The Search for the Perfect Yellow Cake: Part 6

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I think we found THE cake so far. The recipe comes from the baker at Cake Love, Warren Brown.You may have seen him a long time ago on Food Network's Sugar Rush.

This cake was easy to put together. I made three modifications based on previous cakes: 1) I used 1 egg yolk plus 3 eggs instead of 4 whole eggs; and 2) I used 6 oz of all-purpose flour with 3 oz of cake flour (9oz total) instead of 7oz of AP with 2 oz of potato starch (9oz total).

We plan to try out more yellow cake recipes, but so far, this one is my favorite. Lydia thought I had put oil in it, but it doesn't have a lick of oil in it. The batter is AMAZING. I would give the batter a 10 because I kept licking the beater and ended up licking the bowl and spoon once everything was in the oven, and I have never done that with any of these yellow cakes.

THE GOOD:
The texture of the cake is soft, light and fluffy, yet it is sturdy enough to be used in a strawberry shortcake cake or something requiring a wet or moist filling. It tastes close to, but better than a cake-mix cake in my opinion. It isn't spongy or oily. I would not call it moist; however, I wouldn't call it dry either. It just has a perfect texture. You could easily eat it without frosting (like Warren Brown did in his video that I posted below). In fact, that is what I did with the fallen pieces of cake that didn't get frosted.

I would pair the chocolate frosting with a quick type of buttercream instead of the "gourmet" one that requires melted chocolate and 3 sticks of butter. I used the latter, and my friend, my mother (SHE'S IN TOWN!), and I agreed that the frosting was overwhelming and distracted you from the cake too much.

THE BAD:
I can't think of anything bad about the cake. My mom couldn't either. That doesn't mean it was perfect, though; it was just really good.

THE UGLY (aka ratings): (ratings in bold because they were not present in the original post)
Memoria: 9/10 (C1: 6.5/C2: 5/C3: 0/Cake-Mix(C4): 8/C5: 7.5)
Lydia: 9/10 (C1: 5/C2: 5/C3: 0/Cake-Mix(C4): 9.5/C5: 7.5)
Memoria's Mom (new rater!): 8/10
Lydia's Husband: 10/10 (C1: 8.5/C2: 9/C3: 4/Cake-Mix(C4): 9/C5: 7)
My Neighbor: 9.5/10 (C1: 8.5/C2: 9/C3: N/A/Cake-Mix(C4): 9/C5: 7.5) He said the cake was moist and fluffy. He loved it.

Like I said, we will be looking at other recipes to see if there is something better out there, but so far, this is my favorite and is the winner . . . for now.

Yellow Butter Cake

adapted from Cake Love (linked to a great video of him making this cake)

6 oz (3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
14 oz (1 3/4 cup) superfine or regular granulated sugar (I used regular)
3 large, whole eggs (room temperature)
1 egg yolk (room temperature)
6 oz AP flour
3 oz cake flour
1 tsp salt (I used kosher)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup half-n-half
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
(Warren Brown also used 2 Tbsp of brandy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (335 degrees if using a convection oven). Prepare your 8" or 9" cake pans (I used Baker's Joy).

Cream the butter and sugar for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the eggs one at time, making sure the batter is well-blended before adding another egg.

I love how yellow this batter is after adding the eggs!

In a separate bowl, whisk or sieve the flours, salt, and baking powder. In a (2-cup/16oz) liquid measuring cup, mix the half-n-half and extract. Pour in a 1/3rd of the dry and a 1/3rd of the wet ingredients and continue to alternate, ending with the flour mixture. The batter should be thick (and tasty).

No longer yellow but still very delicious!

Pour batter into cake pans, and bounce them on the counter to remove air bubbles and to make the batter even. Bake the batter for 30-35 minutes, or based on your own oven, which I'm sure functions better than my oven.

For the "gourmet" chocolate buttercream I used, go here. For the simple chocolate buttercream I recommend for this cake, look below.

"Cheaper" & "Simpler", Yet Still Tasty Chocolate Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar, to taste
3/4-1 cup cocoa powder, to taste
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4-5 Tbsp milk, to desired consistency

Blend the butter on high for about 1-2 minutes. On LOW, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Add the cocoa powder. Once mixed well, add the vanilla extract and milk until desired consistency.

Happy 4th of July to all who observe this holiday!

UPDATE:

One of the readers of this blog asked about my reasons behind my changes to the recipe. I actually addressed them on previous posts about the yellow cake, but for sake of simplicity, I answered her questions in the comments section, but I thought it'd be helpful to post my reasons here.

1. 1 yolk + 3 eggs instead of 4 whole eggs: To make the batter/cake more yellow and less eggy-tasting. It didn't make the batter look more yellow but before adding the flour and half-n-half, it looked yellow (look at the next to last photo above). Also, we had another cake that called for 4 eggs, and it tasted eggy.

2. Cake flour instead of Potato Starch: I didn't have potato starch and felt it unnecessary to purchase it for a cake. I also wanted a recipe where most ingredients are accessible and usually found in most homes. Even though not everyone has cake flour, I believe it is more present in homes than potato starch. Since Warren Brown of Cake Love said that the protein amount for the cake flour was different from that of potato starch, I adjusted the ratio of AP vs. cake flour. The cake flour makes the cake lighter, and the all-purpose makes it a bit more dense.