Classic Buttery Vanilla Cake #Recipe @LibbyKlein

Libby Klein I told you in my last post for Food and Wine Magazine's best chocolate cake that I made that amazing chocolate frosting three times. Here's one of the times. I made a classic buttery vanilla cake with chocolate frosting old school style for one of the grandkids who visited me. Yes, I am willing to bribe them with treats to get them to visit. Spread the word.

Nothing fancy here. Just like a 1970s kid's birthday party. *no clowns were harmed at my parties. If you don't get that reference you haven't read Vice and Virtue.

I found this recipe on recipetineats.com and only altered it slightly by adding vanilla powder. I'm also sure I added more than one tablespoon of vanilla extract because I make my own and I'm really heavy handed with it. I'm also now finding out that they ate that cake so fast I didn't get a good picture of the inside but girl scout's honor - this really is a different cake. So here are some pictures of the process as proof that I really made another cake!

Classic Buttery Vanilla Cake

Yield 12 Servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 cup whole milk 

2 TBSP vanilla extract

3 tsp vegetable or canola oil 

2 cups plain / all-purpose flour *or 1 to 1 gluten-free replacement flour

1 TBSP vanilla powder (optional)

2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder 

1/4 tsp kosher salt 

4 large eggs at room temp

1 1/2 cups sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease 2 x 20cm / 8” cake pans then line with parchment paper. 

Place butter and milk in a small saucepan or a heatproof bowl and heat until you melt the butter. (If you’re doing this in the microwave you may want to cover the top of the bowl with a wet paper towel. Add the vanilla extract and oil to the milk and set it aside to cool a bit. 

Whisk flour, vanilla powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. 

Beat eggs until light and fluffy and lemon colored. With the beater still going, slowly add the sugar. Continue beating until tripled in volume and pale. 

Slowly add the dry ingredients in small batches and mix on low until just combined. Don’t over mix. 

And that's where I forgot I was taking pictures.
You'll have to use your imagination for the rest.

Pour hot milk, vanilla and oil into the batter slowly while beating on low.  Scrape down sides and base of bowl. Beat on low for 10 seconds - batter should now be smooth and pourable.

Pour batter into pans. Bang each cake pan on the counter 3 times to knock out big bubbles

Bake 30 minutes or until golden and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Frost with that amazing Chocolate frosting, or find another delightful frosting recipe here on the blog.

 

Layla Virtue, a blue-haired, 30-something recovering alcoholic and former cop is trying to reinvent herself as a musician—between AA meetings, dodging eccentric neighbors at her trailer park, and reconnecting with her mysterious dad—in this ​unforgettable new mystery brimming with hilarity and heart.

Layla is taking her new life one day at a time from the Lake Pinecrest Trailer Park she now calls home. Being alone is how she likes it. Simple. Uncomplicated. Though try telling that to the group of local ladies who are in relentless pursuit of Layla as their new BFF, determined to make her join them for coffee and donuts.

After her first career ended in a literal explosion, Layla’s trying to eke out a living as a rock musician. It’s not easy competing against garage bands who work for tacos and create their music on a computer, while all she has is an electric guitar and leather-ish pants. But Layla isn’t in a position to turn down any gig. Which is why she’s at an 8-year-old’s birthday party, watching as Chuckles the Clown takes a bow under the balloon animals. No one expects it will be his last . . .

Who would want to kill a clown—and why? Layla and her unshakable posse are suddenly embroiled in the seedy underbelly of the upper-class world of second wives and trust fund kids, determined to uncover what magnetic hold a pudgy, balding clown had over women who seem to have everything they could ever want. Then again, Layla knows full well that people are rarely quite what they seem—herself included . . .

Libby Klein writes ridiculously funny murder mysteries from her Northern Virginia office with a very naughty calico Persian named Miss Eliza Doolittle, and a sweet black Lab named Vader. She can name that tune for 70s and 80s rock in the first few notes, and she's translated her love of classic rock into her Layla Virtue Mysteries. Libby was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that prevents her from eating gluten without exploding. Because bread is one of her love languages, she includes the recipes for gluten free goodies in her Cape May based Poppy McAllister series. Most of her hobbies revolve around travel, and eating, and eating while traveling. She insists she can find her way to any coffee shop anywhere in the world, even while blindfolded. Follow all of her nonsense on her website www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/