Here’s a cake I made a few weeks ago for our Navy Commander at the Navy hospital who was retiring.  I remember the day when she asked if I could make her retirement cake.  I was very honored that she asked me to make  to make her cake.  For several months I tossed things around in my head as to what kind of cake I wanted make.  I knew it had to be a cake that was moist and tasty, and one that held up well as it was transported to a Navy ship  (USS Alabama in Mobile, Alabama from Pensacola, Florida.). This cake also had to be as fresh as I could make it;  it had to be a cake that was large enough for approximately 70  people, and it had to be a cake I could make after work in 3 evenings.  

This cake recipe is from a magazine called, “Better Homes All About Cakes”  that was published in February of 2013.  The icing recipe is one I’ve had for sometime so I don’t recall how or where I got it.  All I know is that I love this icing because it’s not as sweet as some icing can be, it’s easy to make and it’s really good!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

 

Happy Cake Baking!

 

 

 

Ingredients for Cake:

 

6 eggs at room temperature

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4  cup butter (1-1/2 sticks) softened

2 and 2/3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla (real)

2 cups buttermilk (room temperature)

3/4 teaspoon salt

 

Instructions:

 

Separate eggs and allow whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Reserve  yolks for another time.  Grease 3 (8 x 1/2′”) cake pans.  Line bottom with parchment paper and grease again, then lightly flour pans.  Set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium to high-speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and vanilla and mix until well combined.  Add egg whites all at once and beat on high-speed for 3 minutes.  Alternately add flour and buttermilk to butter mixture beating on low after each addition just until combined.  Batter may look slightly curdled.  Divide batter evenly among 3 pans (prepared).  If you do not have 3 pans, refrigerate remaining batter until ready to use.

Bake in pre-heated oven 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool cakes on a wire rack 10 minutes.  Remove and cool completely.  Frost with desired frosting.

 

Creamy Fluff Icing

 

Ingredients:

 

 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups sifted confectioner sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

*optional-add a few drops of flavoring (if desired) ay flavor you want icing to be.

 

instructions:

 

Cream butter and shortening

Add vanilla.  Gradually add confectioner sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition on medium speed.  Scrape bowl and sides of bowl often.

When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry.  Add milk 1 Tablespoon at a time and beat at medium speed until creamy and doesn’t taste sugary.

*I used Wilton gel food coloring.  Since I was not able to find navy fool coloring, I used 3/4 blue gel with 1/4 black gel.

* For the center logo, I bought a Navy patch at the Navy gift store at the Navy museum for $3.00 and took it to Publix where they copied it onto edible fondant (cost was $8.00).