Picture Perfect Cooking

I am a huge chocoholic, but sometimes a simple white cake is a wonderful thing.  I spotted this not long after I started my Pinterest addiction, but hadn’t taken the time to make it until recently.  The photo of this cake is what first caught my eye.  The delicate white frosting with the creamy custard center were just too good to pass up thanks to Life’s Simple Measures.

Well, mine turned out really good except for that gorgeous custardy layer.  No matter how long I cooked and stirred and stirred and cooked, that stuff would not thicken.  Ugh, how frustrating!  All was not lost though…I just used some of the frosting to fill the cake and it was really tasty.

For The Cake:

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1-1/2 c. sugar

2 cups self-rising flour

1 cups milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 egg whites

For The Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, very soft

8 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cups milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9” round cake pans.  Cream butter with an electric mixer on medium until smooth.  Add the sugar and beat until fluffy which will take about 3 minutes.

Combine the milk and vanilla extract.  Add the flour to the butter/sugar mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk/vanilla mixture.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on high until soft peaks form.  Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter, stirring slowly until no white streaks show.

Divide the batter evenly in the cake pans.  Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes and then turn out to cool completely.

For the frosting: combine the butter, 4 cups of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.  Beat until smooth and creamy.  Gradually add the remaining powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the frosting is thick enough to spread easily.

Frost the cake, slice and enjoy!