Best Cake Ever

So all week I been on a mission to make a cake. Everyday at school I was on the look out for the best looking cake recipe I could find, and after hours of contemplation, I finally found a recipe in my already bookmarked pages folder. So Saturday morning, I woke up with a mission. After running to the store to gather some last minute ingredients - somehow eggs never seem to last very long in my house - I was off and running. The batter itself was quite easy to make. I found it strange to add the butter to the dry ingredients, but it worked. I started out with the whisk attachment to my stand mixer, but as soon as I added the butter, it all just got stuck inside the whisk, so I switched it to the beater. It work out much better. I ended up with a very light and airy batter. I did my best to divide evenly between my three pans - 2 silicone and 1 metal - but given my inability to guesstimate, I eneded up with two that were about the same and 1 that was a tad bit more puffy. No matter though, because I just sawed off the tops of them anyway to make them all even. I had never heard of making icing in a blender before, but I have to say, I might be convert. It came out so soft and delicious; by far some of the best icing I have ever had. I would highly recommend cutting the butter up and putting it in first with the remaining sugar and vanilla on top. I put the butter in last and had a difficult time getting it all mixed up. After I'd iced the cake, I added about another 3 ounces of chocolate to the remaining batter to get a little darker to add the accent icing around the edge and in the middle. All in all, this was by far one of the most amazing cakes I have ever eaten. I brought it in to Hebrew School today and the kids just gobbled it up, which is saying something. Usually when I give them treats they eat half and then throw the rest away. Of course, my father once again said the icing was too sweet, but I saw him sneaking bites of the peices that I had sliced off. ;)

Cake:

From: stickygooeycreamychewy.blogspot.com/

• 4 whole large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
• 3 cups cake flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter at room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 9-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper and grease the paper.
2. Place the eggs and the yolks in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Whisk to blend well.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl and whisk to blend. Add the remaining buttermilk and butter to the dry ingredients and with the mixer on low speed, blend together. Raise the mixer to medium speed and beat until light fluffy, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.
5. Bake the cake layers for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out the cakes onto a wire rack and peel off the paper liners. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

• 6 ounces of unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled (Plus a few more ounces if you want a darker shade)
• 4 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
• 3 sticks butter at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons of half and half
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate. Then, process until frosting is smooth. If you want a darker shade, frost cake and leave about a cup left – add more chocolate, blend until darker color is achieved.

To assemble:

After cakes are completely cooled, place 1 cake on cake plate. Frost center. Add cake on top and repeat frosting with second and third layers. Frost sides of cake. If you want, put darker color frosting into a pastry bag using any star tip and add borders as you want.