Last weekend, after all the stress of moving and cleaning and organizing, I decided to unwind by doing a bit of baking. Some of you may find it weird... but I become calmer and feel much better after I've baked or cooked something. Anyway, the weather was warm and everything was blooming - it was making me feel very inspired and springy. When I was trying to dream up what I wanted to make, my mind instantly recalled some recipes that I'd read in the March issue of Southern Living Magazine that called for a basic cake but with jazzed up frosting. I pulled the magazine out and decided that the simple vanilla layer cake with key lime buttercream frosting was JUST what I was looking for!
This recipe is GREAT. The punch of the key lime in the frosting really tempers the sweetness of cake and it's a very fresh way to make a cake more seasonal. I've had several people try it: boyfriends, roommates and co-workers and it was a unanimous thumbs up! Here's the recipe, I obviously highly recommend it:
BASIC VANILLA LAYER CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans.
Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with a electric mixer until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at medium-low speed just until blended after each addition. (Batter will be thick - Use immediately)
Pour batter into each cake pan, spreading to edges. Bake 34-38 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely, about 1 hour.
KEY LIME BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
1-2 TBSP milk
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1-16oz package powdered sugar
3 TBSP key lime juice
1 1/2 tsp. key lime zest
Beat butter, vanilla and salt with electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1 1/2 tsp lime zest. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk and lime juice, 1 TBSP at a time at low speed until blended and smooth after each addition.
A few tips: I doubled the frosting recipe because I wanted enough to make a nice thick layer of frosting between each layer of the cake. It worked out really well. I also took Martha Stewart's advice and created a "crumb" layer by putting a thin layer of icing on the bottom layer, then refrigerating it and putting a thin layer on the top layer and refrigerating it. Then I iced the whole thing and had no problem getting picture perfect icing! I garnished mine with more lime zest and two sugared and frozen lime slices. Beautiful!
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