Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but I have a huge baker’s crush. Huge. As baking enthusiasts, I imagine many of you already know, love, and adore the popular baking cookbooks by famed BAKED bakery boys, Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito: Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
If you aren’t familiar with them, I’m excited to introduce you to their awesomeness, and to give you the gist: Matt and Renato left their careers in advertising to open their dream bakery, BAKED, in Brooklyn, NY in 2005. What I love the most, is their ability to reinvent classic desserts; I really connect with this style of baking. They embrace decadence in a modern and gourmet-yet-casual way, and let’s just say it’s working! They now not only have one thriving bakery location, but have opened a second location in Charleston, South Carolina, and have expanded into everything from BAKED baking mixes to wedding cakes/desserts. Simply put, I love and admire everything they do.
So here’s my first-ever BAKED cake — The Whiteout Cake, from their first book. I ordered both books and received them last Friday; I read them cover-to-cover by Friday night, and I was ready to go. I, literally, didn’t know where to start–there are so, so many incredible looking recipes in these books: Classic Diner-Style Chocolate Pie, Root Beer Bundt Cake, Red Hot Velvet Cake — I could go on and on.
I was really drawn to The Whiteout Cake because, yes, I adore vanilla, but, the truth is, I have a wee, tiny obsession with the colour white. Not just cake — anything. For example, in the last year and a half, I’ve somehow managed to turn our entire house from rustic, earthy tones to an array of shades of white and off-white (with a lot of help and paint!). All white. All bliss. Come to think of it, I drive a white vehicle, we have all white bedding, most of our furniture is white, my KitchenAid mixer is white, my coffee maker is white . . . okay, perhaps my wee, tiny obsession is not so wee. White is glorious, and in all of its white glory, this cake is no exception: triple-layer moist vanilla cake filled and frosted with a unique, satiny white chocolate frosting, then topped with white sprinkles. I might add that all of this sweet whiteness paired with a dark-roasted, intense coffee = my idea of heaven. The flavours, and the visual, are the perfect juxtaposition.
Just when I thought that their incredible baking, style, and business savvy was enough to admire, I have to tell you how kind and sweet Matt was when he replied to my email request to share this recipe with you. It’s the weirdest thing but, dare I say, I’m starting to notice that bakers and foodies are some of the sweetest and most supportive people on earth. I’ve come to know so many bakers and food bloggers through Twitter, your blog comments, and other avenues online and off, and, honestly, what a bond we all share. Is it just me that feels that way?
This cake was very straightforward to make, but with some unique qualities: they call for ice cold water (as opposed to the more common room temperature milk or buttermilk), a combination of cake flour and all-purpose, which I personally appreciate because I think it’s a perfect blend, as well as a combination of butter and shortening, to name a few. The cake baked up beautifully, and scented the entire house with the amazing smell of warm vanilla. What I love about the white chocolate frosting, aside from being different from anything I’ve ever made, is that is whips up smooth, creamy, and satiny — the ultimate texture for frosting and decorating.
I also love that the frosting has no icing (confectioners’) sugar, but rather a warm, thickened milk, cream, sugar, and flour mixture that is then whipped along with the butter, vanilla, and melted white chocolate. I was sure to use Belgian white chocolate for the ultimate taste, and topped it all off with a single Lindt white chocolate ball.
A big thank you to Matt & Renato for sharing their amazing recipe with us! Someday soon I hope to get back to New York so that I can visit their bakery, eat one of everything, and get properly, and officially, BAKED.
The Whiteout Cake (as printed in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking) {click here for printable recipe}
Yield: 1 (8-inch) cake
For the white cake layers
2 1/2 cups of cake flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups ice cold water
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
For the white chocolate frosting
6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
To assemble the cake
White sprinkles or white nonpareils
Make the white cake layers
Preheat the over the 325 degrees F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Dust with flour, and knock out the excess flour.
Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening on medium speed until creamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, add the egg, and beat until just combined. Turn the mixer to low. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the ice water, in three separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl, then mix on low speed for a few more seconds.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Do not overbeat. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the rack, remove the pans, and let cool completely. Remove the parchment.
Make the white chocolate frosting
Using either a double boiler or a microwave oven (see page 23), melt the white chocolate and set it aside to cool.
In a medium heavy-bottom saucepan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and cream to cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened, about 20 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter; mix until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and white chocolate and continue mixing until combined. If the frosting is too soft, put the bowl in the refrigerator to chill slightly, then beat again until it is the proper consistency. If the frosting is too firm, set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the proper consistency.
Assemble the cake
Refrigerate the frosting for a few minutes (but no more) until it can hold its shape. Place one cake layer on a serving platter. Trim the top to create a flat surface, and evenly spread about 1 1/4 cups of the frosting on top. Add the next layer, trim and frost it, then add the third layer. Crumb coat the cake and put the cake in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to firm up the frosting. Frost the sides and top with the remaining frosting. Garnish with a few white sprinkles or white nonpareils and refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up the finished cake.
This cake will keep beautifully in a cake saver at room temperature (cool and humidity free) for up to 3 days. If your room is not cool, place the in a cake saver and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours before serving.
Good luck & enjoy!
OOOH…I just got BAKED right before we left for vacation and it looks soooooo YUMMY! Can’t wait to try. Beautiful pictures, as always. :)
Thanks for sharing (and thanks to the guys, too)! I need to make something for my Grandma’s birthday this week and this is just the thing! I know she’ll love it and I’m totally getting the books!
You are the princess of cakes, for sure. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I loved the bAKED series of books, but have never been to the location bakery. Can I say “road trip”, you betcha!
You are killing me!!
Slobbered all over the keyboard, truly an incredible looking cake, but your description, warm vanilla…..yummy! Put white chocolate on my grocery list for tomorrow and can not wait to make this cake. Thanks so much for all the heart and soul you put into every crumb!
I actually JUST pulled your classic vanilla butter cake(s) out of the oven and I almost wish I had seen this before I started so that I could have given it a go! This cake looks fabulous and it will definitely be used for a future triple-tiered cake extravaganza! Love those baked boys! (The grasshopper bars from Baked Explorations are a miracle.)
Great! Can’t wait to try those Grasshopper Bars!
I have the “Baked Explorations” also, but hate to admit that I haven’t baked anything from it yet:( I’m sure Matt and Renato would be thrilled to see how they’ve inspired you to bake up such a beautiful cake:) P.S. I love Heather(Sprinkle Bakes)too~ She’s the best!
I definitely agree with you! Bakers are awesome people. I keep wanting to buy one of the BAKED books, but I’m too cheap :P It really does seem like there are a lot of gems in there, though. This cake looks incredible!
Also, I’m envious of your all-white house. I want that, too :D
Wow this seems like a really delicious cake, too bad I hate white chocolate :P But the cake itself looks fantastic and light and fluffy. YUM
I ♥
Oh ma goodness. Gorgeous photos and lovely blog! High five!
Hi there! This cake looks wonderful. I was wondering if you could provide some more details about it pertaining to texture and moisture. Is the cake dense or light and fluffy? Does it dry out quickly? I’ve been having the upmost difficultly baking vanilla cakes that aren’t dry as the desert!
GORGEOUS CAKE!! Did you find out why they use ice cold water? I’m curious.
rosie! love the whiteout madness! your photos have a beautiful “white” quality to them as well … perfectly blown out, great lighting… ^__^
i adore the baked books too, i got one last year for my birthday and then the latest one this year for christmas… the design, photography, writing… everything is so pleasingly modern yet rustic!
i totally agree with you — the baking community, both locally and on the blog scene, are the nicest people!!! pretty cool i think! your work is so totally crush-able, and this set of photos and cake is no exception!!!
^__^
Your photos turned out great, Rosie!!
I am going to try these as cupcakes! I bet they would be awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, guys! Maybe we need to plan a foodie group trip to NYC ;)
Your cake, as always, is beautiful! Thanks for the Baked info….I had never heard of them! *gasp* I’ve already scoured their website. YUM!
Oh my word! It looks gorgeous and of course I am gushing over your photography that is so amazing! love it!
OMG….I love this post. Your blog is one of my faves! So true obviously bakers are sweeties ;-) Cant wait to make this….I am a vanilla freak. Thanks!
This cake is just stunning! I’ve got to finally order this Baked cookbook, everything I’ve seen from it looks positively luscious. Yours is my favorite new blog I’ve discovered this week!
This cake is stunning in its simplicity and what a beautiful write up you did to the BAKED boys, Matt and Renato. I’ll be that they now have a crush on you! Love that you topped it all off with a white Lindt.
I read this post, drooled over your pics, headed over to Amzon, bought the book, came back, drooled some more. In that order!
Blue Skies,
Charlotte xo
Another gorgeous cake portrayed with beautiful photos! Sure do wish I had a piece of this right now!
I can’t wait to give this recipe a try. It sounds amazing and looks soooo beautiful!
WEDDING CAKE! <3
Exactly! I’m scouring baking blogs looking for inspiration for my own small wedding cake I’m baking next month. I’m going to try this one out this weekend. From appearances and description alone I think we may have a winner!
I just got Baked Explorations, but I haven’t tried anything yet. Although, I think I am going to try their Honey Corn Muffins with dinner tomorrow. Would you say this cake was light and fluffy or more heavy and dense?
Jen, I’d say that this cake was somewhere in between, texture-wise. Definitely lighter than a full-on butter cake, but more dense than a sponge cake, because of the butter. The soft peak egg whites add a nice lightness. It’s really one of the best I’ve tried. Good luck!
That right there is my absolute dream cake.
awesome post!
your photographs are amazing & your cake looks divine! since we both seem to have a crush on baked, i am going to order the coffee @ kicking horse…thanks for the link.
i have been to baked & have eaten my way through so many of their wonderful treats & have actually baked many recipes from both books.
i love their recipes & their ingredient “mix.” in fact, i called the bakery when i had questions about a recipe (from the first book) & a very patient & kind person gave me a phone tutorial & told me to call back to let him know how it went…that person was renato!
i truly enjoy sweetapolita, & look forward to your posts! have a great day!!
I have made this one too and it is fabulous. Wait till you try the lemon drop cake, monkey bubble bread, and rootbeer bundt. You will be in Love :).
Ok WOW, this cake looks unreal!!! Can you teach me how to make a cake look that perfect?! :)
I’ve made many Baked recipe and this is one that I didn’t really enjoy very much. I found it sweet and didn’t have the depth of flavour that I had wanted. But it does look super pretty and I too was swayed with the idea of an all-white cake. Looks gorgeous!
Oh my, that cake looks so moist and moreish! I’m always on the lookout for slightly lighter white cakes like this. I definitely have to agree, the baking/blog community is full of amazing, sweet people just like yourself!
Your cakes just blow me away! Only in my wildest dreams could I make a cake as beautiful. So envious!
I LOVE Baked – the cookbook and the (Charleston) store. Saw Matt on Martha Stewart years ago, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Your cake looks stunning (as always)!
I recently made this for my boyfriend’s 18th birthday, and it turned out SO good. He’s still eating it! Thanks for posting~
I used this recipe for a 6-tier rainbow cake for a friends birthday. It turned out excellent! Moist, dense, not too sweet! We covered it with a nice white cream cheese frosting. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I just served this cake for a birthday party tonight! Instead of white – I went for a little color and colored the three cake layers AND then added colored sprinkles on top! Fun!
I made this cake this weekend (used a different buttercream icing) and it was great! I didn’t have a mixer with the paddle attachments, but I still got it to turn out ok :)
That cake looks incredible. What at classic look. I made my first trip to Baked a week ago! It was breakfast time so I got a coffee cake and it was delicious, but I was sad that I couldn’t try everything else in the store!
Wow… this cake looks lovely. I found your site a few months ago when I was looking for vanilla cake recipes. Hah, now I’ve got FOUR bookmarked! Of the Classic Vanilla (10/10), Very Vanilla (12/10), Old Fashioned Party (12/10) and now this Whiteout, which do you think would work best with layers of raspberries and lemon curd? Or even layers of just fresh raspberries. I was thinking the berries would work better with a lighter cake, but I’m not sure which one out of all of these amazing recipes. Thanks for your help! Loving your enthusiasm, photos (especially of your little munchkins) and overall styling.
Thanks so much Aaisha! I think my choice would be the Very Vanilla, because it’s partly a sponge cake, the texture seems to be a bit lighter, but still a great, stable, vanilla cake. Hope this helps!
It does! I’ll make it tomorrow and report back on the original post. Though I keep going back and forth on the filling (don’t want to compete with the berries)… I finally (sort of) decided on a mascarpone cream with fresh raspberries. Fingers crossed! If you’ve got suggestions on fillings, I’d love to hear (read?) them :)
Okay so I’ve tried making this cake twice and each time the cake comes out beautifully but the frosting comes out thin and more like a glaze if that, can you tell me what I am doing wrong? I have a feeling it might be because when I’m heating the milk/flour mixture i turn the heat off once it starts boiling and only 13 or 15 minutes have gone by, please help.
Hi Anthony,
If you wait until the milk/flour mixture has really thickened on the stove (you can lower your heat a bit so it doesn’t boil as quickly) before mixing, that should help. Once you do that and mix it, and if it’s still too thin, chill the bowl in the refrigerator for several minutes until it’s thick enough to mix again. Good luck!
Does this cake freeze well?
Beth, I’ve never frozen this cake whole, but the layers freeze very well. If you can, I find it best to freeze the layers, thaw in the fridge, then frost the day you need it with fresh frosting. Good luck!
I see your recipe calls for a vegetable shortening does it matter if I use high-ratio shortening instead?
I adore all your cakes here!
I’m just wondering how did you make such great & balanced swirl on the top & sides?
I saw a few of them from your cakes, but no idea how to make them :)
Thank you for lovely blog!
Hi!
I made this cake over the weekend, and it came out great! It was a trial run for my son’s first birthday cake, and we loved it. Question: I’d like to make this cake for his birthday, then make a second batch of batter to make cupcakes and one, 4-inch ‘smash’ cake. Do you know how long I should bake the cupcakes and the 4-inch cakes? I’ve never made such a small cake before.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice!
Best,
Stacey
this cake looks AMAZING!!!
Hi Rosie,
This cake looks so beautiful! I was wondering what you would define as ‘cake flour’?? I’m in Australia and we don’t have anything called that. Would you mean self-raising flour possibly???
Kind Regards,
Elyce
This cake looks absolutely gorgeous. I am thinking about using it to make a 4th of July flag cake (similar to 17 & Baking), but I wanted to jazz it up a bit with white chocolate in the cake batter itself. Any suggestions on how to do that without screwing up the consistency?
I have been looking for this cake for years. This might be my all time favorite cake and that makes sense since my favorite ice cream is vanilla. Great photos. I pinned this.
I forgot to say, I, too, have an obsession with white. My bedding, towels, tableclothes, chairs, accessories must be all white. It makes me feel good.
Hello..I’m new to your blog and I have to say I’m soooo excited! In the past year, I have developed a love for baking and need help! I love the pictures, the recipes, the advice and ideas. I look forward to following you. You’re very talented. Thank you for the blog.
Blessings,
Traci
How did you get the frosting to look so white?? Mine turned out yellowish :s and thin
Oh, yummy! I’m heading in to the store ASAP to gather up the supplies! :) I love BAKED! Can’t wait to try this! :)
Can I just say that I think I have a bakers crush on you!!! I think you are so right about people in this industry being so supportive of each other, everyone really roots for each other! As someone who is just starting out in the industry I look to people like you to guide me a little along this path and I truly appreciate it!! Love your blog!
Wow, my cake looks nothing like this haha! I tried though! I have no clue how you got your icing to turn out so good!
This may be a completely silly question, but I’ve noticed you mentioned to keep the cake in a “cake saver”. Is this just a cake carrier or a stand with dome? Or is it something “special”?
What a cake, so gorgeous.But please tell me what is cake flour?
I would love to bake this cake!
Kind regards, Linda
Thanks, Linda! Here’s a link to a recent post I did (Bring Me Flours) explaining the difference between flour types, including cake flour and how to make it quickly at home: http://sweetapolita.com/2012/01/bring-me-flours/
This cake looks delicious!!!! I love to bake but I am not very good at making cakes from scratch. They taste good but are ALWAYS dry. When it says cake flour or all purpose flour does it mean to sift then measure or measure then sift? This recipe says to measure the flours and sift with baking powder, baking soda, and salt. This is always confusing to me. I have found several recipes that use weight measurement and was wondering if I would have better luck with this. Please HELP…I really want to make this cake. Thanks
hi there! what a lovely cake! i was planning to make a rainbow cake for a birthday. do you think i could use this cake for that? is it ok to do the white chocolate frosting a day before? and lastly how long could i keep this cake and where to keep it? thanks so much!!
so so happy of bumping to your wonderful site. i told my sister that you are one of my guru haha!
I’m looking for a cake to make for my son’s birthday tomorrow and of course, yours is one of the first sites I go to for ideas and inspiration :)
Just want to say I’m in love with Matt and Renato… I have the first Baked book and have borrowed the second from the library twice (I should buy it already). I heard there is a third book coming out late this year, too!
I just tried this cake without the icing (I know it’s a shame…) and it is delicious. I like the texture and the taste. For once, it did not sink, it tastes good and it is MOIST. I will “test” it to see how it does tomorrow. Thank you, it is a keeper! In the process, just before pouring in the pan, I got a little scared because it looked bubbly, but it turned out great. I baked it in two 9-inch pan because I only have two 8-inch pans and it was in the oven for 45 minutes.
wondering, will this cake hold up under fondant? i’m searching for a vanilla/white cake recipe that will work with fondant.
I enjoy reading your blog and would love to try baking them but I always measure my ingredients in grams. Can’t decipher them in cup. I realised that different sites converts them into different values. Any advice?
I’ll try today your recipe! It looks really YUMMY…
I would like to know if I could pipe the frosting? Thanks.
Hi!
I can’t even begin to describe how excited this cake has got me! Beautiful is an understatement!
I’m a relatively new baker and just wondered if you had any tips for frosting the cake into that pattern? or maybe a video? Your pastel swirl cake tutorial was SO helpful!
Thanks!
I made this recipe into cupcakes about a week ago for my grandmother’s birthday. THEY WERE SO FRIGGIN PERFECT. The cake was delicious on its own, but the icing was MAGIC. I was a little dubious about the flour at first, but A+, turned out awesome. I ended up with way more icing than I needed, but no complaints on that! (though it is much harder to pretend you are not pretty much eating three sticks of butter with a spoon after it’s been refrigerated…) Can’t help but think it would be great on chocolate cake for cookies n’ cream.
Has anyone attempted to refrigerate this frosting overnight? I want to take this cake to work (for my Birthday) and figured that I could make the frosting the night before and just assemble the cake on the day. Maybe let the frosting sit at room temp for a bit and re-whip? Thoughts?
Looks amazing!! Do you by any chance know if the baked boys use the spoon-and-sweep or the scoop-and-sweep method to measure the dry ingredients?
Thanks…can’t wait to try this!!
Hi Rosie,
Do you mind explaining to me the use of shortening here? I hope you reply, I know this post was long ago but I’m comparing your recipes (such as for funfetti cake), but I can’t figure why shortening’s used! :/
Hi Rosie:
I had fallen in love with the look of this cake so I made it for Mothers Day…sorry I really did not like it..First, the batter of cake looked wonderful, baked up great, but the taste and crumb were not. Even my husband who loves cake said this one was a no.
The frosting did not thicken properly, I did as you said, lowered the heat and cooked longer, even put it in the fridge, but it kept “melting”..it tatsed great but all in all, not one to repeat..sorry, all that work or nothing.