Buttercream Frosting | Fifty-Two Cakes: Baking Recipes

July 10, 2011March 6, 2018

Cake 47: Lemon Raspberry Cake

After the move I just plain did not have the brain power to come up with a new original or mashup recipe, so we borrowed recipes from my friends Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker this time around. My brother Cody did most of the heavy lifting, as he’s spending a lot of time learning new things in the kitchen with me lately, and it turned out just phenomenally. Really great stuff. I served this at my mom’s latest Scentsy party!

Lemon Raspberry Cake Recipe Ingredients

Courtesy of Martha Stewart

1 cup butter, softened at room temperature
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 cups sugar, and 2 additional teaspoons sugar separately
2 large eggs, 3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup buttermilk

Lemon Raspberry Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9-inch round cake pans. In one bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, then whisk in the lemon zest. In your kitchen mixer, beat the softened butter and sugar for about two minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, then beat in the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Alternate adding the dry ingredients (in 3 parts) and the buttermilk (in 2 parts), beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Blend just until combined, do not overbeat. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth it out with a rubber spatula. Bake about 32 to 35 minutes, or until your cake tester comes out clean and the cake just starts to pull away from the edges. Cool in pans. While they’re cooling, stir the 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, then poke holes in the cake with a skewer and brush the lemon-sugar mixture over it. Cool completely before turning out of pans.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting Recipe & Raspberry Filling Ingredients

Courtesy of Betty Crocker

1/2 cup raspberry preserves
1 1/4 cups butter, softened at room temperature
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Lemon Buttercream Frosting Recipe Directions

In your kitchen mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the softened butter, lemon peel and lemon juice for about 30 seconds. Add the powdered sugar about a half cup at a time, whipping until light and fluffy. Crumb coat each cake layer with frosting and refrigerate for a bit. Add another layer of frosting, then top one layer with the raspberry preserves, going to about a half inch from the edges (so it doesn’t glorp out of the layers when you’re frosting). Stack the other layer on top, then frost the entire thing. Garnish with fresh raspberries and lemon peel (or a lemon twist if you’re lucky enough to have a cool zester thing and some talent).

April 29, 2011June 17, 2017

Cake 38: Miniature Yellow Cakes

We had a wine / cake decorating night at my house! We baked 12 miniature yellow cakes in ramekins. We also made a generic batch of buttercream frosting, and raided the cabinets and fridge to find every possible cake topping, and went nuts decorating these adorable mini yellow cakes! This would make an excellent baking activity for kids, and also makes a fun activity for a girls’ gathering or wine night. We had a ton of fun, and a major sugar high, and I can’t wait to do it again! (Though next time I may do cupcakes instead.)

This generic yellow cake recipe is modified from the Better Homes and Gardens “Cupcakes” special interest issue.

Yellow Mini Cake Recipe Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups vanilla soy milk

Yellow Mini Cake Recipe Ingredients

Let the butter and eggs stand at room temperature for a while. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In your kitchen mixer, beat the butter on high speed and gradually add the sugar, beating until combined. Scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl with a spatula, then continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat just until blended. Alternate adding the dry ingredients mixture and the vanilla soymilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat on a low speed or you could make a huge mess or overbeat your yellow cake batter. Fill your cupcake cups or ramekins 1/2 to 2/3 full – no more than 2/3 for sure.

For cupcakes, bake 18 to 22 minutes. For miniature cakes in ramekins, bake 24 to 26 minutes. For a full-size cake in an 8-inch round cake pan, I’m guessing about 45 minutes. If you use ramekins, you should end up with a dozen miniature cakes. Cool on a wire rack – then have fun icing however you want! I used this buttercream frosting recipe — without the mint — because I like how light and fluffy it is with the heavy cream, and if we had to let it sit for a while between cakes, we could just add a smidge more cream and whip on a high speed until it was light and fluffy and spreadable again.

February 13, 2011June 17, 2017

Cake 27: Banana Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

My Grandma Cochran asked if I had a recipe for a cake using bananas and chocolate, and all I had was my recipe for chocolate chip banana bread, so it inspired me to make this two-layer banana cake with chocolate buttercream frosting! (Which is also an excuse to practice cake decorating skills from the cake decorating class I took.) I put about 20% of the batter into a jar to make a jar cake to send my husband in Afghanistan.

Banana Cake Recipe Ingredients

4 to 5 ripe bananas, mashed
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Banana Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare two 9″ round baking pans. In one bowl, mash the ripe bananas and lemon juice together. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. In your kitchen mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture was light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla. Alternate adding the dry ingredients mixture and the buttermilk a bit at a time, starting and finishing with dry ingredients. Add the mashed banana goop and beat just until mixed in. Pour the banana cake batter into the prepared cake pans, and bake four about 45 minutes, or until your cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes completely. I’ve heard about popping this cake in the freezer while you prepare the chocolate buttercream frosting. I tried it out and thought it really helped the icing process.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe Ingredients

8 ounces of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe Directions

In a stainless bowl over a saucepan with simmering water (creating a double boiler) melt the chocolate, stirring constantly so it doesn’t scald or burn, until it’s smooth. Remove from heat and cool for about 15 minutes. In your kitchen mixer, beat the softened butter until creamy. Alternate adding the powdered sugar and milk in small parts, starting and finishing with the powdered sugar. Fold in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth. I recommend working with the chocolate buttercream pretty quickly so it doesn’t cool on the cake and get difficult to work with. Garnish with whatever seems tasty – banana chips, chocolate chips or chocolate curls, I used some walnuts since I had them handy.

January 1, 2011June 17, 2017

Cake 22: Peppermint Chocolate Cake with Mint-Infused Buttercream Frosting

This cake was made for a get-together on New Year’s Eve and I think it went over well! It captures a little bit of leftover Christmas festiveness with the crushed peppermint candy, but has the modern edge of the fresh mint-infused buttercream to carry us into the new decade. I met a lot of really nice people at this gathering, and I hope they enjoyed the cake! They offered lots of interesting suggestions for other ingredients to try in cakes, so keep an eye out for those in the future, new friends!

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Recipe Ingredients

0.5 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
0.5 teaspoon salt
0.5 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, chopped
1.25 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon mint extract
2 eggs, large
0.5 cup buttermilk

Fresh Mint-Infused Buttercream Frosting Recipe Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 large sprig of mint
2 cups confectioner’s or powdered sugar

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare an 8-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. In one bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Boil a little water in a saucepan. Put the butter and chocolate into a bowl and place over the saucepan – make sure the water isn’t touching the bowl – and turn off the heat. Let it sit in there and melt, it’ll take several minutes, then stir to combine. Remove the bowl from the heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Into that, mix in the sugar, vanilla extract, mint extract, eggs and buttermilk just until combined. Gently fold in the dry ingredient flour mixture with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it onto a wire rack to cool the rest of the way. I used a cardboard round underneath the cake so I could frost it better.

Fresh Mint-Infused Buttercream Frosting Recipe Directions

In a small saucepan, cook the cream and mint sprigs on low heat, for about five minutes. Let that delicious mint flavor infuse into the cream. Remove it from the heat and let it cool completely. Beat the softened butter until it is light and fluffy. Then, beat in the mint-infused cream. Lower your mixer speed and slowly add the confectioner’s or powdered sugar until you get a creamy mint-infused buttercream frosting. Let it cool and set for a few minutes before icing your completely cooled peppermint cake.

Garnish with more fresh mint leaves, Andes mint shavings, or some crushed peppermint candy (I used a candy cane from my Christmas stocking). To crush peppermint candy, put it in a plastic bag and beat it up with a small skillet or meat tenderizer. Use the powder leftover in a cup of homemade hot chocolate!

In one of the pictures you can see yours truly modeling my new apron, given to by my husband’s mom, and it’s embroidered with “fiftytwocakes.com” – pretty cool, huh? Other items you see here are spatulas and whisks given to me for my birthday from my mom, and a rubber squeezable measuring cup. Some baking-related items I got for my birthday and Christmas that I’m very excited about that aren’t pictured here include a handful of awesome Pampered Chef cookbooks and spices from Aunt Rachel and family, ramekins from mom, an apron from my grandma, a spice grinder from ma, caster sugar from mom-in-law, The Cake Bible from my sister-in-law and her family, and I hope I am not forgetting anything or anyone! It is clear that my family knows me very well and supports my goals and endeavors! A big thank you to all of you.

December 23, 2010June 17, 2017

Cake 21: Frangelico Chocolate Cake

This cake was inspired by one of my favorite people, Tammy out in Mizzou country. (Hi Tammy!) She suggested this ingredient when we did the voting a few weeks back on what the next key ingredient would be. It came in third place, but it seemed so interesting that I just had to give it a try. I am not all that familiar with Frangelico at all, except once I had an infamous “chocolate cake shots” – and sure enough it does taste like cake. Frangelico is a hazelnut liqueur, and it comes in a bottle that reminds me of Aunt Jemima maple syrup bottles, but it is actually made to look like a monk in a robe. It features flavors of hazelnuts, cocoa, vanilla and it has such a rich, creamy, sweet flavor that is long overdue for use in a cake. Ok, enough of me gabbing. On to the cake! (If anyone else out there makes this cake, please send me your photos to contact@fiftytwocakes.com so I can replace these blah ones taken with my cell phone camera! Full credit of course.)

Frangelico Cake Recipe Ingredients

3 eggs
0.75-cup white sugar
0.5-cup butter (softened)
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
2.25 cups all-purpose flour
1.25 teaspoons baking soda
0.5 cup cocoa powder
0.5 cup Frangelico
0.75 cup strong, cold coffee

Frangelico Hazelnut Frosting Recipe Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter (softened)
1 pound sifted powdered sugar (about 4 cups sifted)
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons Frangelico (add more if you need a more spreadable texture)
2 tablespoons hot coffee

Frangelico Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease and line two 9-inch cake pans. Separate your eggs into the yolks and whites. In a clean bowl with clean mixers, beat the egg whites until frothy, then beat in the sugar until you get stiff peaks. I got a smidge of yolk in mine, and let me tell you – it makes a difference and they do not get as fluffy. Ensure you have clean everything and only egg whites!) Set aside. In another bowl – I of course use the KitchenAid – cream the butter and brown sugar until thoroughly mixed and nice and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. In another bowl, sift together flour, cocoa and baking soda. Add to your butter and brown sugar cream mixture and alternate with the coffee and Frangelico liquids, blending well. With a clean spatula, fold the beaten egg whites into the batter. Pour into your prepared pans, and bake for about a half hour – perhaps a few minutes more, until your cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool about 10 minutes, then invert the layers onto wire racks and remove the pans. Cool completely before frosting. (I didn’t do it this time, but I would level the cakes and brush a bit of a mixture of 1 part Frangelico to about 2 parts water onto the layers before icing next time.) When the cake layers are done cooling, it’s time to mix up the Frangelico frosting. Begin by creaming the butter and powdered sugar. Then, add in the cocoa powder, hot coffee and Frangelico and beat until smooth. Crumb coat the cake and chill. Ice the cake!