This vanilla buttercream frosting recipe is perfect for a vanilla or white cake that seems a little plain Jane or even for a chocolate cake that seems a little too sweet. Any way you spread it, this vanilla buttercream frosting takes the cake.

Yield: 4 cups; enough to frost one 9-inch 2 layer cake or one 8-inch three layer cake

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• a pinch salt
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, each stick cut into quarters

Directions:

1) Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. (Do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water.) Whisking gently but constantly, heat the mixture until it is thin and foamy and registers 160° on an instant-read thermometer.

2) Beat the egg mixture at medium-high speed until light, airy, and cooled to room temperature which usually takes about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, one piece at a time.

3) After adding ½ the butter, the buttercream may look curdled; but no worries, it will smooth out with additional butter. Once all the butter is added, increase the speed to high and beat 1 minute, until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined.

4) Once you’ve thoroughly combined all the ingredients, your rich vanilla buttercream frosting is ready. So once your cake is completely cooled frost it and serve up a slice.

Any leftover frosting that you may have can be covered and refrigerated for up to 5 days.

The perfect thing about having leftovers is that it gives you an excuse to make another cake with that delicious vanilla buttercream frosting.

Lather the frosting on your favorite cake and enjoy!

This chocolate frosting recipe is not only delicious but it is easy too!

Anyone can use frosting from the can, but it takes a true baker to make their own.

Suddenly, you will be the star of that neighborhood block party when you bring out your delicious cake covered with this decadent rich chocolate frosting that you have made from scratch.

Yield: 4 cups; enough to frost one 9-inch 2 layer cake or one 8-inch three layer cake

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped fine
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour over the chocolate. Add the corn syrup and let it stand for three minutes.

2) Whisk gently until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Refrigerate 90 minutes- stirring every 15 minutes, until the frosting reaches a consistency that makes it easy to spread, a little thinner than the consistency of cream cheese).

3) Once the frosting is ready, spread it onto the cake, using a light ‘crumb layer’ of frosting to prevent excess crumbs lodged in your frosting. (This ‘crumb layer’ should be a lighter consitency… about the consitency of sour cream. You can add water to the frosting to thin it down.)

This frosting is perfect for a chocolate cake, a yellow cake, or even a white cake. With something so versatile, it is no wonder that it is delicious as well!

So instead of grabbing for that can of frosting that has been sitting on the grocery store shelf for longer than you would like to know, make a different decision and instead make a rich chocolate frosting all by yourself. Believe me it is well worth the effort!

Well, like all great recipes and creations, the cake started off with the basics. In medieval England, documents have been found relating to baking cakes. In these writings, the cake was basically just described as a flour-based sweet food. It was similar to bread, only bread didn’t have the sweetening.

As the times progressed, archaeologists began to find simple cakes made from grains, moistened, compacted, and probably cooked on a hot stone. This recipe was first considered a cake, but then it was transformed and took on a history all its own.

Today it is known as a biscuit or a cookie.

To the Greeks, cakes were known as “plakous” which was a cake created using only honey and nuts.

Doesn’t it sound tasty? No?

Well, without this “plakous” your favorite cake recipe may not even exist today! The Greek definitely affected the history of cake.

Also, the words “bread” and “cake” were sometimes considered interchangeable. Cake was just small bread. The words “bread” and “cake” come from the Anglo Saxon origin. To many people in the olden times, cake represented wealth.

If you were rich then by all means, let them eat cake, and lots of it.

For the wealthy people, cake was served on a more frequent basis compared to the citizens living in poverty, who rarely enjoyed such a fancy treat. Cake was also a rarity because, well if you are going to make a cake, then you might as well go all out. People used the finest ingredients available and made it as extravagant as possible. As for the poor, they were just happy to have any old cake.

In the middle of the 18th century, yeast- the common raising agent was replaced with beaten eggs. The eggs allowed more air to be poured into the mold which gave the cake a lighter/fluffier texture; not quite so heavy. Once the batter was ready it was poured into elaborate molds and shapes for baking… but only if you were of the affluent class.

For the average family, they were simply transferred into little tin hoops, which were then set on parchment paper and a cookie sheet. It is from this original idea, that the round pan we continue to use today was created.

Again, the history of cake began to prosper. Once it entered into the states, cake became a symbol of well-being and wealth. The more you could afford, the better off you were. In the 19th century, the cake ingredients became more and more available thanks to the efforts of the Industrial Revolution. From there, things like baking powder and baking soda were invented and then years later, popular names like Betty Crocker and Sarah Lee presented themselves onto the cake scene.

Thanks to revolutions, recipes, and names too numerous to mention; the history of cake has been forever changed; from its Greek roots all the way to American modifications.