White Wedding
Makes 1 square 3" x 10" layer and 2 square 3" x 8" layers
Ingredients:
5 cups plus two tablespoons of cake flour (sifted)
6 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of salt
3 cups of white sugar
8 egg whites at room temperature
1 cup of shortening
2 cups of milk
1 1/2 teaspoons of orange extract
1 teaspoon of almond extract
2 tablespoons of finely grated orange peel
Preheat oven to 325° F
Butter, flour and line your cake pans with parchment and set them aside.
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar together in a large bowl. Sift them again and set the bowl aside.
In a second bowl, beat egg whites at high speed until foamy and at the soft peak stage. Add 1 cup of sugar gradually until the whites are shiny and form stiffer peaks, like meringue mix.
In your largest bowl, stir the shortening only until it softens.
Sift the dry ingredients you sifted earlier into the shortening. Add 1 1/2 cups of milk, the orange and almond extracts and the orange peel and beat for two minutes at low to medium speed until the ingredients are well mixed. Mix in the final half cup of milk.
Fold in the meringue mix and beat by hand for one minute.
Pour into pans, filling no more than 3/4 full. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let the cakes cool in their pans for about 15 minutes before removing. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting them or wrapping them for refrigeration.
Sunrise
Makes 1 round 3" x 9" layer
Ingredients:
4 cups of cake flour (sifted)
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon of salt
1 3/4 cups of white sugar
1 cup of unsalted butter (softened)
6 egg yolks, beaten thoroughly
2 teaspoons of real vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of milk
Preheat oven to 350° F
Butter, flour and line your cake pans with parchment and set them aside.
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder together in a large bowl. Sift them again and set the bowl aside.
Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar gradually and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks one at a time followed by the vanilla.
Add the flour mixture and the milk to the butter mixture in four parts, alternating flour then milk, then flour, then milk until the ingredients have been incorporated completely. Do not overbeat as this will make the batter too dense and it won’t rise completely.
Pour into pans, filling no more than 2/3 full. If not overbeaten, this cake rises very well, so be careful not to overfill your pans. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let the cakes cool in their pans for about 15 minutes before removing. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting them or wrapping them for refrigeration.
Bounty
Makes 1 round 3" x 10" layer and one round 3" x 8" layer
Ingredients:
1 pound of dried cherries or dried cranberries (not the candied kind you’re used to seeing in fruit cakes)
6 candied pineapple rings, cut into small pieces
6 cups of golden raisins
1 cup of mixed peel
1/2 cup of freshly-grated orange peel
1/4 cup of freshly-grated lemon peel
1 cup of pecans or macadamia nuts
6 cup of cake flour (sifted)
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of unsalted butter (softened)
6 eggs
1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract
1/4 cup of orange juice
Preheat oven to 275° F
Butter, flour and line your cake pans with parchment and set them aside.
Sift the 5 cups of the flour with the salt and baking powder. Sift them again and set the bowl aside.
Place the fruit (cherries, pineapple, peel, raisins, nuts) in a large bowl with the remaining 1 cup of flour and mix them together until the fruit is coated.
In another large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in orange juice and vanilla, then mix in the sifted flour mixture. Stir in the floured fruit and nut mixture and combine the batter thoroughly.
Spoon batter into pans, filling no more than 3/4 full. Bake for about 3 hours or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Because of the high butter and nut content of this recipe, the top may start to get overly dark. If this happens, cover the pans with tin foil. Poke a couple of holes into the foil.
Remove from oven and let the cakes cool in their pans for at least 15 minutes before removing. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting them or wrapping them for refrigeration.
Joy
Makes 1 round 3" x 9" layer
Ingredients:
4 cups of cake flour (sifted)
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 pound of unsalted butter (softened)
8 eggs
1 cup of milk
2 teaspoons of real vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of real almond extract
3 teaspoons of finely-grated lemon peel
Preheat oven to 325° F
Butter, flour and line your cake pans with parchment and set them aside.
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl. Sift them again and set the bowl aside.
Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar gradually and continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and pale yellow. Beat in egg one at a time.
Stir the vanilla and almond extracts into the milk. Stir the grated lemon rind into the flour mixture. Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the butter mixture in four parts, alternating flour then milk, then flour, then milk just until the ingredients have been incorporated completely. Do not overbeat as this will make the batter too dense and it won’t rise completely.
Spoon batter into pans, filling no more than 3/4 full. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let the cakes cool in their pans for about 15 minutes before removing. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting them or wrapping them for refrigeration.
Buttercream Snow Icing
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of super fine sugar
6 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
2 cups of unsalted butter cut up into pieces
2 teaspoons of real vanilla extract
water
In a heavy-bottom saucepan dissolve the sugar in 1/3 cup of water and bring it to a boil. As it boils the mixture will thicken and become a syrup. When it’s at soft ball stage (where a little syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball) remove the pan from the heart.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until the whites are foamy and forming soft peaks. Beat in sugar syrup slowly in a stream. When the syrup is completely incorporated, the whites should be stiff and shiny.
Beat in the butter pieces and vanilla. Beat for 4-6 minutes until the frosting is of the right consistency to spread. Don’t despair if the icing seems to separate while you’re making it. Just keep beating it to smooth it out.
Decorative Icing
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of unsalted butter (softened)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
12 cups of confectioners sugar
5 egg whites
1/4 cup of whipping cream
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Cream the butter until fluffy and pale yellow. Add salt and about half the sugar in increments, beating constantly. Add the remaining sugar alternating with the egg whites and the cream, beating the whole time. Add vanilla and beat until spreadable consistency.