Best Butter Cake
Tender and fluffy cake with buttery vanilla flavor notes and smooth-as-silk Swiss meringue buttercream - this the Best Butter Cake Recipe yet!
Servings: 16
Ingredients
Best Butter Cake
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 tbps baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk or buttermilk
- ½ cup sour cream or buttermilk
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 6 large egg whites
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Chocolate Drip
- 2 oz dark chocolate chopped
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoon white corn syrup
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Best Butter Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and mix on medium until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to medium-low and add the vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each is incorporated before adding in the next. Mix until combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- Stir the milk and sour cream together. Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. As the last streaks of flour are combines, mix on medium for no more than 30 seconds or until smooth.
- Evenly divide the batter among the prepares pans. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes come out clean or with moist crumbs attached. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing them from their pans. Allow to continue to cool completely before removing the parchment and frosting the cakes.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, add the egg whites and granulated sugar. Whisk them together briefly by hand until just combined (so that the egg whites don’t scramble).
- Fill a sauce pan with a few inches of water and bring it to a simmer. Place the mixer bowl with the egg white mixture on top to create a double-boiler. The water should be kept at a simmer and should not touch the bottom of the bowl. This will indirectly being the eggs to a safe temperature without them becoming hard-cooked or scrambled.
- Occasionally stirring, heat the egg white mixture until it reaches 160°F on a candy thermometer. The mixture will be very hot to the touch and the sugar should be dissolved.
- Once the egg white mixture is hot, carefully return the bowl to the stand mixer. Fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the mixture on high speed for 8 to 10 minutes. When done, the meringue should hold shiny, medium-stiff peaks and the outside of the bowl will have returned to room temperature.
- With the mixer on medium-low, add in the butter - a couple tablespoons at a time.
- Once the butter has been mixed in, add the vanilla extract.
- Stop the mixer and swap out the whisk for the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and mix until smooth and spreadable, 3 to 5 minutes (see Baker’s Notes for troubleshooting).
- For frosting a smooth cake, you will want to eliminate the air bubbles that were whipped into the buttercream during the process. Mix on low speed for a few minutes for the silkiest, smoothest buttercream.
Chocolate Drip
- Place all of the ingredients in a small a saucepan and set on the stove over medium heat.
- Gently heat the ingredients until the cream begins to simmer and the chocolate starts to melt. Stir everything together until smooth.
- Pour the glaze into a heat-safe container and refrigerate for 10 to 20 minutes, or until it is no longer warm to the touch.