The Prudent Wife

(adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn) We took this light, fluffy white cake recipe and adapted it to fit a wedding cake size when we recreated my parents wedding cake for their 40th anniversary. Over 70 guests raved about the cake - it was delicious, especially on a hot, Southern California June evening.

1 package 18.25 ounces plain WHITE cake mix

1 cup organic whole milk (can substitute coconut milk)

1 stick of butter, melted

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure real vanilla extract (do NOT use fake vanilla)

½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 eight inch cake pans.  Shake out excess flour and set pans aside.  

TIP--> use the cake mix (chocolate, yellow, etc) to flour pans with, so everything looks good.

 In bowl for  electric mixer, place cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs and real vanilla. Blend on low for one minute, scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat 2 more mintues on medium speed. Scrape down sides as needed, to make sure there are no lumps. You need a well blended batter to make the luscious, rich cake. Divide batter evenly between the two cake pans and smooth out. Put the pans in the oven side by side.  

Prudent TIP --> if your oven bakes unevenly, place BOTH pans on a Pampered Chef stone and bake as directed. This little prudent tip helped  me stretch 6  years of use out of a failing oven.

Bake the cakes about 27 to 29 minutes, until they are light, light brown and spring back lightly when pressed. Do not overbake. Remove the pans from the oven and put each directly onto a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Pop the cakes out of the pan, and put the cakes directly on the cake rack to cool further, about 30 minutes.

While the cakes cool, prepare frosting of choice. The Prudent wife used used Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting in the video, with a recipe included in the site. For the 40th anniversary cakes,  whipped Bettercream was used.

Watch our fabulous video to see how to assemble this delicious bride's cake.

Items used - Cake Decorating Kit from Pampered Chef, spreading knife, gold disk.

Fill the cake decorating kit of choice with frosting. Put the tip on that you would like to decorage with. Take the first cake layer and "glue" it to the cake plate with a dollop of frosting.  This pumps the air out of the cake decorating tool, for even, beautiful decorating.

Pipe a line of frosting in a circle around the edges of the first cake layer, to form a moat. Inside the moat, put a thin layer of cooled Pastry Creme Filling (recipe and video on this site). Place 2nd cake layer on top of first, sandwiching in the moat of frosting/filling. 

Professional cake decoraters have a trick for making gorgeous cakes, that few home bakers know about. It only takes a few extra minutes and is well worth the time and effort. The cake is actually frosted twice!  A quick crumb coat is applied first, to seal in moisture and give the cake an even base coat. Let dry for at least 30 minutes. Then frost as normal with the special cake spatula, smoothing the frosting carefully for a pristine surface to decorate for more formal cakes. Make happy waves for a more casual cake.

Pipe desired desing around the bottom edge. Pipe the top edge with the cake decorating tool and any designs you may have. Garnish with fresh flowers. Keep in the fridge until ready to eat. 

Congratulations! You have just created a gorgeous cake that will bless everyone!