I’ve started a fun project that helps with my love for baking. I’m making vanilla and chocolate party cakes for kids.
In this post I will share how some amazing kids earn these cakes and share some of my favorite vanilla and chocolate cake recipes along with an amazing Swiss meringue buttercream. The cakes may not look perfect, but they taste amazing. Do kids care about taste?
In my church I teach kids between the ages of 3-11 (Primary). They simply memorize the faces and names of the leaders of our church (15) and I make them a cake of their choice.
It’s so fun to see how particular the kids have been regarding flavor, icing, and sprinkles. The above cakes are both chocolate…my best bake.
My instructions were: 8-yr-old boy) Chocolate cake, chocolate icing, sprinkles are ok, my favorite color is green. Green gum balls were not available. What? Who runs out of green gum balls?
8-yr-old girl) chocolate cake, white icing, yes on sprinkles, favorite color turquoise.
The three cakes pictured here were for boys ages, 11, 9, and 7.
11-year-old) Surprise me. I like anything. After a consult with his mother, it was decided to make chocolate cake, blackberry buttercream, and berries. Good choice! The recipe is below. 10-year-old) chocolate cake, chocolate filling (I used ganache) strawberry buttercream, chocolate drizzle, sprinkles, at chocolate truffles. 7-yr-old) strawberry cake, strawberry buttercream, rainbow sprinkles, fresh strawberries and chocolate truffles.
The above cakes were for two darling 10-year-old girls. Chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, chocolate drizzle, chocolate truffles, pink sprinkles.
Blue cake) chocolate cake, blue buttercream, lots of sprinkles. What will my next request be?
Cake secrets
Secrets to making a super moist cake is adding shredded zucchini or beet puree. No, I do not share that information with the kids. Secret to moist vanilla cake is the addition of whole fat plain yogurt. Swiss meringue buttercream is a dream to work with. It is so smooth and lovely to work with. Swiss meringue buttercream can be frozen, thawed, beaten.
Mumma’s Chocolate Cake
Moist chocolate cake. Perfect for layer cakes, 9 x 13-inch cakes or 24 cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup oil I used light flavored olive oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350F. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together. Set mixture aside. In a large mixing bowl beat sugar and eggs until light yellow. With mixer running slowly drizzle in oil. Mix until smooth. Add buttermilk alternately with flour mixture. Slowly add 1 cup boiling water until batter is smooth. Mix in vanilla. Bake in preheated oven. For a 9 x 13 or 9-inch rounds bake 25-30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cupcakes bake for 18-20 minutes. Makes 24 cupcakes OR one 9 x 13-inch cake OR two 9-inch round.
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Recipe Notes
Recipe Notes
High altitude adjustments: Reduce sugar by 2 tablespoons then add 2 tablespoons more flour
Vanilla Bean Yogurt Cake with Strawberry Rose Buttercream
Adjusted for high altitudes above 3,500. Moist vanilla cake with a creamy Swiss meringue buttercream.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 300 gr 2 cups + 2 Tbl all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 250 gr 1 1/3 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup full-fat yogurt
- 1/2 cup boiling water
Strawberry Rose Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 2/3 cup egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups or 3 cubes unsalted butter cut into 1 tbl. cubes or slices
- pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup strawberry puree
- 1/8- 1/4 teaspoon rose water extract
Instructions
To make the cake:
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Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Generously coat 3 6-inch round baking pans. Set aside .
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Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
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Slice vanilla bean in half, with the back of a knife scrape seeds from the pod. Mix into the sugar.
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In the bowl of an electric mixer or other mixing bowl, add vanilla sugar and butter. Cream together.
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Slowly mix in oil. Beat for 1-2 minutes or until light and fluffy.
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Add eggs one at a time. Mix until light yellow in color.
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Add the flour alternately with yogurt beginning and ending with flour.
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Beat in boiling water.
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Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned and cake springs back when touched.
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Remove from oven. Allow cakes to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Turn cake out onto a cooling rack. Cook completely. Cakes may be wrapped and frozen for up to 2 weeks.
To make Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
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In a very clean bowl of an electric mixer, add egg whites and sugar. Place over a simmering pot of water, stirring constantly until temperature reaches 160 degrees F. Rub a small amount of the mixture between two fingers to make sure the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
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Using the whisk attachment, beat until the mixture is a thick meringue and the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch. The bowl must be cool before adding the butter.
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Replace the whisk with the paddle attachment. With the mixture on medium-low speed add butter once slice at a time until all of the butter has been incorporated. The mixture should be silky smooth and thick. The mixture may begin to look curdled, keep mixing until it is smooth. This can take 10 minutes or so. Mix in salt and vanilla. Add strawberry puree and rose water extract. Once puree is added keep mixing until mixture is silky again.
Recipe Notes
Prep and cook time is for baking cake only. Swiss Meringue Buttercream can be frozen for weeks. Thaw frozen buttercream in a refrigerator overnight. Bring to room temperature, then beat with paddle attachment until creamy. If buttercream looks curdled, place a warm dishcloth on the bottom of the mixing bowl. Repeat as often as necessary until icing looks smooth and creamy. Whatever you do, DO NOT look at the nutrition calculations. Just enjoy a slice of heaven. Work it off in the morning. If you live at lower elevation levels, make the following adjustments. Delete 2 tablespoons flour and Add 2 tablespoons extra sugar, increase baking soda to 2 teaspoons.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Super chocolate cake with zucchini added for moistness. Great use for summer zucchini that just won't stop growing. 6-inch cake with 6 layers.
Ingredients
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup light flavored olive oil
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 2 cups grated zucchini
Instructions
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 6-inch round cake pans. Line with a parchment paper. Set aside. In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand up mixer beat eggs, With the mixer running, slowly add sugar and mix until light yellow in color. Slowly add olive oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix until smooth and light in color. Beat in flour and cocoa mixture until smooth. Fold in grated zucchini then boiling water. Pour batter into prepared baking sheet and place in preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto a cooling rack until completely cool OR for a moister cake immediately wrap in plastic and wrap and place right into a freezer. Can be frozen for several days, or place is a refrigerator until completely cool before using.
You might also like:
Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Buttercream
High Altitude Vanilla Bean Cake
Chocolate Baked Doughnuts with Beet Blood Glaze
I JUSt wanted to say thanks for writing this crystal-clear post. Lovely cakes. I’m going to give one or more a try.
cdm
Thank you so much. I really appreciate your kind comment. Please let me know if you make a fun cake and I always love to see pics.
THESE ARE DARLING
IM WANTING TO DO THIS FOR THE GIRLS ON MY ACTIVITY DAYS. HOW LING DID YOU BAKE THESE MINI CAKES? I HAVE A 4X2 PAN.
THANKS JULIE
Hi Julie, I used 3 pans that are 6 x 3-inches. I cut each layer in half and used three layers for each cake. I was able to get two 3-layer cakes from the 3 pans I used. I baked them for about 25-30 minutes because of the depth.
I would think that a 4 x 2 pan could bake up in about 20 minutes or so. You can probably get 4 4×2-inch cakes from each cake recipe. email me if you have any more questions: simplysogood@hotmail.com
Beautiful cakes! are they three layers?
Why thank you. Yes, they are three layers, but I cut each layer in half. So I baked three 6-inch cakes and cut each cake in half. So I was able to make 2 cakes from each batch.
WOW! This is so nice and generous of you! These cakes are absolutely gorgeous. I wish i was in your primary class!!!