Classic Yellow Birthday Cake
This birthday cake screams classic. Its succulent, its chocolate-y, and an absolute dynamite. A yellow birthday cake could bring back memories of the past.
Ingredients
For Yellow Birthday Cake
- 2 3/4 cup Cake flour sifted
- 1 1/3 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 1/2 cup Buttermilk
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 cup Granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup Unsalted Butter softened
- 1/3 cup Light brown sugar
- 2 Large eggs room temperature
- 4 Egg Yolks separated
For Chocolate Ganache:
- 8 oz. Good chocolate chopped
- 8 oz. Heaving whippping cream
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
For Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 3 Egg whites
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp Cream of tartar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 4 oz. Semi-sweet Chocolate
- 1 cup Unsalted butter softened
Instructions
Yellow Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray and line with parchment paper, three 6-inch diamter cake pans.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the sifted cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer, add unsalted butter and granulated sugar. Beat together on a medium-low speed until smooth, 3 minutes.
- Next, add in the eggs one at time. First, add the large egg then add in the egg yolks. Continue to mix on medium-low speed until the eggs are fully mixed. Approximately 4 minutes.
- In a measuring cup add the buttermilk and pure vanilla extract. Mix well and set aside.
- On medium-low speed alternate between adding the dry ingredients (cake mixture) and wet ingredients (buttermilk and vanilla extract) to the mixer. Repeat this process until all ingredients are added to the batter.
- Add the cake batter to the lined cake pans. Bake the cakes for 35 minutes or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate Ganache:
- Heat a medium sized sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the heavy whipping cream and allow to simmer for a few minutes.
- In the meantime, add the 8 ounces of chopped chocoalate to a mixing bowl.
- Once the heavy whipping cream has heated up, pour it over the chopped chocolate. Allow the mixture to sit for 2-3 minutes. Then stir the chocolate and cream until well mixed.
- Leave the ganache at room temperature for 2 hours.
- Using a hand-mixer, whip the ganache until fluffy and light in color. Approximately 2 minutes. Use as desired.
Chocolate Swiss Merginue Buttercream
- Add water to a medium sized saucepan and heat over medium-low heat. In a separate bowl, add in the semi-sweet chocolate. Place this bowl of the water and melt the chocolate. Stir continuously until all the chocolate melts. Then, remove from the heat and set aside.
- Next, add the egg whites and granulated sugar to an electric mixer bowl. Add this mixer bowl over the same saucepan filled with water. Whisk constantly until all the sugar is dissolved. To check, rub the mixture between your finger-tips. If it feels like sand, the sugar is not fully dissolved yet. Continue to whisk.
- Once the sugar dissolves and the texture looks like an opaque white remove from the heat. (If the mixer bowl is hot to the touch, allow to come back to room temperature before continuing).
- Whisk the eggs whites and sugar on a medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Once formed, reduce the speed to a medium-low.
- Once stiffed peaks are formed, lower the speed to a medium-low. Then, add a tablespoon at a time of room temperature unsalted butter. Once the tablespoon is well mixed into the meringue, add the next tablespoon. Continue this process for the remaining butter. Then, turn up the mixer to a medium-high speed and fluffy up the buttercream. Next, add in the kosher salt, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar. Mix well. Lastly, fold in the melted chocolate. Now, it's time to frost that stunning yellow birthday cake.
- Add a tablespoon at a time of room temperature butter. Wait until the tablespoon fully incorporates into the mixture before adding the next tablespoon.
- Next, add the kosher salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla extract. If the buttercream seems loose, increase the speed to medium-high and allow to mix for 2 minutes.
- Lastly, fold in the melted chocolate. Mix well. Then use as desired.