White Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

I can’t believe it has been a year since I posted the first recipe on my blog.  I can’t thank you all enough for all the support and encouragement you have given me over these months and the patience you have had with my site when the photos wouldn’t post correctly (because I didn’t know what I was doing!) and all the other mistakes I have made along the way.  It has been a huge learning curve and a lot of fun to try my hand at something new.  I hope some of the recipes have inspired you to create new dinner ideas of your own and share them with your family and friends.  Thank you again for your support!

For my friend Laura’s birthday I made her favorite cake ~ a white cake.  We are both real buttercream fanatics so I frosted the cake with a Swiss meringue buttercream.  I put 1/2  a teaspoon of my favorite new ingredient – powdered vanilla in the cake batter, but it made the cake not so white.  It tasted good, but the color was deeper than a regular white cake which is made only with egg whites.  It takes a little bit more effort (and a pound of butter!) to make a Swiss meringue buttercream but it is sooooo worth it!  You need a thermometer to make sure the egg whites get to the correct temperature while you are whisking them over a bain marie before you beat them with the mixer.  It is also critical to beat the egg whites after they have come to temperature for about 5-8 minutes or until they have cooled completely down and become smooth and fluffy.   It’s easier to make if you have a standing mixer.  Another tip is to make sure the butter is at room temperature.  You add a tablespoon at a time while the mixer is constantly whipping.  Sometimes it can look a bit curdled, but continue beating and it should all come together.  Then you add vanilla and it’s pure buttercream heaven.  I usually take a serrated knife and cut around the bottom of the baked cake to remove any crust that forms during baking.  You can add any jam you like to the center.  I used a homemade Cascade berry jam, but I also love to use lemon curd (Trader Joe’s makes a great one).   Click here for the recipe….