There are so many times I have made Yellow Cake out of the box, and I was satisfied with it, until  I have found this recipe in one of my old magazines. It changed everything. I had not tasted anything better. This cake has such depth in flavor to it, that I cannot describe it in words. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.

Servings: 12-14

Ingredients for cake layers:

  • 2 ½ cups (10 ounces) flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon table salt
  • 1 ¾ cups ( 12 ¼ ounces) sugar
  • 10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 large egg yolks and 3 large egg whites, room temperature

Ingredients for chocolate frosting:

  • 20 tablespoons (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • ¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa
  • Pinch of salt
  • ¾ cup light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions for cake layers:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch-wide round cake pans and line bottom with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1 ½ cups sugar together in a large bowl.  Set aside.

3. In another medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and yolks. Set aside.

4. In clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 30 seconds. With machine running, add remaining ¼ cup sugar, continue to beat until stiff peaks just form.  Transfer to a bowl, and set aside.

 

6. Using a rubber spatula, stir 1/3 of whites into batter to lighten, then add remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain.

7. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans. Lightly tap pans against counter 2 or 3 times to dislodge any large air bubbles.

8. Bake until cake layers begin to pull away from sides of pans and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 – 30 minutes.

9. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen cakes from sides of pans with small knife, then invert onto greased wire rack and peel off parchment.

10. Invert cakes again and cool completely on rack, about 1 ½ hours.

Directions for the frosting:

1. In food processor, process butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt until smooth, about 30 seconds.

2. Scrape sides of bowl as needed. Add corny syrup and vanilla and process until just combined 5-10 seconds.

3. Add chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, 10 to 15 seconds. Frosting can be used immediately or held.

Assembling the cake:

Frost the layers and stack. Add frosting generously in between the two layers. Decorate by making swirls with the back of a teaspoon.