Birthday Cake

White Cake with Whipped Cream and Raspberry Gelee

I can't possibly be the only one who bakes their own birthday cake, and yet, when I tell people, they act surprised. How about you? Do you bake your own birthday cake? If you visit my blog (often), you are probably a (home) baker. And you probably don't enjoy store bought cakes that much. Partially hydrogenated frosting anyone? Okay, okay, I can be a bit of a cake snob :o)

While browsing Sandie's blog, Crumbs of Love, I was very impressed with the white cake she made for her daughter's birthday. What I liked the most was the wonderful crumb of the cake and the fact that it had sour cream in it. When my birthday came around, I had the perfect excuse to try out this recipe! One could argue that a birthday is not a time to experiment with new recipes but I had a good feeling about the recipe :o)

A slice of birthday cake heaven :o)

I followed the recipe pretty closely with the following exceptions:

• Substituted 1 oz of butter with oil. I find it gives a butter cake extra moistness.
• Baked the batter in two 8" cake pans and two 6" pans.

The cake batter came together very quickly. When baking the cake(s), make sure you don't over bake them. I used the 6" cakes to make a two-layer cake for a friend. Initially I was going to cut the 8" cakes in half and make a 4-layer birthday cake but then I ran out of time.

For the filling and frosting, I chose a simple sweetened whipped cream and a thin layer of raspberry gelee. I thawed out frozen raspberries. Then added just a little water and some sugar (to taste) and some lemon juice. Gently boil until the raspberry mixture thickens a bit. Add a little gelatin dissolved in water to give it stability so it doesn't roll off the cake. I just winged this so I don't have a recipe for you (sorry).

Bon appetit!

Final thoughts/tips:

• I loved this cake and so did hubby. It had a nice fragrance to it from the almond flavoring. The cake was moist and tender. And the soft billowy whipped cream was the perfect addition while the tangy raspberries and the crunchy seeds offered a great contrast. Hubby gave this a 8.5 out of 10 rating.
• My friend (the recipient of the 6" cake) loved it too.
• Leftover birthday cake went to work and received good reviews as well, on both looks (you made that??) and taste :o)
• If you'd like to give this a try, check out the recipe on Sandie's blog.
• Last but not least, a big Thank You to Sandie for sharing her recipe. It's a keeper!!