Lots of Butter, Lots of Sugar, YUM YUM!!

I am donating these two layer cakes for the silent auction at tonight's fundraiser. I know bakeries charge $30-40 per cake, but I wonder how much these will fetch.

The first is a 4 layer Tender White Cake. I filled it with homemade Raspberry Filling and Lemon Curd, and iced it with French Buttercream. I wanted to make sure I had enough frosting to do both cakes, so I made 3 times the original recipe. I only had about 1 1/2 cups left, so that was a good call! Yes, that's the Candied Lemon Peel mingling with fresh raspberries.

Next up, I made a 4 layer Chocolate Cake with Toasted Hazelnuts. I brought an identical one to a friend's house for dinner once, and was told it was the best cake they'd ever had (sweet!). The French Buttercream Icing is so nice to work with and tasty, so I had to include it here too. I smeared a thin layer of Nutella over each cake layer and sprinkled it lightly with chopped, toasted hazelnuts. Before sandwiching the next layer, I smeared the bottom of it with a generous scoop of buttercream, placed it on top of the hazelnuts, and continued two more times. I then did a quick, thin layer of frosting around the whole thing to seal in the chocolate crumbs and placed it in the freezer for a few minutes. This step, the crumb coat, makes it so much easier to frost the whole cake and get a smooth finish.

Tender White Cake

(From King Arthur Flour)

Cream until fluffy (I like to use the whisk attachment on my Kitchenaid):

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 2/3 cups sugar

Beat in 1 egg; use a spatula to scrape down sides of bowl.

Beat in 4 egg whites.

Add 1 cup whole milk, a little at a time, beating constantly. Add 2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tsp almond extract.

Beat in 1 tbsp baking powder and 3/4 tsp salt. Add 2 3/4 cups cake flour (I like KA Unbleached Cake Flour, available through the mail or at Whole Foods). Beat 1 to 2 minutes more, scraping down sides as needed.

Pour batter into greased and parchment-lined pans: two 8 or 9" rounds, one 9x13", or 24 cupcake liners.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven: 20-15 minutes for round pans, 25-30 minutes for 13x9" pan, or 20 minutes for cupcakes, or until top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan(s). (We've always been taught to remove the cakes from their pan after about 10 minutes, but they aren't as moist that way and may need to be syruped. I leave my cakes in to cool completely, resulting in a perfectly moist, not soggy, crumb.)

Raspberry Filling:

This sauce is a perfect base for many desserts. For this layer cake I wanted a slightly thick, but easily spreadable, filling, so I only used 2 tbsp corn starch. If you're making a cake that has only raspberry filling in the center, I'd make it a bit thicker, adding 1 or 2 more tbsp cornstarch so it will stay thick and not ooze out the sides. (I didn't have that problem because I spread it so thinly.) For a dessert sauce to drizzle, use only 1 tbsp cornstarch. Tapioca flour also works well to thicken, but you'll need to read the package to adapt the recipe (usually you must double the amount.)

1 1/2 bags frozen raspberries, thawed

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp corn starch

Puree defrosted raspberries and press through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Stir together the sugar and corn starch in a saucepan. Add raspberry puree; stir to combine. Heat over medium, stirring constantly with a spatula or wooden spoon, until thickened. Cool completely before using.