Kootek Beachy Vibes Cake with Vanilla Cake and Vanilla Buttercream

Directions

Vanilla Cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray three 6-inch cake pans with non-stick spray.

2. Sift cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

3. In a stand mixer equipped with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and oil together for 3-4 minutes, or until they are well blended.

4. Incorporate sugar into the mixture and beat on medium to high speed until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

5. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg whites. Scrape down the sides and add the vanilla. Beat on high until the mixture is smooth and light in color, about 1 minute.

6. With the mixer also on low speed, alternate the flour mixture with buttermilk, ending with the flour mixture in the bowl, and mix until just combined. Scrape down the bowl. Do this three times (1/3 each time). Do not overmix, or your cake will become dense.

7. Distribute the cake batter evenly between three 6-inch cake pans. I weigh my batter to ensure uniform size.

8. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set your timer to 30 minutes and check every 5 minutes to ensure it doesn't overbake.

9. Cool the cake pans on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before inverting and removing cakes from the cake pan to cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream:

1. Pour pasteurized egg whites into a stand mixer bowl with a whisk attachment, weighing them to 110g.

2. Next, sift the powdered sugar and dump it into the bowl, weighing the powdered sugar to 453g.

3. Mix on a low speed to incorporate all the ingredients. Scrape down the sides to ensure all the powdered sugar is combined. Mix again to combine everything.

4. Add the room-temperature butter to the mixer and mix on medium speed.

5. Change the attachment to a paddle attachment, mix on high for 5 minutes, and then mix on low for 5 minutes to remove air bubbles.

Cake Decorating Instructions:

1. Fill and stack the 6-inch cake layers. Crumb coat the cake with uncolored buttercream, then apply the final coat of buttercream. Refrigerate the cake for an hour.

2. Split the remaining buttercream into two bowls. Use a small amount of the buttercream for the first bowl to achieve the darker blue color, and discard the rest into the second bowl.

3. Color the first buttercream with several drops of navy blue food gel coloring until you achieve the desired color. Color the second buttercream with several drops of turquoise food gel coloring.

4. Fill the piping bags. (1)K62 with the darker blue buttercream; (2)T05 with turquoise buttercream; (3)K61 with turquoise buttercream

5. Begin with the piping tip K62 (dark blue buttercream). Point the tip at the bottom of the cake, but do not press against the cake. Begin to squeeze the piping bag AND turn the turntable at the same time to create “ocean waves”.

6. Grab the turquoise piping bag with K61 piping tip. Begin some swirls in a cascading motion, moving from the bottom to the top of the cake. Feel free to apply swirls anywhere you want.

7. Next, pipe little stars with the same piping tip to fill in the cascading buttercream swirls.

8. Use the piping tip with T05 to create buttercream swirls on top of the cake, continuing the cascading effect of the buttercream.

9. Spread some brown sugar on the top of the cake next to the turquoise buttercream and on the bottom of the cake under the navy blue “waves”.

10. Start placing beach themed fondant and icing decorations on the cake as desired.

11. Finally, place a cute cocktail umbrella on the top of the cake.

12. Enjoy! Make sure to refrigerate the cake before serving.