Super Moist Homemade Basic Yellow Cake Recipe and Cake Decorating!

Hi everyone!

So I'm taking a cake decorating class at my local craft store (that was super affordable, I might add), and look what I did!!!!  Yay!!!!  Don't mind the off-balance decorations in the center.  Everything outside of the shells was pretty much me just practicing everything that we'd learned that day.  I guess I got lucky that it actually ended up looking somewhat balanced ;).  I'm super proud!  This is what we learned in our third class session.  Pretty awesome, especially considering how little I paid.  Anyhow, I just wanted to pop in and say that I will likely be posting cake decorating pics and tutorials soon so stay tuned!

I also wanted to share the ridiculously good cake recipe that I used for this cake.  The basic recipe is at the link below.  The cake turned out super moist and had a great flavor.  Instead of 1 cup of sour cream, I just did 1/2 cup fresh pineapple juice and 1/2 cup sour cream + 1TB of dark rum.  I had this cake with a yummy  homemade pineapple filling, which you can find in my other post.

http://homecooking.about.com/od/cakerecipes/r/blc13.htm

The frosting was just the shortening-based buttercream frosting that is typically used for decorating cakes.  Butter becomes soft at room temperature and the frosting becomes to soft to hold the shape of things like flowers.  

FYI, for those who are curious, below would be stiff peaks.  That is NOT what you want.  If you do stiff peaks, you cake will have air bubbles.  Soft peaks is when the peaks that form kind of curl over or lean a bit at the top after you lift the beaters, whereas in the photo below they sit up straight and stiff.

without flash

with flash--see the stiff peak toward the center?

Ingredients

2-1/4 sifted flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature

2c sugar

4 egg yolks

1/2c fresh pineapple juice (you can just blend fresh pineapple and strain)

1/2c sour cream

1 TB dark rum

4 large egg whites

 homemade pineapple filling

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and line two 8 x 3-inch baking pans or one 12 x 3-inch pan with parchment. 

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 

Cream the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy and light in color, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the sugar and continue to mix until fluffy and light. 

Add the egg yolks, one at a time, being sure each is well incorporated before adding the next one. Add the vanilla. 

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream and pineapple juice, beginning and ending with the flour. Be sure the mixture is completely blended after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat for 1 minute. 

In a separate bowl, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter with a rubber spatula. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake in the preheated oven, 60 minutes for the 12-inch square pan or 45 to 50 minutes for the 8-inch pan. The top of the cake should be nicely browned. Test for doneness with a skewer or a toothpick; the tester should come out dry and clean.