Sprinkles & Spatulas: French Vanilla Sour Cream Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

A few weeks ago I was catching up on all the latest entertainment gossip, as one does and I was reading about the wedding of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds and I found out they had a French Vanilla Sour Cream cake, which sounded amazing! So from then I was recipe possessed and I had to make THE perfect cake! The first time I attempted baking one, it was disgusting, but I tried again and I am happy to say I have found my staple vanilla cake recipe. It is moist and had the perfect density and leaves no crumbs when cut. Give this a try it is super-duper easy and you're bound to have most of the ingredients at home! Now I did make two variations of this cake in the same weekend for two birthdays, one with Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream and one with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream. If you do prefer your cake sweeter, sticking with a traditional buttercream is always a winner!

French Vanilla Sour Cream Cake

190 grams butter

270 grams caster sugar

3 eggs

270 grams plain flour (sifted)

2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste/ vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

pinch salt

250 mls sour cream

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C and grease and line cake tin/s. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy

2. Add eggs gradually whilst electric mixer is still on.

3. Turn mixer to a lower setting and over three additions add a third of the sour cream followed by a third of the flour until all gone.

4. Increase speed to medium and add remaining ingredients and leave to mix for around 4-6 minutes.

5. I divided my mixture into three and baked each cake in a 9inch tin for 20 minutes or until skewer comes back clean or cake springs back.

Now I confess I didn't take photos of the cake making process this time, because I was worried it wouldn't work out again, BUT, I did take photos of the SMB (Swiss Meringue Buttercream) in action since it was much more difficult than the cake. This is maybe a simplified version of the SMB found on Sweetapolita.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

250 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)

120 grams caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste / vanilla extract

2 egg whites

1. Add caster sugar and egg whites to a heatproof bowl over simmering water.

2. Whisk until sugar has dissolved into the egg and the mixture has been warmed to an approximate temperature of 60C or 140F.

3. Transfer mixture to electric mixing bowl and fit with the whisk attachment and beat for around 3-4 minutes. The mixture should be bright white in colour and quite stiff.

4. Ensure the bowl has cooled down enough before proceeding. Divide the butter into 8 small blocks and ensure mixer is on medium speed.

5. Gradually add the butter, one block at a time, ensure each block has been thoroughly mixed through before adding the next.

6. NOTE, mixture will begin to look curdled and that is completely normal by around block number 5 of butter.

7. Once all the butter has been included, add the vanilla (or desired flavouring) and leave to mix for 4-6 minutes. The buttercream will gradually go from curdled and chunky, to glossy and smooth, just keep mixing!

8. Once complete add desired colourings and flavours, for my first cake, I added some fresh rapsberries and for the other, the juice of one lemon and some yellow food colouring.

9. SMB is a great frosting to pipe with and smooth and I used it in between the layers of the cake for a subtle creamy flavour.

(Please note SMB is best served at room temperature and not refrigerated)