Doraemon Cake / Black and White Layer Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

After two months of vacation I am trying hard to come back to blogging...... School re-opened for my little one and I hope everything will be back to routine from now on… that means I will get some free time for blogging;)…. Our little one celebrated his 8^th birthday while we were in Phuket…. His only demand was that I have to bake him a birthday cake as soon as we got back… so within a couple of days of getting back I made this cake for him… this time he wanted a Doraemon cake as this is his favorite cartoon now a days…. Though it’s easy to frost a Doraemon face, somehow I didn’t get it perfect…..I was too tired and exhausted from travelling and crossing time zones.… But Aaryan was very happy to get his favorite Doraemon cake ;)…. I made a black and white layer cake with vanilla buttercream frosting…. So here we go to the recipe…

Black and White Layer Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting 

Recipe from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

For the Chocolate Cake:
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
6 tbsp. dark cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1 cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg
½ cup black coffee
½ cup buttermilk
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

Method:

To make the chocolate cake, butter and flour the edges of a 9-inch round pan, shaking out the excess flour.  Line the bottom with a round of parchment.  In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder; whisk to blend and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, vegetable oil and egg.  Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, blend in half of the dry ingredients, beating just until incorporated.  Blend in the coffee, buttermilk and vanilla just until smooth.  Beat in the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 20 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges, then turn the cake out onto the rack and let cool completely. 

For the White Cake:
2 large egg whites
1¾ cup all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup very cold water
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract

Method:

To make the white cake, butter and flour the edges of a 9-inch round pan, shaking out the excess flour.  Line the bottom with a round of parchment.  In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy.  Increase speed to medium high and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.  Transfer the egg whites to another bowl and set aside.  In the bowl of the electric mixer now fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Blend in the water, vanilla and almond extracts.  Beat in the remaining dry ingredients just until incorporated.  With a silicone spatula, stir in about a quarter of the egg whites to lighten the batter.  Gently fold in the remaining egg whites, until the batter is smooth and no streaks remain.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 20 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges, then turn the cake out onto the rack and let cool completely.

To assemble the cake, torte each of the cake layers horizontally into two thin halves.  Place one of the chocolate layers on a cake board or cake platter.  Top with a very thin layer of the vanilla buttercream.  Place a layer of the white cake on top.  Again, cover with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream.  Repeat the process with the remaining layer of chocolate and white cake. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the vanilla buttercream as desired.

Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Recipe from Savory Sweet Life

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!) Ideal texture should be like ice cream.

3-4 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, sifted

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Method:

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.