I made the decoration out of colorflow about a week before and let it dry completely before placing it on the cake.The cake was James's personal favorite - white cake with cream cheese frosting.
The white cake recipe is VERY light and airy, as white cake should be!
This was my first attempt at cream cheese frosting for decorating, so I used the Wilton buttercream recipe and just substituted half of the shortening for cream cheese. It was much tastier than the regular wilton buttercream, but still held up really well for decorating.
White Cake
Adapted from allrecipes
2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Sift 2-3 cups of cake flour and THEN measure out your 2 3/4 cups. This is very important! Any time a recipe calls for sifted flour, make sure you sift and then measure. I got 2 3/4 cups out of about 2 cups of unsifted flour.
2. Sift together salt, baking powder, and cake flour three times. (Keep adding air baby!)
3. Cream butter with a mixer and gradually add 1 cup of sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in flour mixture and milk, alternating about 1/3 of each at a time until it is all incorporated and smooth. (Don't overbeat here, you'll stir up all the gluten and make it tough)
5. In a separate mixer bowl, whip egg whites until they reach stiff peaks. Beat in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.
6. Fold vanilla and egg whites into cake batter carefully. You want to salvage all that air you just beat into the egg whites.
7. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes for two round pans or one 9x13. (I used a 7x11 but did it in two layers).
