Vanilla Layer Cake

creamed butter cake under vanilla buttercream

Makes 2 layers · 698 kcal per serving

Ingredients

• 340 g All Purpose Flour
• 401 g White Sugar
• 228 g Butter
• 201 g Egg
• 241 g Milk
• 13.9 g Baking Powder
• 9.9 g Vanilla Extract
• 6.1 g Salt

Method

1. Cake:
2. 1. Heat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
3. 2. Butter two 8 in pans and line the bottoms with parchment.
4. 3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
5. 4. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and visibly fluffy, 4–5 min. Nearly all the lift comes from air beaten in here, so give it the full time.
6. 5. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
7. 6. Add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the milk in two, starting and ending with flour, and stop as soon as each disappears. If the eggs were cold the batter may look curdled; it comes back.
8. 7. Divide between the pans and bake 28–32 min, until the centers spring back and a tester comes out clean.
9. 8. Cool 10 min in the pans, turn out onto a rack, and cool completely. Frosting a warm cake melts the buttercream straight off it.
10. Frosting: While the layers cool, beat the butter alone until pale and creamy, 3–4 min. Add the confectioners' sugar in two additions on low so it does not fly, then the cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat 3–5 min more, scraping down twice, until it lightens in color and holds a soft peak. Adjust by feel: stiff takes cream a teaspoon at a time, loose goes in the fridge 15 min and gets re-beaten. The salt is not optional; without it this tastes like sugar rather than butter.
11. Assemble: Frost between the cooled layers, then the top and sides.