Vanilla Sprinkle Cake

I have always loved sprinkles.. you know what I am talking about! Those colourful crunchy little, sweet, perfectly straight, all the same size ice cream sprinkles? All my life I have only eaten them on ice cream. I ALWAYS get sprinkles on any ice-cream I buy & even at home….sprinkle sprinkle. But lately, to my immense pleasure, sprinkles have been popping up all over the place! On cookies! In cakes!!!  On Cakes!! & I saw that they were even in the icing of an Oreo cookie!I love it! So this Sprinkle Birthday cake was exactly what I wanted to make & eat!

I made this 3 layer white cake with sprinkles for a family birthday party for my sister’s birthday! All of her kids & grand-kids were here & this cake was a hit! The recipe has lots of ingredients & the egg whites have to whipped, but it was worth!! There are plenty of cakes that are quicker to make, but if you want a WOW! THIS CAKE IS BEAUTIFUL! try this one! It is a very special & memorable 3 layer white birthday cake.

The recipe is from Martha Stewart.com Sprinkle Cake

Here is the recipe with my directions *** Read through the method before starting to make your cake! & it is a good idea to get all of your ingredients set out before starting to make this cake!

Vanilla Sprinkle Cake      recipe from Martha Stewart ( Sprinkle Cake)

Ingredients

Cake

2 1/2 cups cake flour

3/4 cup all- purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, unsalted & softened

1/2 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature *** I used Crisco

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 Tbsp vanilla extract *** the real stuff

1 large egg

1 cup ice-cold water

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup buttermilk, shake well

1 cup sprinkles

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

***Martha Stewart’s recipe call for Swiss Meringue Buttercream icing for this cake, but I used a regular buttercream icing recipe

Icing  Recipe is the Wilton Buttercream Frosting Recipe with I change *** this is double the recipe

2 cups softened butter

8 cups icing sugar

8 tbsp milk or water

Method

Preheat oven to 325 f

Prepare 3  8 inch cake pans. I sprayed them with non-stick spray, but you can butter them with some extra butter not from the amount needed for the cake. Then line the bottom of each cake pan with a parchment paper round, then spray or butter the parchment paper. Then dust each cake pan with flour, put some flour in & tap it around the pan to evenly coat all sides with flour *** I do this over my garbage can so the excess flout falls into the garbage,,,Tap out the excess flour

1. Mix the cake flour & the all-purpose flour together with the baking powder, baking soda & salt using a whisk in a bowl & set aside
2. In the bowl of a mix master, beat the butter & shortening together until creamy & combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a spatula.
3. Add the sugar & vanilla, beat well until the mixture is light in texture  Scrape down the sides of the bowl
4. Add the egg & mix well until combined with the butter/sugar mixture
5. Next, mix the ice water, milk & buttermilk together in a measuring cup big enough to hold it all…this will make it easy to pour into the batter
6. With the mix master running on a slow speed, add the flour mixture, that you had set aside & the liquids alternately.. recipe says to start & end with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl often & scrape up the bottom as well
7. Remove the bowl from the mixmaster
8. Sprinkle the sprinkles on the batter & gently mix them in
9. Now you have to beat those egg whites… *** I only have one bowl for my mixmaster so I took the cake batter & put it into a large mixing bowl. Washed out the bowl & set the beater aside as you need the whisk attachment to beat the egg whites
10. Beat the egg whites & cream of tartar together until soft peaks form…not stiff ones
11. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the cake batter
12. Divide the cake batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. *** I used a scoop & a spatuala so that I could kind of measure it out into the pans making them as equal was possible
13. Smooth the batter on top
14. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes unil the cake tests done *** put a toothpick in & see that it comes out dry  *** The recipe says to rotate the pans halfway through the baking time but I did not have to do that with my oven….
15. When the cakes are baked, move them to a cooling rack & let cool in the pan for 20 minutes. After that time, turn the cake pans upside down onto the cooling rack & let cool completly *** tip for removing cakes…take a plate & put it over the top of the cake,, turn it upside down so the cake comes out of the pan…then remove the piece of parchment paper, turn the cake over & put on the cooling rack.. when you turn the cake over, use the palm of your hand & then put it on the rack..

While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream icing

• in a clean bowl for your mixmaster, beat the butter until it is soft, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• add the vanilla & beat it in
• gradully add the icing sugar, a cup or so at a time,  with the mixer on low…otherwise the icing sugar will fly all over the place…or put a kitchen towel over the top of your mixer between additions & mix in the one cup at a time, then add more,,, scrape down the sides & bottom of the bowl…
• Add the milk or water now, in a slow stream with the mixer running. Scrape down the sides often

Now, when the cakes are completely cool, trim off the top of 2 of the layers., using a serrated knife, to make a flat surface….( better eat the cut off bit to make sure it tastes ok!)

Put one layer on the serving dish that you want to use. *** tip.. cut strips of parchment paper about 3 inches wide…(or even wider actually, then it will catch all of the sprinkles that fall… so make the strips as wide as you need to completely cover your serving dish.. when you pull them out after finishing the cake…your serving dish should be clean!)  maybe 4 strips..and place under the edges of the bottom of the cake having some of the paper under the cake & some of the paper outside ot the cake

Put some icing on the top of the first layer, the recipe for the icing I used makes 4 1/2 cups of icing…the recipe that is used on the Martha Stewart website makes about 6 cups of icing, so you have to make sure you you have enough icing to ice the top & sides of the cake…so I did not use too much icing in either the middle or top & sides. Because the top & sides of this cake have sprinkles on it, there doesn’t have to be tons of icing but enough to cover the cake…  I did not meaure the amount of icing I used inbetween the layers of the cake..I made it before I started this blog… but just watch your quantities.. if you have to make more icing it will be ok as long as you have the ingredients…

Put the second cake layer on top of the first one & put the same amount of icing on it that you used on the bottom layer. Next but the third cake layer on. I trimmed the top cake layer but you do not have to…whatever your preference is fine…whether you like the top of your cake to be flat or rounded

Frost the top & sides of the cake

The next part is very messy…so to save your counter, the recipe suggests that you put the serving platter ( they are using an icing turntable…) on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchement paper to catch the falling sprinkles! Toss sprinkles at your cake on the top & sides. I pressed them into the icing…  The recipe says to chill the cake for about 5 minutes to set it before serving..

Enjoy!