Happy Mother’s Day to all of your beautiful, wonderful, hard working and just down right amazing mummies out there! Okay, so I know this post is coming in a little late, but this is a very special post for me to make so I figured better late than never right???
I hope you all had the most amazing Mother’s Day ever and that you were pampered to no end because let’s just get right down to it… you deserve it! I am of the opinion that Mother’s more than anybody need to be pampered on this one day a year, because seriously, where would all of us be without the love, support and guidance of our amazing mummies?
Let me be the first to answer that question and just tell you straight up that I don’t even want to think about where I would be without my mum. There is no doubt about it, my mum has always been the rock in our family. I have said it before and I will continue to say it until I can’t physically say it anymore…. My mum is the strongest, wisest, kindest, most beautiful woman I know, and I truly don’t know what I would do without her in my life.
My mother is one of two people in my life that I can say without any kind of hesitation that she knows me better than I know myself. Honestly, the woman has this absolutely uncanny ability to read my emotions, even when I think that I am pulling off an Academy Award Winning Performance for Best Actress in the category of “Nothing is wrong, I’m fine.” I’m telling you, the woman can read minds, but I can’t lie… I love her for it. Because it means that even when I completely shut down from having the worst day in the world, she is always there to give me a little mummy-daughter cuddle time, and tell me just what I need to hear to make it all better. She is my saint, my savior, my soul mate and I love her more than words can describe.
So because I can never seem to put into words just how much I love and appreciate my mum, I sometimes find it’s best for me to let my baking do the talking for me…. because come on, what says “I love you” better than a moist, fluffy, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting…? Personally, I think you would be hard pressed to find an answer to that question but I welcome any suggestions you may have :p
For our Mother’s Day celebration this year, the whole family got together for a BBQ at my parents place. I know to some people this may come off as very low-key and maybe seem like a completely unworthy Mother’s Day celebration, but for our family… it was complete and utter perfection.
At the end of the day, the most important thing to my mom, is not the gifts, the cards or the attention she gets for being the worlds best mom… it’s about having all of her children together under one roof to enjoy a delicious homemade meal and experiencing the joy that comes from us all being together at the dinner table. Because as I’m sure you all know, as the years go by and kids grow up, it gets harder and harder to get the whole family together for dinner, so the moments that we get to share together as a whole are so much more special to her than any presents.
So this year, at my mummies request, I whipped up a simple, yet delicious, Vanilla Butter Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting for our Mother’s Day dessert. As simple as this cake may appear and sound, it was the perfect way to end our family BBQ feast! This recipe is one that my mum and I have been using for years and it really is a “no-fail” recipe for a classic Vanilla Cake. With this recipe you need not fear that you might produce a dry or bland cake – trust me, it turns out perfect every time! This cake is moist, it is fluffy and best of all it is super flavourful from the buttermilk and an extra hit of vanilla extract!
This cake is also super ideal for layering, because as it bakes it doesn’t create a large dome in the center of the top of the cake rounds so you don’t end up wasting a bunch of that delicious cake by cutting off the domes for the sake of creating a nice level layer cake! All in all, this cake is the perfect, no muss, no fuss layer cake for any special occasion that will leave your guests feeling satisfied! It may be simple, but sometimes simple is the absolute best… am I right???
Honestly, I feel like this cake speaks for itself, so without further adieu… here is the recipe!
Vanilla Butter Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting
Makes: 1 x 2 layer 9” inch round cake
Things you need…
Vanilla Butter Cake
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Milk Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter
3 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup – 1/2 cup whipping cream
How to make…
Vanilla Butter Cake
Preheat oven to 325 degrees; grease & flour two 9” round cake pans – set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl every so often to evenly beat the batter. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl before adding another egg. Once all the eggs have been beaten in, add in the vanilla and beat on high for 1 minute.
In a small mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add 1/3 of the flour mix to the batter and beat on low to just combine; scrape down the sides of the bowl. Next add in 1/2 of the buttermilk and beat on low to just combine; scrape down the sides of your bowl. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing on low and then add the remaining 1/2 of the buttermilk and beat to just combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the last 1/3 of the flour mixer and beat on low until there are no lumps in the batter, being careful not to over mix your batter.
Evenly distribute the batter among your 2 prepared cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are a golden colour and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pans. Remove from pans and allow to completely before frosting.
Tip:
When making cake and cupcake batter, it is especially important to scrape down the sides of your bowl frequently to avoid a lumpy cake batter.
Milk Chocolate Frosting
Melt your milk chocolate; set aside to cool slightly. Next, sift together the icing sugar and cocoa powder; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer that has been fitted with the whip attachment. Beat in 1/2 of the icing sugar & cocoa powder mixture until combined.
Add 1/4 cup of the whipping cream and beat to combine. Add the remaining 1/2 of the icing sugar & cocoa powder and beat on high until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the melted milk chocolate and beat on high for another 3-4 minutes or until the frosting is very fluffy.
If the icing is too stiff, add in the additional whipping cream 1 tbsp at a time until the frosting is smooth and easy to spread. Set aside until ready to use.
Assembly
Once your cake is cooled, place one half on desired serving plate top down. Spread about 1/3 of the milk chocolate frosting on the top of the cake, spreading evenly to the outer edged of the cake.
Next place the second layer of the cake bottom down on top of the chocolate icing; press down lightly to secure the cake. Frost the top and sides of the cake with as much of the remaining icing as desired – depending on how thick you like your icing, you may have some left over.
Serve on its own or with a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy!
Ahhh, yes… This cake looked so pretty up on its little pedestal, didn’t it? Unfortunately it did not last long up there, what with my three brothers practically drooling all over it from the moment I set it out on display. As per usual they wasted no time after dinner lining up with their dessert plates and forks immediately after they finished their dinners and were still stuffed from their chicken burgers, yet were still willing to incur the pain of over eating just for the sake of digging into the cake as soon as possible. Yes, they may technically be all grown up, but they still act like small children when it comes to dessert 😀 But come on… can you blame them??
Seriously, I barely had time to snap a few quick photos of this cake in all of it’s glory before all that was left on the cake stand was a few cake crumbs and chocolate frosting smudges… but even those didn’t last long because if there is one thing we don’t do in this family, it is waste any remnants of baked goods. Thus, those crumbs and frosting smudges were promptly wiped clean by my brothers sticky fingers. As you can see, we keep it classy in our family :p What can I say, we love a good homemade dessert in our household.
Yes, it was the perfect dessert for our casual family BBQ to celebrate our wonderful mummy! I can only hope that it was delicious enough to show her just how much I love her.
How did you say I love you to your mum this Mother’s Day?? I would love to hear your stories 🙂 Until next time,
Happy Mother’s Day! <3
KP xoxo
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