Recipes

This is my collection of recipes that I have worked with.

Cake Recipes –  Icing Recipes –  Filling Recipes

Cake Recipes

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Golden Yellow Cake

Recipe Source: Wilton

Verdict: Love this recipe. It is moist and very tasty. This is my go-to yellow cake.

**NOTE ON PAN SIZES AND BAKING TIME: I have never made this cake with 9″ pans (I don’t have them!). I have used:

• 2 8″ round pans — 35 minutes
• 2 6″ round pans (using about 3/4 recipe) — 35 minutes
• 2 10″ round pans (using 1 1/2 recipes) — 40 minutes
• 24 cupcakes — 20 minutes

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Best Birthday Cake (Yellow)

Recipe Source: Smitten Kitchen

Verdict: This cake was dense and sturdy and it baked up tall. It was less moist than Wilton’s yellow cake, and it had a slight tangy taste to it (probably from the buttermilk). It was good, but I didn’t LOVE it.

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Classic White Cake

Recipe Source: Wilton

Verdict: I have tried this recipe once to date and it was a little dry. But that may be because I over-whipped the egg whites. It deserves another try.

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Perfect Party Cake (White)

Recipe Source: Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

[website]

Verdict: This recipe is much more moist than Wilton’s white cake. The cake layers baked up very short for me (an inch tall) so I needed 3 layers for a 4″ cake.

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Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake

Recipe Source: Hershey’s

Verdict: This is a great chocolate cake! Very chocolate-y and moist.

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Chocolate Cake

Recipe Source: Good Housekeeping, via Annie’s Eats

Verdict: I loved how this cake looked. The tops of the cupcakes were slightly cracked and it was nice enough to have served unfrosted. The cake did seem drier than the Hershey’s chocolate cake.

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Magnolia Bakery’s Red Velvet Cake

Recipe Source: The Nest

Verdict: This is delicious and moist!

**NOTE: This recipe halved makes the perfect amount of batter for two 6″ round pans.

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Carrot Cake

Recipe Source: Smitten Kitchen

Verdict: This cake has gotten rave reviews!! It smells almost as good as it tastes 🙂

**NOTE: If you leave out the carrots, you will have a plain spice cake.

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Banana Cake

Recipe Source: Annie’s Eats (adapted from Half Baked via Blake Makes)

Verdict: I loved this cake. It was very dense and moist and very easy to carve.

**NOTE: The above recipe and links are for 24 cupcakes, though I used 1.5 batches for two 10″ rounds and had a scant cup of batter leftover.

**NOTE: I used 5 medium bananas and got exactly 2 cups of mashed banana. So for the 1 1/3 cup called for in the single recipe, you’d need 3-4 medium bananas.

Icing Recipes

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American Buttercream (butter & shortening)

Recipe Source: Wilton

Verdict: Good basic crusting buttercream. Pipes and spreads well. It’s very sweet which is typical of American buttercream.

**NOTE: I sometimes cut the powdered sugar in this recipe by about 1/2 cup to cut the sweetness. Be aware that this will affect the consistency and while it can still be spread and piped, it will not crust as well, if at all.

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American Buttercream (butter only)

Recipe Source: Domino

Verdict: Slightly better tasting than Wilton’s buttercream since this one is all butter, no shortening. But it melts easier and is slightly more difficult to pipe – again because there is no shortening.

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American Buttercream (Easy Buttercream)

Recipe Source: originally Cooks Illustrated, via The Way the Cookie Crumbles, via Annie’s Eats

Verdict: Better tasting than a butter/shortening buttercream. I’m not sure if this is more or less sweet than the above two buttercreams, but it was light and fluffy and easy to work with. This is a crusting buttercream.

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Flour Icing

Recipe Source: Tasty Kitchen

Verdict: This icing is still sweet, but it has a lighter more whipped-creamy texture than regular buttercream. It needs to be whipped to death, but it is a good icing. It does crust.

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Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Recipe Source: Martha Stewart

Verdict: This icing is VERY buttery. It’s a matter of preference, but I prefer the adapted version below that makes it slightly more sweet and less buttery.

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Swiss Meringue Buttercream (adapted)

Recipe Source: Martha Stewart’s recipe, adapted by Annie’s Eats

Verdict: I like this ratio of butter to sugar better than the original. The link to Annie’s Eats shows a tequila lime icing, but you can leave out the tequila and lime juice and substitute any flavoring for a basic icing.

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Cream Cheese Icing

Recipe Source: SlashFood

Verdict: I love this recipe! The icing is delicious and easy to work with.

**NOTE: I have added crushed Oreos to this recipe for a cookies n’ cream filling. You can also add 1/2 cup of cocoa powder to make a chocolate cream cheese icing which is amazing!

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Peanut Butter Buttercream I

Recipe Source: Wilton

Verdict: This icing is very rich and thick. I have only piped it on cupcakes or used it as a filling so I’m not sure how it would spread.

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Peanut Butter Buttercream II

Recipe Source: AllRecipes, with adaptations to quantities shown below

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp heavy cream

Verdict: This made a very fluffy icing that was tasty and easy to work with. I doubled the recipe to make sure I would have an ample amount for 12 cupcakes, but that was completely unnecessary. I had tons leftover!

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Peanut Butter Icing

Recipe Source: originally Good Housekeeping, via Proceed with Caution, via Annie’s Eats

Verdict: This icing was smooth and had a lovely sheen to it. It piped on cupcakes very well. It was a little thin for border piping.

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Chocolate Buttercream

Recipe Source: my Mom!

Verdict: This is the icing we always had on cakes my mom made and it is delicious! It spreads and pipes well and it does crust.

Recipe (makes 2 cups)

• 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 5 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup margarine/butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp milk

(1) Combine powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and margarine/butter. Beat at low speed until well blended.

(2) Add milk and vanilla extract. Beat at high speed until smooth and creamy.

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Dark Chocolate Ganache

Recipe Source: Janice McManus (a family friend who made our wedding cakes!)

Verdict: This recipe is amazing!! It pipes well and spreads well.

Recipe

• 4 sections unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup half & half
• Pinch salt
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(1) In heavy sauce pan on low heat, melt chocolate (broken in small pieces) with butter half & half and salt. Stir constantly until thick and smooth.  Remove from heat.

(2) Mix in sugar & vanilla. Beat until thick enough to spread.

Filling Recipes

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Raspberry Filling

Recipe Source: Group Recipes

Verdict: This filling was good. I liked that it did not bleed into the white cake. It was less sweet than regular jam. And it did have seeds.

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Chocolate Mousse

Recipe Souce: Food For A Hungry Soul

Verdict: This mousse was delicious and relatively easy to make.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/swiss-meringue-buttercream-for-white-cupcakes