This is everything a Classic Birthday Cake should be – indulgent, excessive and a cake to remember. This particular cake truly is perfection with its three layers of the easiest, most moist and tender yellow cake filled and finished with a really easy chocolate buttercream.

The entire cake is easy to make, easy to assemble and easy to finish.

While better known for my love of Italian and French buttercreams, this is an American cake and I thought it should have an American buttercream. While this chocolate buttercream is not as dark as some, it is equally intense in flavor.

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Both the recipe for the cake and the buttercream have appeared on this blog but never put together as the Classic Birthday cake.

THE CLASSIC BIRTHDAY CAKE

This cake has a light texture, golden crust and stays moist for days. What I love most about making this cake, is how very easy it is to mix. This cake is known as a high ratio cake which simply means it has about an equal amount or more of sugar to flour and is mixed differently than most cakes. It goes together in literally minutes yielding a thick, velvety luxurious batter that bakes into a tender cake that never fails to please.

Make sure the butter is around 72°F to 74°F to mix well with the other ingredients.

The beauty of this cake is its ability to last for days and stay moist and tender.

It is easily scaled up and accepts any number of fillings. For how to photos for yellow cake.

The easiest, least stressful way to fill and finish a cake is to have the layers frozen or nearly frozen. This prevents tearing the tender cake while applying the buttercream. It also allows you to reposition the layers to keep the cake straight on the sides if need be.

SPIRITED CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

While Italian and French buttercreams are butter heavy, American buttercream depends upon powdered sugar as its base. I have seen people scoff at this type of buttercream, but truthfully, it has its place just as do the others. I think that judgement may have been passed when it was typical to use shortening as the fat of choice. Shortening has no flavor and as such, the predominant flavor was whatever extract was added. But it lacked any depth and often left a greasy mouth feel.

I wouldn’t think of taking a cake or cupcakes with one of the European buttercreams to a picnic in the park on a warm or hot summer’s day. But either one would be welcome if finished with American buttercream as it is much less likely to melt.

Fast forward to the era of butter. Nowadays, American buttercream is greatly enhanced by the use of butter. The trick with American buttercream, is to beat it a lot. For one thing, it adds volume and lightness to the buttercream and keeps it from feeling heavy. The second is the use of powdered sugar which dissolves readily with the soft butter.

This buttercream is lighter in color than most you see on a Classic Birthday Cake. I did this purposefully because I feel that really dark, chocolatey buttercreams can overtake the delicate yellow cake. I think the balance between the cake and the filling is why so many people love this cake.

If the buttercream is too stiff to spread well, add a little cream or milk and mix again.

How to photos for this Spirited Chocolate Buttercream. If you want to undercoat the cake and finish it cleanly on the sides this is for you.

THE OPTIONAL CAKE LAYER WASH

Sponge Cakes, including the French Genoise cake layers are often washed with a flavored water or syrup. They have a tendency to be dryer because they don’t contain much butter, if any. The wash adds moisture.

But that isn’t the only reason to use one. While this cake is extremely moist, I use and Amaretto wash to infuse the layers with more flavor. I’m particularly fond of doing this and use this technique with a lot of my cakes.

I once saw someone exclaim that their cakes don’t need a wash or syrup because they are moist by themselves which is fine. But, more moist and more flavorful is always better.

I know it’s popular in this country to keep any kind of alcohol away from children. I grew up in a European family where small amounts of wine were given to us on celebratory occasions as young children. Christmas and Easter were huge with family coming in from all over. My grandfather had a smoke house and we had slow roasted pig or lamb on many of these occasions. The food was incredible.

I mention this because the small amount of alcohol used in many of my recipes will not affect a child in the least. Their cough syrup has more alcohol than anything I suggest. I know many people do not partake of wine or spirits because of religious or other reasons. All of this is fine. Either omit the wash or flavor it with a non-alcoholic flavoring. By the way, most extracts state alcohol as the first or second ingredient.

CUTTING THE CLASSIC BIRTHDAY CAKE

So now you’ve made the cake and it’s time to cut it. But you want the slices to be as pretty as the finished cake. A couple of tips will help you get that look.

Hopefully, the cake is room temperature.

First, take the cake back to the kitchen. Run the knife under really hot tap water, quickly wipe dry with a paper towel and let the knife almost melt through the top layer of buttercream, then cut straight down.

Second, do not pull the knife back up through the cake. When you get to the bottom of the cake, pull the knife straight out. This prevents cake from sticking to the knife and messing up the top and layers as you bring it out.

Repeat rinsing the knife and drying it for every cut.

Classic Birthday Cake Perfection

THE CLASSIC BIRTHDAY CAKE

SPIRITED CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

THE OPTIONAL CAKE LAYER WASH

CUTTING THE CLASSIC BIRTHDAY CAKE