Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

My baby niece, Claire, was baptized yesterday. And I had the honors of making the cake and mini sandwiches. There is no picture of the mini sandwiches, well, because they are just sandwiches on flatbread. The only thing special about them was the pesto. I took store-bought pesto and mixed it with canned artichoke hearts in the food processor. But this blog is about the cake.. The cake recipe was from a cookbook, Sky High, that I got from my friend, Corley. The recipe was for a 3-layer cake, but I made two 8-in cakes and two 6-in cakes, so that it could be a cute little 2 tier cake.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

from Sky High

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 t vanilla

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

3 c. cake flour

2 c. sugar

4 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 sticks butter, at room temp

Put all eggs in a medium mixing bowl with vanilla and 1/4 cup buttermilk. Whisk to blend well. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixer bowl and whisk to blend. Add butter and remaining 1 cup buttermilk to dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined, then increase speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping sides of bowl and mixing until only thoroughly incorporated. Divide batter amongst desired, greased cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 28-32 minutes or until done.

Meringue Frosting

* In between the layers, I mixed 3/4 cup raspberry preserves with 1/4 cup meringue frosting. Then added fresh raspberries on top of the cake.