Baking is Love: 3-layered pink vanilla cake.

TGIF!

A lovely designer from Sydney, May Leong, who is the founder and owner of May And Baz - a design studio based also in Sydney, is all about producing cute and quirky paper good and homeware designs - gave me a chance to style her adorable tea towells and greeting cards!

"Let Them Eat Cake" tea towell,
"Spring" & "Just Saying Hello" greeting cards!

I feel very honoured to get this opportunity, because everything she made is outrageously beautiful... I'm out of words seeing her lovely creations - which you will definitely know (by seeing them) that she draws from the heart. Make sure you check out her website and blog too! -> www.mayandbaz.com :)

Today, I'm starting myself with her tea towell named "Let Them Eat Cake"! It's also a surprise from her, that she sent me the pink one!. Soo, the plan was to bake something pastel and pinky, so the colour will be matched with the towell itself. And I'm very satisfied with the result.

As a huge pink lover, styling something in pink-themed is my absolute favourite thing to do. And the joy is getting double when you're done with the baking and photoshoot, saw the result, and it brings a huge smile on your face.

If you wanna try to make this classic and simple 3-layered Vanilla Cake with Pink Buttercream Frosting, here I'm sharing my recipe with you! I'm loving the sweet buttery flavour and its moist texture... also the frosting has a sweet and buttery flavour too, with a light and fluffy texture. What's better to end the week than enjoying a slice of a cake? :)

For the vanilla cake:

Ingredients:

3 cups (345 grams) all purpose flour, sifted

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

350 grams granulated white sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup (240 ml) milk, room temperature

Directions:

1). Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) with rack in center of the oven. Butter or spray with a non-stick vegetable spray, a 23 x 5 cm cake pans. Then line the bottoms of the pans with parchment or wax paper, then spray the paper.

2). In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3). In another bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft and creamy (about 1-2 minutes). Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Add eggs. one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

4). With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions), beginning and ending with the flour.

5). Evenly divide the batter between the three prepared pans, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula. Bake to ca. 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in center.

6). Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool, in their pans, for about 10 minutes. Let them cool completely before frosting.

For the pink buttercream frosting and assembling:

Ingredients:

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

4 cups (460 grams) confectioners or icing sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoons milk

red food colouring or pink gel paste
sprinkles, for decoration

Directions:

1). In a large bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and well blended. Beat in the vanilla extract.

2). With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the milk and 1-2 drops of red food colouring/pink gel paste, then beat to combine.

3). Then, on high speed, beat frosting until it is light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add more milk or powdered sugar, as needed, to get the right spreading consistency.

4). Place one cake layer (bottom side facing up) on your serving plate and spread with about 90 ml of frosting. Place the other cake layer on top of the frosting, spread it again with 90 ml of frosting, then place the last cake layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting.

5). Decorate the cake with some colourful sprinkles on top or in any other way you love.

6). Done and serve!.

Cut a slice and enjoy...