This is a delicious layer cake recipe from one of my old jobs. I usually don't like American-style cakes because they're too sweet (especially with American buttercream, which is powdered sugar and butter paddled together), but this cake is lighter in texture (from the beaten egg whites folded in the batter) and uses Italian buttercream as the icing.

Italian buttercream uses an Italian meringue, which is egg whites beaten with hot sugar syrup. The hot sugar stabilizes the egg white proteins and creates a very fluffy and stable meringue. You add chunks of softened butter to this meringue to create a creamy, rich, sweet buttercream. It tastes less sweet than American buttercream, and the fluffy creamy texture makes it much more enjoyable to eat!

This recipe is a little complicated for a novice baker (and it also uses a ton of egg whites and no yolks), but it's one of my favorite American-style cakes. It's great for cupcakes too. It can be scaled down for less layers and smaller cakes (like the cake pictured on the right).

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Recipes for all the leftover yolks: salted eggs for baozi, ice cream, canele, pastry cream, French toast, egg tart, etc.

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White Cake (three 8-inch layers or about 27 cupcakes)

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• 86 g unsalted butter, softened

• 200 g granulated sugar

• 5 g vanilla extract

• 86 g vegetable oil

• 345 g all-purpose flour

• 12 g baking powder

• 3 g salt

• 225 g milk

• 25 g buttermilk

• 180 g egg whites (about 6 egg whites)

• 200 g granulated sugar
   

• 1:1 ratio boiled water and granulated sugar for simple syrup for soaking the cakes

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1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment circles.

2. Mix together butter and first sugar until fully combined (won't cream into a fluffy mixture)

3. Add oil and vanilla extract and paddle until light and fluffy.

4. Sift together dry ingredients. Combine milk and buttermilk together.

5. Add the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture. You should end with the flour mixture. Mix just until combined each addition.

6. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until foamy, then slowly stream in the second sugar. Whip on high speed until a soft peak forms. Fold meringue into the cake batter base in three additions, taking care not to knock out too much air.

7. Divide the batter evenly among the three cake pans (each will be a little less than 500g). Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake about another 15 minutes, or until the center of the cake bounces back when you lightly press it.

8. Cool cakes in pans for 5 minutes, then invert onto wire racks to cool completely. If not using immediately, wrap each cake layer in plastic wrap and leave at room temperature or freeze.

9. For assembly: trim the top domes off the cakes so they're even. Soak each layer with a generous amount of simple syrup to prevent the cakes from getting dry, and fill each layer with buttercream (recipe below) or another filling of choice. Decorate the outside with a very thin layer of buttercream and refrigerate the cake for one hour to set

   • ​This crumb coat seals the stray crumbs from the cake's surface and prevents them from making your buttercream decorations crumby

10. Decorate the exterior of your cake with more buttercream. Store in the refrigerator (or freeze individually-wrapped slices) and serve at room temperature

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Italian Buttercream

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• 54 g water

• 271 g granulated sugar

• 1 g salt

• 2 g vanilla extract

• 150 egg whites (about 5 egg whites)

• 453 g unsalted butter (1 pound, or 4 sticks), softened and cubed

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1. Combine water, sugar, vanilla, and salt together in a saucepan. Without stirring, cook over high heat and bring to 240°F.

2. While the sugar is cooking, whip the egg whites until foamy. When the sugar syrup reaches 230°F, whip the egg whites on high speed until voluminous, but not grainy.

3. Once the egg whites are fluffy and the sugar is at 240°F, reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly stream in the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl, careful not to splatter the syrup or cook the egg whites.

4. Once all the sugar syrup is added, return the mixer speed to high and whip until bottom of the bowl is slightly warmer than your body temperature, but NOT hot.

5. Add butter chunks slowly, allowing each piece to be incorporated before adding the next.

   • ​Your buttercream may curdle or look separated at first, but continue mixing on high speed and allow the frictional heat to re-emulsify the mixture. You can lightly heat the bowl up above a stove or with a kitchen torch too. This is why your butter should be room temperature or softened.

   • If your mixture starts to look soupy before you've added all your butter, stop adding butter and allow the mixer to keep running to cool the meringue a little more. Continue adding butter pieces one at a time and see if the buttercream starts to thicken. If not, you may have to refrigerate your mixture for 20-30 minutes, then continue mixing after. This is why your meringue must only be slightly warm.

6. Continue whipping until you have a silky, creamy buttercream. Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator for future use.

   • You will have to bring the buttercream back to room temperature/soften it in the microwave and re-whip before using.

   • Leftover buttercream lasts a really long time in the refrigerator/freezer.