, because I believe it makes the frosting whippier (yes, I made that word up, but you get what I mean!

Making the frosting is pretty simple. Begin by creaming together the butter, shortening and vanilla in a large bowl (like…a really large bowl that you anticipate is capable of holding 16 cups of confectioners’ sugar). If you don’t own said Mammoth of a bowl, you might want to split this recipe in half and make two separate frostings. Next, blend in the sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition (okay, so I know I tell you in the recipe to beat the sugar in one cup at a time, but that seriously only applies when you are making a single batch of my frosting. When you need 16 cups of sugar beat in, who has the time for that??? Don’t judge!) Beat in the milk (or cream) and continue mixing until the frosting is light and fluffy. Remember that you are gong to need your frosting to be pipe-able, so if it you believe it is too stiff, add in more milk (or cream) to thin it out a bit. Make sure you keep your frosting covered until you are ready to assemble and decorate your cake.

To assemble Sky’s 3rd Birthday Cake, place the first layer of the Fresh Strawberry Cake down on your cake pedestal. Spread a thin layer (about 1/4-inch thick) of frosting over the surface of the cake. Repeat this with the remaining layers and apply a thin crumb coat over the entire outer surface of the cake, making sure to work frosting into the side of the cake well (especially in between each layer).

Insert a 6-inch cake separator plate into the top/center of the Fresh Strawberry cake. Place the first layer of the Vanilla Cake on top of the plate. Spread a thin layer (about 1/4-inch thick) of frosting over the top surface of the cake. Repeat this with the remaining layers and apply a thin crumb coat over the entire outer surface of the cake, making sure to work frosting into the side of the cake well (especially in between each layer).

Remove approximately 1/3 of the frosting to a medium bowl. Add in desired amount of food coloring into each bowl. Use the larger amount of frosting for the bottom tier of cake and the smaller amount for the top tier. In a pastry bag fitted with an Atecco 825 tip, pipe rosettes around the outer surface area of the cake in rows (making sure to stagger the rosettes in each ascending row so they are not on top of each other in a straight vertical row). Switch to the second frosting color for the Vanilla Cake and repeat the process until entire cake is covered in rosettes.