White Elephant Cake With Buttercream Frosting Recipes

WHITE ELEPHANT CAKE WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Bake cake
• 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light yellow. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the coconut milk and the flour mixture alternately, ending with the flour mixture, and continuing to beat well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
• 2. Divide the batter evenly among 3 lightly buttered and floured 8-inch square pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan, then invert onto cooling racks.
• 3. To create a 4-tiered cake, cut a 2-inch, 4-inch, and 6-inch square out of 2 of the cakes. Using sturdy cardboard, cut precise squares of the same dimensions. Place the cut cakes on the corresponding cardboard squares (they will serve as bases).
• 4. Insert 4 heavy-duty plastic straws, cut to 6-inch lengths, into the center of the remaining 8-inch cake, forming a square (they will act as the support for the 6-inch cake). Place the 6-inch cake on top of the 8-inch cake. Repeat this process with four more straws on the 6-inch cake, then place the 4-inch cake on top. Repeat the procedure for the 2-inch cake.
• Make buttercream frosting
• 1. Cream the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy; set aside.
• 2. Combine 2/3 cup water and the sugar in a heavy saucepan. Heat until the liquid reaches the soft-ball stage, 240°F on a candy thermometer. Watch carefully; do not let the sugar syrup overheat.
• 3. In another bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until very stiff peaks form. Continue beating on high speed as you slowly pour in 1/4 cup of the sugar syrup. Gradually add the rest of the syrup using the same method.
• 4. Continue beating as you add the butter, several tablespoons at a time. (Make sure the mixture has no heat left in it or the butter will melt). The frosting should become thick and creamy. If it doesn't thicken, cool it over a bowl of ice, then try beating again. Stir in the vanilla. Frost the cake and adorn it with elephant cookies ($8 to $12 each, elenis.com).

RED VELVET CAKE WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans. In a bowl, sift together the cake flour, chocolate pudding mix, cocoa powder, and salt.
• In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup of butter with 1 1/2 cup of sugar with an electric mixer until creamy; beat the eggs in, one at a time, and beat until the mixture is fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, in several additions. Mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the red food color until the batter is uniformly colored. In a bowl, stir the baking soda with vinegar, and gently fold the foamy mixture gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean or with moist crumbs, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
• For frosting, place all-purpose flour in a saucepan, and gradually whisk milk into the flour, about 2 tablespoons at a time, until smoothly combined. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, whisking constantly until thickened and smooth; allow to cool completely. Beat 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 1 minute, and gradually beat in the cooled milk mixture; add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat the frosting until fluffy and spreadable, 1 to 2 more minutes.

ELEPHANT CAKE

Steps:

• Line two 9-in. round baking pans and one 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan with waxed paper; grease the paper. Prepare both cake batters and bake according to package directions, using the 9-in. pans for the yellow cake and the 13-in. x 9-in. pan for the chocolate cake. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Level cake tops if necessary., Referring to Fig. 1 and using a serrated knife, cut out a trunk and two feet from one yellow cake. Referring to Fig. 3, cut out an ear and tail from second yellow cake. (Discard leftover cake pieces or save for another use.), Center chocolate cake on a 28-in. x 16-in. covered board. Referring to Fig. 2, position trunk along left bottom edge of cake and tail on right side. Place feet at bottom corners of cake. Place ear 2 in. from left side of cake., For frosting, in a large bowl, cream the shortening and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. , Tint 1/4 cup of frosting black; set aside. Set aside 1/2 cup white frosting. Tint remaining frosting blue-gray, using small amounts of black and blue food coloring. Spread 2 cups of the blue-gray frosting over top and sides of cake., Trace a 1-1/2-in. x 1-1/4-in. oval for the eye. Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag; insert round tip #4. Fill bag with black frosting. Outline eye and fill in pupil; pipe eyelashes and mouth. Using star tip #25 and reserved white frosting, pipe stars to fill in eye and add nostril and toes., With blue-gray frosting and star tip #16, pipe stars over top and sides of elephant.

VANILLA CAKE WITH VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Line bottoms of 2 greased 9-in. round baking pans with parchment; grease parchment., In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Pour into prepared pans, dividing batter evenly. , Bake at 350° until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks; remove parchment. Cool completely. , For frosting, in a small bowl, beat butter and vanilla until blended. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread frosting between layers and over top and sides of cake. Decorate with sprinkles or nonpareils if desired.

BASIC WHITE TWO-LAYER CAKE AND WHITE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and make sure that the rack is in the center of your oven. Spray two 8" round cake pans very generously with non-stick cooking spray (I used Baker's Joy ).
• In a large bowl, mix together cake flour, salt, and baking powder; set bowl aside.
• In another large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until it's light and fluffy (you can use a standing mixer or an electric hand mixer).
• In a large measuring cup, combine the milk, vanilla, and almond extract.
• Now it's time to add them all together! Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend on a low speed for about 30 seconds. Add about 1/2 of the milk mixture and blend again. Add in half of what's left of the flour mixture and blend again. Add in the rest of the milk mixture, blend for a couple of seconds, then the remaining flour mixture and blend at a low speed until the ingredients are barely mixed together (don't over mix!).
• In a separate bowl (or in your stand mixer using the whisk attachment), beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they reach "firm peak stage" (a.k.a. when the whisk is held sideways, the peaks will hold and the ridges will be distinct - this took about five minutes of whisking for me!). Fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
• Pour the cake batter evenly into the two prepared pans and bake them for 20-26 minutes (mine were done at 25), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cakes and let them finish cooling on wire racks.
• Combine the shortening, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl (you can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer). Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, alternating with the milk or heavy cream, and mix it together until you have used it all. If the frosting is too thick, add more milk. If the frosting is too thin, add more sugar.
• Place one of your cooled, leveled cake layers on your cake stand . Using an offset spatula, place about 1/2 cup of frosting in the middle of the cake. Using your spatula, push the frosting out to the edges until the frosting is about 1/4"-1/2" thick (if you have a rotating cake stand, this step is really easy, but you can do it without it).
• Place the second layer of cake on top. You will now create the crumb coat (a thin layer of frosting that seals in all the crumbs to make it easy to decorate). Using the offset spatula, spread the frosting that has spilled out from between the layers smoothly over the surface. Add more frosting as needed, just keep the layer thin and smooth.
• Place about 1/2 cup of frosting on the top of the cake, pushing the frosting out to the edges until it's a smooth, flat surface.
• Now place the spatula against the edges of the cake and smooth out the excess frosting pushed over from the top of the cake.
• To help the cake firm up, stick it in the freezer for about 1-2 hours.
• From here, drop 1/2 cup frosting on the center of the cake and push it out to the edges as you did before, making the surface nice and smooth.
• Continue adding frosting to the top and edges of the cake until it's the smoothness and thickness you want. (Amanda says that the best way to get smooth frosting is to practice!)
• From there, continue to add more frosting to the top and sides of the cake until it's completely covered. I topped mine off with sprinkles, but you could get fancy and add some frosting decorations