My Favorite Birthday Cake: Yellow Cake with Pastry Cream Filling
Makes 8" three-layer cake (can be four layers if desired). Adapted from: Tartine (pastry cream), Layered by Tessa Huff (cake), and Erin McDowell (buttercream).
Course: Dessert
Keyword: Cake
Author: hello kelinda
Equipment
2 8" round cake pans
Materials
Yellow Cake:
3 1/4cupscake flour (425 g)
1tbsbaking powder
3/4tspsalt
1cupunsalted butterroom temperature
2cupssugar (400 g)
2tspvanilla bean paste
6large egg yolks (120 g)room temperature
1 1/2cupswhole milk
Pastry Cream:
2cupswhole milk
1/2vanilla beanseeds scraped out and pod discarded
1/4tspsalt
1/2cupand 1 tbs sugar (115 g)
5tbscornstarch (35 g)
1whole large egg and 2 egg yolks
1/4cupunsalted butter
Italian Buttercream:
5large egg whites (180 g)
1/4tspcream of tartar
1 3/4cupssugar (350 g)
3/4cupwater
2cupsunsalted butter
1 1/2tspvanilla extract
1/2tspfine sea salt
Other:
1/4cupfresh fruitthinly sliced or halved — I usually do strawberries and raspberries
Instructions
Make the Cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F and move rack to upper third. Grease and line two 8″ cake pans.
In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy on medium-high. This usually takes about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom.
With the mixer on medium-low, add the egg yolks one at a time, followed by the vanilla bean paste. Scrape down the sides and bottom again.
Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the whole milk. Begin and end with the flour mixture.
When the last of the flour has been added and incorporated, scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixer bowl one more time. Beat on medium for about 20 seconds to fully mix everything.
Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean in the center. Cool the cakes in their pans on a rack for 10 minutes before flipping them out and letting it cool completely on the rack.
If you’re making the cakes ahead of time, wrap them in cling film after they’ve cooled and store in an airtight Ziploc bag in the fridge until assembly time.
Make the Pastry Cream Filling
Bring the milk, salt, and scraped vanilla bean seeds to barely a simmer in a small pot over medium heat. Stir often to prevent the milk from scalding.
While the milk is warming, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and eggs in a medium mixing bowl.
When the milk is hot, carefully stream about 1/3 of it into the cornstarch-egg mixture making sure to frantically whisk the eggs the entire time so you don’t scramble them as you add the hot milk. Once that is well whisked, pour the now-hot egg mixture back into the pot with the rest of the milk.
Whisk this constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens. You want to bring it to just at a barely boil so that the cornstarch is cooked — look for a few bubbles as you whisk like a maniac. Do not let it boil more than this or else it’ll scramble. Once it’s as thick as pudding and you’ve seen the slow bubbles, immediately pull it off the heat.
Quickly pass this through a fine mesh sieve into a mixing bowl to remove errant clumps. Whisk this mixture once in a while as you let it cool until it’s about 140°F — about 10 minutes, usually.
Whisk in the butter one tablespoon at a time, letting the previous piece completely incorporate before adding the next one.
Let cool in an airtight container overnight in the fridge before use. Just whisk it again the next day to loosen it up.
Make the Italian Buttercream
Put egg whites and cream of tartar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
In a medium pot, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then let it boil untouched until it reaches 230°F. At this point, turn the stand mixer on at medium-high to whip the egg whites.
When the sugar syrup mixture reaches 240°F — which should only be a few more minutes — take it off the heat. Kick the mixer up to high and slowly stream the syrup into your running mixer.
Let the mixer keep running once all the syrup has been added until there’s no more heat escaping out of the top and the mixer bowl feels barely warm. This usually takes my mixer about half an hour. Yes, it’ll be loud.
Once the bowl has cooled and your meringue is holding glossy stiff peaks, add the butter in one tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to incorporate into the meringue before adding the next.
When all the butter has been added and incorporated, add the vanilla extract and salt. Beat for another minute to fully incorporate. Your buttercream is now ready for use as is or to be colored.
NOTE: If your mixture looks soupy during the butter-adding stage, pop it into the fridge for a few minutes before resuming the process.
ASSEMBLY:
Slice each cake in two to form two layers. It's up to you whether to keep the last layer for yourself (yielding a three-layer cake) or for the cake (yielding a four-layer cake).
Place one layer on your cake board.
Pipe a dam of buttercream around the perimeter of the cake slice. This will keep your filling from oozing out.
Spread a generous layer of pastry cream inside the dam, using as much as to match the height of the dam.
Scatter the thinly sliced fruit on top and press it into the cream.
Stack with the next slice of cake. Repeat steps 3-5 for the remaining layers except the last.
Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining buttercream. Decorate as you like!
Notes
Serving:Because of the pastry cream filling, it’s best to keep this cake refrigerated until you’re serving it, though you can leave it out at room temperature for about an hour beforehand to let the cake and frosting soften. Enjoy!