When I first met my husband, Grant, by chance while I was living in Grand Cayman in 1999, well, let’s just say that our meeting was a tad untimely. Sure, his gorgeous hazel eyes, true-blue demeanor, sincere compassion, and a few other remarkable (and seemingly rare) characteristics (that may or may not include a Calvin Klein model’s physique…if you don’t believe me, check him out in this previous post, here), were all striking and impossible to ignore, but it simply wasn’t the right time for us. After several years (4 to be precise), a move back to Canada, and a fresh start and move-in with a mutual friend in Toronto, he landed on our doorstep, almost literally. At that point, the timing was better, but still not perfect. A few weeks, and a bit of spring cleaning later, the timing was suddenly, well, perfect. We started to “date,” and it didn’t take me long to figure out that I was finally home.
I can recall one cold Sunday afternoon date in particular. We went for lunch to what soon became our favourite and most frequented greasy spoon, The New York Cafe, or as we like to call it, “The New Yorker” on “The Danforth” in Toronto. After that lunch date, for some reason (and yes, I’m in denial and swear it wasn’t our beloved New Yorker’s fault), I felt so ill. I managed to get the 40 paces home, but barely, and I could keep my eyes open no longer; I had to rest. I did feel a little weird about the whole needing-to-pass-out-or-die thing, considering we were on a date and really didn’t know each other that well (yes, I sure know how to wow a man, don’t I?), but it was really life or death, or so it felt. Grant asked me, in his sweet and famously compassionate manner, if there was anything he could get me, and I jokingly replied, “I’d give anything for cherry chip birthday cake with pink frosting and sprinkles.” Although this may seem logical, considering, I really cannot explain any of the following: A. Why I would crave cake when I was sicker than sick. B. What I thought he was going to do about it, even if I was joking, considering he’d never baked a cake in his life. C. If this was actually some kind of pseudo-subconscious dater’s test on my behalf. I can tell you, though, that if it was indeed a test of any kind, he passed; he rocked it, actually. While I was sleeping, he walked to the grocery store in the blistery-cold, came back armed with the provisions for making my cake wishes come true, and before I could say “father my children,” he presented me with what was possibly the loveliest-but-most-dilapidated cherry chip, pink frosting, and sprinkle-happy cake–talk about a serious kiss-ass romantic, but I was genuinely impressed and touched. It was such a fun and thoughtful thing to do, and, of course, the visual of this science-minded newly-graduated Chiropractor swirling pink icing and sprinkles all over his first-ever cake attempt, well, it definitely got us off to a sweet start.
If we fast forward 2 years from that day, and 6 years ago this exact moment, the night before our wedding, I was about to return alone to the quaint little single-cottage honeymoon suite at The Waring House in the beautiful countryside of Picton, Ontario. We had just finished up our rehearsal dinner at Grant’s father’s home on the farm property on which Grant was raised, and I was most ready for a good night’s sleep (back when I knew what that was) before our “big day” the next day. When I walked into the cottage suite room, there on the table was the cake I remembered so well, and could never forget: cherry chip layer cake smothered in fluffy pink frosting and covered in colourful sprinkles. And a card. An impeccably written but candid and heartfelt card, in which he expressed that if he has it his way, he will spend the rest of his days making sure my days were filled with such cakes and sprinkles. And, although we know that marriage and life are never filled solely with such literal and figurative loveliness, it sure helps. ♥
This week, to celebrate our anniversary, I made us a classic 3-layer vanilla bean cake with pink vanilla buttercream, and heaps of colourful sprinkles. Before we talk more about that cake, I thought it would be fun to share some snippets of my night-before-the-wedding cake surprise, and our wedding day, June 4th, 2005:
Not bad, right? Grant explained that he was so proud of his second attempt (yes, he did indeed wait the full 2 years to make this cake, but we’ll go easy on him), and I think he should be. He confessed that the back right portion of the first cake he made me, years before, had fallen off and the rest was held together strictly by strategically-placed gobs of frosting. I decided that night that I should wait until the wedding day morning to cut into this cake, and so I did. Seeing as this was long before my budding food photography days or, well, even my Sweetapolita days, I’m particularly pleased that the wedding photographer thought to take these photos. And, yes, that’s me on the morning of my wedding day, hovering over a table eating cake before going to the church. To think that the Sweetapolita in me had not yet been born; she would have been so proud! Looking back, it was a respectable and ironic way to start one of the best days of my life, and I love that Grant knew me well enough to come up with such a surprise. Here are a few more sprinkles from our wedding day (best I could do without digital files, but I still wanted to share):
Yes, we’re both drinking wine on the loose, but the good news is that the entire bridal party was doing the same. More good news is that we had a handy (and huge) limo bus to carry our insanely large and possibly tipsy bridal party back to the reception. And even more good news is that we were on the gorgeous Chadsey’s Winery property, in Prince Edward County, doing wine tastings and getting rustic country photos taken, so it all made sense at the time. Wait, there really is no bad news in this story.
So, as I mentioned, in honour of our 6th wedding anniversary this weekend, I wanted to make a cake reminiscent of Grant’s pink cake with sprinkles. I made his favourite flavour, vanilla bean, with a version of pink vanilla buttercream that I’d never tried before: it’s a white sugar and meringue base buttercream, similar to Italian Meringue Buttercream, but much quicker. The main difference technique-wise is that it doesn’t require a candy thermometer; the main difference ingredient-wise is that it uses light corn syrup. I found the texture to be incredibly fluffy, satiny, and stable; and the taste to be very similar to the meringue buttercreams. I will admit, that although this is a fabulously quick and easy classic buttercream, I still adore the corn-syrup-free Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Don’t get me wrong, this one is gorgeous, and I love that it doesn’t have powdered sugar. On a sidenote, I thought I’d point out that I bought so much pink ribbon for our wedding that I am still trying to come with ways to use it, such as above! You’ll likely see, and may have already seen, it make its way into my photos often; let’s think of it as the “Where’s Waldo” of food photography.
The cake itself is one of my favourites, the Vanilla Bean Layer Cake from the previous Vanilla Bean Latte Layer Cake post. A fairly dense, but stable, moist, and wonderfully vanilla cake (it’s also a great option for cakes that will be covered in buttercream and fondant).
Wishing you a weekend (and more) of love, cake & sprinkles!
*Wedding photos by Click Photo Co.
- 1-1/2 cups 341 g(3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2-2/3 cups 540 g granulated sugar
- 9 275 g egg whites, at room temperature
- 4 1/2 cups 575 g all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons 28 g baking powder
- 1 teaspoon 8 g salt
- 2 cups 480 mL buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 vanilla bean split & scraped or 1 tablespoon (15 mL) vanilla bean paste
- 1 teaspoon 5 mL pure vanilla extract, best quality
- 5 large 150 g egg whites
- 1-1/4 cups 250 g granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons 213 g light corn syrup
- 2 cups 454 g (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon 15 mL pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1-2 drops pink gel food colour
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Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter three 8" x 2" round cake pans, line with parchment rounds, and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.
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In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy and pale, about 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium and add the egg whites gradually, mixing until fully incorporated.
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Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Mix vanilla extract and vanilla paste (or contents of vanilla bean) into buttermilk.
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Alternate dry ingredients and buttermilk into creamed mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
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Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. (If possible, weigh the batter in each cake pan on a digital kitchen scale to ensure even layers.) Smooth with small offset palette knife, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes clean.
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Let pans cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert cakes onto racks, gently, peeling away parchment rounds. Let cool completely.
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Wipe a mixer bowl with dampened with some lemon juice to remove any traces of grease.
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Place the egg whites in the mixer bowl and, in the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk on medium-high speed until foamy.
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Gradually add 6 tablespoons (72 g) of the sugar and beat on high speed to medium peaks (the whites should be smooth, full, and shiny, and the peaks should curl a little).
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Combine the remaining 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring briefly to dissolve the sugar. Continue to cook just until the mixture comes to a rolling boil; there should be bubbles covering the entire surface, and no pockets of sugar undissolved on the surface.
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Promptly remove the syrup from the heat and, with the mixer set on medium-high speed, slowly pour the hot syrup down the side of the bowl in a steady stream between the bowl and whisk, being very careful not to let the syrup hit the whisk (otherwise you end up with sticky hot syrup splatters stuck to the sides of the bowl).
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Set the mixer to medium speed and whisk until the bottom of the mixer bowl feels neutral to the touch. Add the butter in, 1 tablespoon at a time (doesn't have to be precise, just in small chunks), until it has all been incorporated.
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Add vanilla extract, pinch of salt, and a few drops of any food colouring gel you want to use, and beat until thickened and smooth.
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Place bottom layer face-up on a cake stand, plate, or thin cake board. Spread and smooth ~ 1 cup frosting using a small palette knife. Repeat with second cake layer.
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Gently place third cake layer, face-down, on top.
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Spread a thin layer (also known as a crumb coat) all over cake using an the offset palette knife for the top and straight palette knife for the sides. Then, using a bench scraper, gently scrape off excess frosting from the cake, for a smooth finish. This works best while slowly spinning your rotating cake stand with one hand and holding the bench scraper with the other.
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Refrigerate your cake for at least 30-60 minutes.
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Use remaining frosting to decorate your cake.
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Add sprinkles or any other decorations that make you happy!
You may enjoy this previous post, 50 Tips for Baking Better Cakes.
Good luck & enjoy!
The cake is to die for, as per usual, but those wedding photos! Gorgeous, girl!
Great story and picture recap. And happy 6th anniversary to the both of you. PEC is a fabulous place to celebrate a wedding and glad to see the images from back then, including the bride noshing on the cake. Wonderful! Just like this cake!
Awww, such a sweet and thoughtful thing to do. Gorgeous photos!
Has to be the best post I’ve read from you so far, and that’s before I got to the cake! Happy anniversary, with -i hope- many, many to follow. Sounds a likely thing ;)
And oh wow that buttercream! Like Swiss Meringue without the butter-dominion! Thinking I might like the balance to this one. A lot. As much as I like the gram weights included, woo-hoo! Living in the UK, I’ll hazard a guess that the light corn syrup would be golden syrup…off to do the research :) but do you reckon this type would work in the rainbow cake (thinking all snowy-white…)? Not too sweet under a layer of sugarpaste?
Looking forward to the next post -and flight of inspiration.
Thanks, Claire! The light syrup is actually white in colour, so it helps to keep the frosting lighter, and not too yellowy. Because of the butter, though, it really isn’t snow white, the way it would be if it were strictly a meringue frosting. It would work well in the rainbow cake, definitely, and it’s the perfect “unsweetness” for under the sugarpaste–much like the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Good luck!
I really want to make the cake but cannot find the syrup. Will the frosting work if I make it excluding the syrup????
I live in the UK and purchased my Karo light syrup from Amazon – good price and cheap shipping considering. I think it came in around £6-7? Hope this helps!
I just have to say, your blog and website make me so giddy!,hehe Your cakes are absolutely beautiful and as a lover of sprinkles, I definitely approve of this cake. I made the pink ruffle cake a few weeks back for a birthday with the help of my talented, baker sister. It turned out SO nicely.
ps. your wedding pictures belong in a magazine, you people are so good looking!,hehe
A great story and amazing pictures. What a gorgeous couple!
You are so pretty! I LOVED that you shared your wedding photos, and once again beautiful cake. You need to rename this the couples blog. I always end up moving next to Bernie with the computer so I can show him your newest creations!
PS…have you ever seen Steel Magnolias? If not, tweet me, and I will send you the funniest pink wedding quotes. I think you would get a kick out of them!
Beautiful photos, and what a tasty looking cake! Simple but decadent. P.S. Your bouquet is GORGEOUS!
Oh what a lovely story – I got goosebumps reading it. Love the photos of your wedding day – so beautiful.
Happy Anniversary and I hope you enjoy your cake and what a beautiful story to tell your little girls.
Leanne
also love that you have put the measurement in grams – that is so helpful as we use the metric system in Australia
What a lovely story! Your husband sounds like such a kind and caring man. This cake is beautiful! I want to make it for myself..it’s not my birthday or my anniversary, but I can dream :)
Happy Anniversary! Lovely, lovely story- I love that you guys have a shared cake, say rather than a shared song like lots of couples! And a very fine cake at that! Have a great time celebrating-enjoy!
Very sweet post. No pun intended!
Happy Anniversary. I love this post, such a sweet and thoughtful thing he did and I love that you recreated it in honor of your anniversary. I especially love that you shared it with us. It’s defiantly on my “to be baked” list.
That is such a wonderful story and your husband is such a romantic! I also love your wedding photos, gorgeous. You both are just adorable!! And this cake, as always, looks amazing. I want to make everything you bake!
Good morning my dear,
I just wanted to say you say that you have a such a beautiful loving family. I very grateful that you share your love of beautiful cakes. I have made a few and they have been great hits. I going to make the campfire cupcakes for cake day a work this month can hardly wait. I have had breast cancer since 2004 and in order to make me forget about it I bake cupcakes, cake pops and now I am making your cakes that you have shared with us. You inspire to become a even better baker. I picked up a kugelhoff cake pan for twenty dollars (yippee a great deal) and I am going to make that cake for my family.
Thanks for inspiring me so much that I don’t want to go to bed at night …. I just want to make them all. They are some beautiful and taste awesome.
Love Joanne oxox
What a lovely comment, Joanne. Thank you so much for the kind words, and I’m so pleased that you find my cakes inspirational! I wish you boundless health & happiness. xo
Happy Anniversary Rosie and best wishes for many, many, more years filled with such sweetness. May you always have sprinkles in your life! Such a lovely story. Thank you for sharing it with us (and your latest cake). You are a beautiful couple and family.
P.S. Do you have the picture of your husband (shown in earlier post mentioned) available for sale in poster size? LOL!
What a beautiful post, Rosie! :) Thank you for that tidbit into your life, and for the sweet recipe that follows!
Well Rosie, (the best sister anyone could ask for!), I would be lying if I said I didn’t get a tad bit choked up reading this one…my brother, the romantic ;). What a guy! I had forgotten (jeez I wonder how!) about the cake he left on your wedding night…great to see the pics again. Memories came flooding back! I love your tribute…Happy Anniversary and I am so happy you stepped into our lives. I truly gained the best sister anyone could ask for…xoxo
LOVE it all, especially how your eloquent writing brings tears to my eyes! The romance and love you and Grant have for each other is such a delight to read about. And your cakes aren’t bad either! LOL Another scrumptious post by an uber-talented woman!
Here’s wishing you a *lifetime* of cake, love and sprinkles! <3 This post was a joy to read, and somehow a great representation of both lighthearted love and deep adoration. Inspiring. (Plus you were a stunning bride and you have quite the hunky hunk of a husband, yowza!)
This whole post makes me so very happy (and perhaps a bit weepy). Maybe I’ll attempt this cake for my beau and see what happens…
What a sweet story and such a beautiful cake! Happy anniversary!
Wow ! What a beautiful cake ! Happy Anniversary ! ♥
That was the sweetest most adorable and romantic story I’ve read in a long, long time. Congratulations on your anniversary and your wedding pictures are simply gorgeous. Also, that cake looks absolutely divine and I think I need to go whip up one for myself right now. I think a Sunday afternoon spent making this cake is a well spent Sunday afternoon.
Happy anniversary! First of all, you guys are possibly the most attractive couple EVER. It was so fun reading your story!
Secondly, beautiful gorgeous cake. As per usual.
This is such a sweet and romantic story. Thank you so much for sharing it! I love your wedding dress and the pink sash that it around it. Very pretty. You two are such a gorgeous couple. What a special way to spend your anniversary…with a pink and sprinkle cake :)
Yes, your hubby a hunk of a man, but you are equally as gorgeous. So I’ll say that a pretty great match. Your children are definitely a testament to both your good genes. Congrats on your anniversary and that is a pretty romantic process to a union. Oh, and of course your cake is nothing short of stunning.
Wow! What a lovely story. Coincidentally, June 4, 2005 is my anniversary too! We got married in Scottsdale Arizona after being together for 9 years prior. (high school sweethearts). We celebrate every anniversary with fondue. It’s kind of our thing. How lucky we are to have such amazing men in our lives!
What a beautiful love story! Honestly brought tears to my eyes – so sweet – figuratively and literally!! Massive congrats on your anniversary and may your lives be filled with many more sweet moments to come :)
Goose Bumps Good story and wedding. I just LOVED the flowers. The beauty of the flowers were equally matched by the bride and groom. Thanks for sharing and Happy Anniversary.
That is such an adorable story and such wonderful pictures from your wedding. As a bride-to-be it’s made me all sniffly! Happy Anniversary!
Happy anniversary! He definitely sounds like a keeper! Lovely stories and pictures – thanks fo sharing them.
What a truely beautiful story and cake memormy. Its true that life and love is not always sweet, but what a wonderful way to recapture the moment! As always your cake is divine – I have an irresistable urge to dip my finger into the virtual frosting! Happy Anniversary.
Beautiful post and cake!
That is the ‘sweetest’ post. I am in awe of you.
And I thought Disney gave girls false expectations of love! This is better than any Prince Charming with his glass slipper. Happy anniversary!
How do you get the cake cuts so clean!! Its beautiful. I cant ever get the frosting and cake to present THAT well after cutting into it.
Happy Anniversary!! Such a lovely story, thank you so much for sharing it!! So romantic…
Wowie..what a lovely cake! Looks like a fairy tale wedding :) Both of you look gorgeous. Love those dreamy pictures..you took me to a different world.
Love the peonies and your dress..oh my God!… Love pink!
What a beautiful post and a beautiful cake too. Thanks for taking the time to share such a sweet story!
Happy Anniversary! I’m so happy I was able to share that beautiful day with you guys. Wishing you many many more pink frosted cakes with sprinkles :)
I’m repeating what Lori said – that’s such a sweet story and fabulous cake!
Good Morning Rosie,
What a beautiful story…. and I love your cake recipes…
Happy Monday,
Take care,
Cheers, Cheers, to Cherry Chip nuptials and your lovely pink sprinkle life. Thank You for sharing a beautiful story.
The aerial shot of your slice of perfection leaves me wanting to morph into hornet, straddle a fork and dive bomb straight into the nucleus of that perfect confection never to be seen again.
what a sweet post. both the cake and the weddings pics look gorgeous!
I just wanted to say thank you all so much for the wonderful comments. I’m so glad you enjoyed this post! xo
This post is a lovely way for you to express how much you adore your husband. I believe that what you give you get back. You two clearly do well in that regard. Happy anniversary!
I love this post Rosie, You guys sure make a perfect couple!
and i hope you have many many more years to come together!
Happy anniversary! :)
great story, thanks for sharing it :O)
and the cake looks divine!
5 years plus! wOW.. MY husband and I got married the same year 2005 in dec. DOesn’t seem that long though right??
The cake is lovely and your wedding pics simply spectacular. All of you look so hollywoodish… and gorgeous
What a sweet story, just must have known that he was a keeper after he went to all the trouble of making you that cake! And my goodness you two make the most gorgeous couple! Happy Anniversary to you both.
(CLAPPING)
That was swoooooooonilicious wonderful!! Thank you for the tale of that very special cake, what a guy! And your wedding photos, icing on the cake ;) LOVE, V
Pretty Pictures, gorgeous couple, sweet story and a delactable cake recipe. The perfect blog post. Thank you!
I’ll take a piece of that cake and I love all of the photos just so pretty, soft and romantic!!!
Happy Anniversary! I absolutely adore all of your wedding photos- absolutely gorgeous. The cake looks fantastic too, love the pink with sprinkles.
What a great story and a wonderful cake. Life’s better with sprinkles! Happy anniversary!
What a beautiful post. Happy anniversary!
love your baking, love your writing, but I’m living in Denmark, and the sprinkles is one of the many things I can not get, not in these vibrant colors, soooo lovely. Would you please tell me whom (what store, site)I’m going to try to convince to send me some. I love baking, and decorating, big and small, but we don’t have a tradition for cake decorating the way you do. no colors to speak of, like no nothing…
you do make me happy
all the best
lisbet diemer
Love the dress with the pink sash and the flowers! If I am correct you look like just stepped out of one of my favourite issues of Martha Stewart Weddings. Well done – everything is beautifully executed! Happy Anniversary!
Rosie, I love this cake and I love your romantic story! You are both so lucky to have one another. It looks like the perfect wedding day. A very Happy Anniversary to you!
Such a sweet story. And such a beautiful cake! Happy Anniversary! Just celebrated mine as well by making a mini wedding cake.
You guys are adorable! And so easy on the eyes too :-) Thnx for sharing your beautiful pictures and heartfelt stories. The cake is oh so pretty!
I really loved reading this post, thank you for sharing your wedding photos with us, I wondering, was it going through your head, the moment you took a big bite out of his “cake” did you know you’d end up marrying him?
This may be one of the sweetest stories I’ve heard in a long while. Too cute! You’re wedding photos are fantastic and, even though I only know your blog and not you personally, the pink seems to fit you perfectly.
Happy Anniversary you sweet, sweet woman. It’s not often that a I read a blog post that brings joyful tears to my eyes. What a wonderful couple you are and you’re still romantic after all this time! You’re an inspiration to this old girl.
I would have cried at his first cake. :)
Happy anniversary Rosie! You all look so stunning. We were married the same year, a couple of months later. and would you believe I shunned a traditional wedding cake for yummy French cheeses stacked like a wedding cake instead? I could have never have known back then how much I would love cake decorating. Probably for the best or I would have spent the night before our wedding covered in icing sugar and butter.
I could gush about how gorgeous this cake is and how I loved every bit of this story… but I really just wanted to wish you a very happy anniversary. E and I will be celebrating 2 years this month and I can only imagine that as each year passes, it gets sweeter and sweeter (not unlike your beautiful treats).
What an absolutely gorgeous and festive cake. I think your husband did a great job with his 2nd attempt at making the cake–too cute. Your wedding photos are stunning. Happy anniversary!
Happy Anniversary.
Beautiful wedding photos and a delicious looking cake. Yum.
thanks for sharing your wedding pictures. absolutely gorgeous, the couple the cake :)
how stinkin’ sweet. lovely pictures, lovely story, lovely cake(s). :)
What a sweet story! I’m so happy for you two. Congratulations!
What a sweet story!
Hi, Rosie.
Very cool site and blog. LOVE the absolutely amazing cakes – and all the beautiful colours! I’m an amateur baker and have recently stepped into the cake and cupcake world, as I got tired of baking cookies for my band one day and decided to try cupcakes. I’m excited to have some new things to try!
What a great story, Rosie! Best wishes for yours and Grant’s anniversary!
Liz, John and Jontyxxx
What beautiful photos. So dreamy! Very pretty cake too.
Hi Rosie. Congrats to you and your husband on your anniversary. I do not have vanilla beans but was wondering if I could substitute vanilla extract instead in the same amount?
Thank you, Anna! Yes, you can replace the vanilla bean/vanilla bean paste with 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Good luck!
What an amazing story! Happy anniversary and lovely cake to commemorate it. How do you get the filling so perfectly parallel to the cake layers?
Both you and Grant are gorgeous! Love this story… and love the photos. so sweet. Happy Anniversary! xo
To the lovely Rosie – I made this cake for my father in law’s birthday on Wednesday (changed the icing to purple instead of pink and used my favourite Swiss meringue buttercream) and the cake was soooooooooooo delicious and everyone said how yummy it was. I found myself sneaking a piece when no one was looking. Can’t wait to try out some more of your recipes. I also made some of your sugar cookies with royal icing and they were so yummy too – I had to freeze some or I would have eaten them all.
Leanne
xx
What a great and beautiful love story! The cake is as equally gorgeous to celebrate just that!
Hi Rosie, I just want to say thank you for this recipe! I am making all of the cakes (a 2 tier wedding cake and 5 two layer sheet cakes) for my wedding in less than 2 weeks, and am using this recipe. I wasn’t able to get a hold of the vanilla bean paste in time, and actual vanilla beans are a bit cost prohibitive due to sheer volume, but my test cakes came out fantastic even with 2 tbsp of pure vanilla extract swapped in for the vanilla paste/bean. Everyone I shared them with this past week have absolutely raved, and at work I am being harassed (in a good way!) for the recipe. This recipe is simple, fool-proof, yet insanely delicious! I look forward to having the opportunity to bake this on a smaller scale and try it with either the vanilla paste or bean. I am certain it will blow my mind even more than it already has. Did I forget to mention that the frosting is also ridiculously delicious and simple to make? You really have no idea how much stress you took off my shoulders with this post! Thank you x 1000!! By the way, along with the vanilla frosting, I am adding a layer of nutella between the cakes and covering the 2 tiers with homemade marshmallow fondant. I’m drooling already thinking about eating it all. One request, in the future can you post more tips on working with icing and fondant? Thanks again!
Just an update to say thanks again for these great recipes! I made them as my wedding cake, and I’m happy to report that everything turned out perfectly. I also had a ton of requests for the recipe from friends and family. Will definitely be keeping these recipes in my repertoire! :)
Thank you for this story and the recipe! I just moved back to the US from India where I spent the last year working. I met the love of my life there and now we’re doing a long distance relationship until we can be in the same city. His birthday is on Friday and I want to make him a birthday cake and take photos to send to him since we won’t be able to enjoy it together. His favorite flavor is vanilla and this cake is perfect for his birthday. Thank you for providing some inspiration and I can’t wait to make it!
This cake is almost as beeeeeeeutiful as your story of how you two met and fell in love. I will definitely have to try your frosting recipe. :)
I was wondering if the baking time and temp would be the same if i wanted to use this cake recipe for cupcakes?
Sara, the baking time would likely more closer to 18 mins or so. You could start checking at 18, and then 2 min intervals. Hope that helps!
I made this cake last weekend for a baby shower and it was a hit! I actually had to double the recipe, which was a mistake. My mixer couldn’t handle it! But, SuperHusband found me a bigger bowl and I finished it off by hand. Phew!
Hi. (: Your love story made me smile like a fool…So beautiful! I’m trying this cake next week, and I was wondering if there’s something I can replace the corn syrup with? Because I can’t find it were I live. The only similar thing I found is something called “golden syrup” made with sugar, not sure if you know what it is. So could you tell me, please? Thanks so much!
Hey Rosie!
Could I use liquid egg whites for this cake? I prefer to use them when possible, I feel bad wasting so many egg yolks!
Thanks :)
My gosh, you two are a fricken beautiful couple. But I love that I can just see the love you guys have in looking at a handful of pictures, it’s a wonderful thing :) Thank you for being a wholesome little family.
Wow, I got so teary eyed reading this! You are both so gorgeous! Your photos are beautiful :)
I have to go and make this cake!! My daughters will love it, just for the fact it is pink and has sprinkles :) Thank you so much!
I teared up reading this story and the cake(s) are just wonderfully sweet looking. You can’t go wrong with pink frosting and sprinkles!
I just found your blog and I’m so thrilled about the Toronto references. I’m in T.O. also! I never seem to read blogs where the author is making reference to places I know.
Where did you find those adorable aqua coloured straws?
Your cake is one of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen!! Gorgeous. And you look really pretty in your wedding pictures too!!
Is there a difference from using cake & pastry flour versus regular all purpose flour? I prefer to use the cake and pastry flour but your recipes call for all purpose. Also is there a brand of sprinkles that you like to use? Thanks. All your recipes are so tempting
I made this cake for my son’s first birthday today. It was delicious. I changed the icing to be light blue, but otherwise made no changes. Everyone complemented both the cake and the icing. I have made strawberry, chocolate and other cakes from scratch before, but never vanilla. It was so very good. This was also the first time I have made any frosting other than plain old buttercream; I will never go back. What a difference! Thank you, for this great recipe! It will be the cake he has for his birthday every year. So glad I found you!
I’ve have made this cake twice now for two different birthdays. I LOVE the flavor, and so does everyone else. I’ve gotten many, many compliments on the taste; however, the texture of my cakes is much different than your picture posted above – more crumbly is my best description. Any suggestions for the difference in texture? Also, my cake took much longer to bake – oven variance perhaps?
ooooh, love it all! you’re blog is so compelling and beautiful. like you – this is essential reading (and, eventually, eating!) for me. wonderful xx
That cake is so beautiful and such a lovely story to go along with it!
OMG- great cake and gorgeous wedding pics! Does your handsome husband have any single brothers/ friends who might be just as handsome? :-) you are so lucky, but then you’re gorgeous too.
Hi! I love your story and I adore your pictures!!! I made this cake for my one year olds birthday last August and I had the whole family over (both sides). This was beyond a success and I had so many compliments on it. My husbands sister is having an impromptu wedding tomorrow and they don’t have a lot of money, so I offered to make this cake. Thank you so much for sharing!!! This cake is loved by everyone here in Indianapolis!!
Thanks, Angie! I’m so glad to hear it. And, wow, an impromptu wedding–love that!
It’s 3am and I’m digging around for recipes and ran across your blog. Your recipes aren’t just “recipes” there is a story to them, which makes it easier not to X out of the page. I think I’ll be on here for a bit to read some more. Thanks for the late Friday night, early Saturday morning entertainment. Keep up the good memories. I need to take more picture ;)
I made this cake and it was SO delicious! My family was in awe and my Nana (the birthday girl) was delighted. My dad said it was the best cake he has ever tasted! This is a fantastic recipe. Thanks so much!
Oh this post is fabulous!! Such a sweet couple you are + the perfect cake to celebrate with. Looks like this is from a year ago ~ it is all over Pinterest tonight!
I can’t tell you how happy I am that this is a REAL from scratch recipe. Yay! Beautiful!!
That is such a sweet story! I’m so glad you shared this with us. And happy anniversary with many cake years ahead!!
Wow. You are a beautiful couple. The story is just sweet and heartwarming. I adore you Rosie. I’ve been reading every single post for two straight days now. Your kids? unbelievably cute. You inspire me Sweetapolita!
I loved the flavor of this cake!!! But mine turned out kind of dry. It looked fantastic though! What do you think made it so dry. I refrigerated overnight after baking then I iced it the next day and refrigerated that overnight because I was scared to just leave it out on the counter because it was too tall for my cake tupperware.
I’m thinking about making this for my daughter’s birthday! Would you recommend making it the morning of the party, or would the cake flavor, ect., hold up if I made it the day before?
Instead of using buttermilk what could i use?
I love, love these pictures and the story. It’s so lovely. I bounced here from today’s post, and I’m glad I found it. Makes me smile.
Love the story! You really get to know people based off of how they are when things aren’t perfect (like not feeling well on a first date–I had that happen, too!).
Such a solid recipe – I made it as cupcakes and they were super moist and stayed that way for days. VERY difficult to eat just one. Just be forewarned – if you make cupcakes with this recipe you’ll wind up with four dozen. The upside is that they stay moist enough that you’ve got time to find them all homes :-)
Hi Rosie!
I want to make this cake for my dad’s birthday this week. But I don’t want to use so many eggs. I feel bad :( It’s just a weird feeling I can’t explain…. Is there any substitutions? I know the texture would be different but maybe I could partially swap out some plain flour for self raising?
Thanks
I made the Vanilla Bean Cake recipe tonight and, I am at a loss for words. Oh. My. Goodness. This cake makes me want to stop baking chocolate cake every month and make a switch to vanilla. It’s moist; it’s creamy without being soggy; and, oh the fluffiness. It took all of my self control to not shove it in my mouth and forget about the baby shower I made it for. I ended up making 12 regular sized cupcakes and 2 8inch round cakes with probably enough to make one more regular cupcake left in the bowl.
I can’t tell you how happy I am with this recipe. I have been looking for the perfect vanilla cake for months and am so happy to have found this one. <3
I love all of your work, you inspire me to create and build beautiful creations!
I have been searching for those skinny jimmy sprinkles for far too long, and cannot for the life of me find them in any color other than chocolate. the sprinkles are so distinctly skinny! Can you lead me in the right direction to source those skinny sprinkles?
Thank you!!!
I’m getting super excited about my daughter’s birthday next week! I’m going to make this cake with the Swiss meringue buttercream. Can I ice the cake the day before? And do I store it in the refrigerator? I want the day to be stress free and be all organized the day before! Thanks!!
My daughter and I made this cake for HER daughter’s (my granddaughter’s) first birthday. It was absolutely DELICIOUS!! I LOVE THIS CAKE!!! I have to say it’s one of the best I’ve ever had.
Hi and thanks for posting this recipe! I just made this cake for my sister’s birthday. The cake itself came out perfectly. However, I had a lot of trouble with the frosting. It doesn’t seem like anyone else had any issues, so I’m not sure what I did wrong. At first the frosting was just very thin and liquidy. After I let it sit for a little while it totally separated! Any tips for future reference?
This might be a silly question but, will liquid egg whites work? Rather than separating each egg?
Hi! I am so glad to have found your site (through pinterest). I used this “frosting” for the funfetti cake I made. I was wondering if there is a typo or is it really supposed to be 4 sticks of butter? I searched through some other comments but didn’t see anything about this, so I’m sorry if you’ve already answered this question. It tasted like I was eating pure butter. Would the recipe still work if I altered it next time and just did 2 sticks? I am very excited to try some of your other recipes and am so excited. I love your blog :) Thanks so much!
Liz
I made this cake (with different frosting) this weekend and it was delightful! I needed a good white cake recipe to dye blue for a gender reveal cake and this worked perfectly (I put blue gel food coloring in with the butter/sugar/egg white mixture before adding the dry ingredients, just to make sure I didn’t over-mix it). The friends I baked it for loved it, and I made one cupcake with a bit of the batter to taste it, and it was fantastic. I will definitely be making it again. Thank you!
SWEET, SWEET, SWEET, GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS!!!! The cake, the frosting, the story, and the wedding photos…..thank you for sharing.
Hi Rosie! I want to make this cake, but I’d prefer to use egg whites in a carton- would that work for this? Do you think it would substantially change the texture? Thanks so much!!!
I made this last week and it was a huge success – all my neighbours loved as I had to share it as it was far too large for two people!
I can’t see the baking time for the 8 inch cakes in the recipe … am I missing it?! Help – its in the oven now!
By far THE best buttercream I’ve made! It was light, fluffy, almost marshmallowy–also not too sweet–just the way i like it. The cake was also perfectly delicious and moist–not too sweet either. Made it today for my daughter’s 8th Birthday party. The girls devoured it–including every person there that considers themselves–“not an icing person”. Perfect cake!
Too funny I am reading and well sitting in my home in Prince Edward County – you sure did pick a beautiful place to get married!
Thanks for the recipe. It looks delicious! I’m making it right now for my daughters 8-year old birthday. I didn’t see a bake time though and would love a “ball park” time to go off of. Can u help me?
Thanks!
I made this cake last night and so far it looks fantastic. I made some cupcakes with it too (I made two batches) and they taste amazing. This morning I made the frosting, and I’m not sure what happened… the egg whites looks beautiful. After I added the hot sugar mixture, the bowl got really hot (way warmer than neutral). So I let it keep mixing until it cooled down, and then I added the room temp butter, one Tbls at a time. After this point it got extremely runny. It’s in the fridge now and I’m desperately hoping to bring it back to life since this is for my daughter’s first birthday party! Eek! Any tips or advice before I possibly ruin it?
Thanks!
I was really excited about this cake but have had a nightmare baking it! The recipe is really quite complicated and took a long time to make and split in the oven. The layers are different sizes despite measuring out the amounts of liquid. The icing is runny – not sure if that’s because I didn’t whisk the eggs long enough or because the I added the hot liquid too soon / late / slowly / fast! There’s a lot that can go wrong in the recipe so I wouldn’t recommend it if you have toddlers running around at the same time!
once put the frosting on the cake, the cake needs to get cold?
Can this recipe be doubled?
I made this frosting today and it’s just really runny what do I do?
I just assembled my cake and it is without a doubt the best cake I’ve ever made. This is an ah-mazing recipe. As I was mixing the batter, I could just tell it would be beautiful and I absolutely love the tighter, slightly more dense texture (not quite as dense as pound cake but not as crumbly as a fluffier boxed mix style vanilla cake). I cannot get over the intense vanilla flavor. Most vanilla cake recipes are such a disappointment for me but this one is perfection. I followed the directions to the letter and watched my cakes like a hawk in the oven (they took about 33 minutes to bake). Used up all my leftover egg yolks to make grapefruit curd and tried out the pastel swirl technique with pink, yellow, and orange. Thank you so much for this great recipe!
Hi Rosie!
If I make this cake tonight, and frost it and everything, will it still be as yummy tomorrow for fathers day? I’m a beginner and I’m still learning!
Thanks for being so awesome and always helping me seem like the best baker ever!
Hi !
I want to do this cake for my 2 year old daugther !
How many servings do you think this cake recipe is for?
Thanks !
Hi !
I really want to make this cake for my birthday girl !
How many serving do you think it will be make ?
Thanks !!
I just wanted to let you know that I am in love with this recipe! It made the absolute perfect 1st birthday cake for my little girl. The cake was the good kind of dense, not dry and unlike traditional Swiss meringue the frosting was just as soft and moist days later as it was the day I made it!! Thanks for the recipe.
how long does it take to bake?
Hi, this cake looks incredibly yummy and I want to make a vanilla cake for her birthday. Do you think it would work as a gluten free cake and if so what flour would you suggest? Thanks
For my daughter’s birthday that should be ☺️
Hi!
Want to make this recipe for a Baby Shower!
Two questions, can this be used in 2x 9″ rounds to be cut in half for 4 layer cake? (I only have 9″ rounds) If so how full should I fill them? Also, would this work well as a naked cake?
Thanks!
Do you think I can make this cake as a two-layer 9×13?
Thanks for sharing your recipe. I am hoping to make this cake for my daughter’s birthday. It is late summer which means it is likely to be quite hot and at a park so I was wondering if you have any tips to make the cake/icing survive the heat.
I made this for my birthday and it was perfect! Not too sweet and the buttery flavor of the icing was just right. What is the storage recommendation for the remainder of the cake?
How long do I bake this cake for? The instructions don’t say an amount of time.
Hello – love your blog, cakes and family. I made this last year for my son’s birthday though put it in jelly roll pans as i was making a 3D fire engine cake going back to a layer cake this year though you don’t have how long to bake it for in 8 in tins. Would you kindly let me know? Many thanks and keep up the great work!