I have experienced a milestone.
That would be the first cake I’ve baked from scratch – ever! And not just any cake – Snickerdoodle Cake with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Buttercream, discovered a la Pinterest.
Sure, there are more important things I could have accomplished on my Sunday morning. But considering baking is one of my favorite hobbies…and I’ve done little to none of that over the past few months…and I’ve never mastered the basic art of baking a cake…
Well, it felt good.
I enjoyed my cake for breakfast with a green smoothie because, well, that’s what bloggers do.
I can’t tell you the next time I’ll bake a layer cake because – let’s be real – it’s quite the project (and considering how lopsided/messy mine turned out, clearly not that easy either). But I might as well take the opportunity to share some tips if you decide to take on this massive cake any time soon.
- my cakes had to bake 10 minutes longer than the recipe called for.
- I read in the comments that some people didn’t like the grittiness of the brown sugar in the buttercream, so I dissolved mine for a few minutes in about 1/4 cup water before adding to the mix. It seemed to work!
- I also read that others’ frosting turned really brown, so I kept the cinnamon in the buttercream at 1 teaspoon rather than 2.
- Lastly, I also read that others thought the buttercream was too sweet, so I used about 6-7 cups confectioner’s sugar rather than 8-9.
…See guys? I’m like, totally a cake expert now.
Have you ever baked a (layer) cake from scratch? Any suggestions for my next cake endeavor?
Nice work!!! It looks fantastic and I’m sure it tasted awesome!! I’ve never made a layer cake before!
Snickerdoodle cake?! That sounds amazing! I have made a layer cake from scratch, I love to bake! My most recent cake was for my in-laws’ anniversary. I just used regular yellow cake but used a frosting I found on Pinterest that is just cool whip and vanilla pudding mix. Just add some strawberries in the layers and you have a heavenly cake. It is seriously the best frosting/cake ever…and I don’t like to eat cake myself.
that sounds delicious! and super simple. will have to remember that 😉
Nice! I love baking cakes, whether from scratch or from a box. Baking them from scratch just gives you that extra sense of accomplishment.
Congrats on baking your first layer cake, it looks beautiful! Much more gorgeous than my first layer cake turned out (it was a touch salty, from all the tears that were shed when I was making it). I used to hate making cakes simply because I find icing them to be a pain; however, a slanted icing knife really does work wonders. The cakes from Momofuku milk bar are also surprisingly easy to build, they just require a lot of time to make the different components.
Can’t wait to hear about your next cake-making endeavor!
yes the icing part was definitely the most difficult…especially considering i was just using a spoon haha
Oh my goodness, that cake looks delicious! Congrats on making your first one from scratch! I haven’t made a layer cake from scratch in ages (though I used to do it all the time in high school for friends) but now I’m thinking I need to bring it back! However the whole gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free part of it does make things a little complicated…
I would imagine! Although with Pinterest/blogs/etc. I’m sure there’s a good recipe out there you could try!