Vanilla Layer Cake with Strawberries
Makes 2 (8 to 9-inch) round cakes.
Servings: 10
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup Land O Lakes® Butter with Canola Oil
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream at room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk at room temperature
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or any coarse salt
For the Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 cup Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
- 4 to 5 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
To decorate
- Strawberries sliced and whole or halved
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, with rack in the center position. Spray and line the bottoms of your cake pans with parchment paper and spray again, generously, with non-stick baking spray.
- Using your stand mixer fitted with the flat beater (or paddle) attachment, beat together the Land O Lakes® Butter with Canola Oil and sugar on medium high speed until pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, for about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. Pour this into the bowl with the Land O Lakes® Butter with Canola Oil and sugar mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add your dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until smooth and incorporated.
- Evenly divide the cake batter between the two cake pans and bake, rotating halfway through, until the tops spring back when gently touched and a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, for about 30 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool in pans for about 20 minutes.
For the Buttercream
- Using your stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment, beat the Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, for about 2 minutes.
- Add in 4 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, the heavy cream, vanilla extract and the salt. Beat on low speed for about 30 seconds, then increase to high and beat for 3 full minutes. Taste and adjust as needed: Add up to 1/2 cup more confectioners’ sugar if buttercream is too thin or another tablespoon of heavy cream if it’s too thick.
To Assemble and frost:
- Run a knife around the edges of the cakes, and invert onto racks. Remove the parchment paper and discard. *If you want to level your cakes, I highly recommend chilling the cakes in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or you can bake these cakes a day ahead and place into the freezer. This will make leveling the cakes much easier.
- To level your cakes: Place cake on level surface, and then, use a large serrated knife to slowly trim off the tops of the cakes to make them level.
- Place first cake on plate, cake stand, or a rotating cake turntable, (make sure this can fit into your refrigerator if you are going to do a crumb coat) and frost the top of the cake. Add sliced strawberries over the top. Place second cake on top and repeat: frost the top part of the cake.
- At this point you can do one of two things: 1) A crumb coat: using a thin layer of frosting, frost the entire cake and then set in your refrigerator for about 15 to 20 minutes and then frost again. This method helps you to achieve a cleaner frosted cake. 2) Simply frost the entire cake and use your offset spatula to create a fun design around the outside of the cake. Top with strawberries and enjoy! You can also decorate the outside of the cake with thinly sliced strawberries in a design and line them up around the bottom of the cake.