Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Instant Fudge Frosting

Today, my husband and I are celebrating our 10th anniversary. In a couple of hours, we are flying to Miami for a long weekend. I am so very excited!

I will be celebrating by basking in the sun, on the beach for a few days, so I thought I would share a cake with you today and celebrate here as well. I shared these pictures on my sugar blog , which is where I share all the goodies that I am baking up for people these days, but when I tasted a little crumb of this cake and a dab of the leftover frosting, I figured someone out there might need to bake it up for themselves. Have a great weekend everyone!

p.s. This frosting is also really great on Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake
from Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes
By Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne
For the cake:
4 whole large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of three 8-inch cake pans. Line with parchment paper and grease the paper.

Place the eggs and the yolks in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and 1/4 cup of buttermilk and whisk all the ingredients well. Set Aside.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a mixer; whisk to blend. Add the remaining buttermilk and butter to the dry ingredients and with the mixer on low speed, blend together. Raise the mixer to medium speed and beat until light fluffy; 2minutes.

Add the egg mixture in three additions, scrapping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Divide the batter among all the pans.

Bake the cake layers for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out the cakes onto a wire rack and remove the paper from the bottoms. Cool completely.

Instant Fudge Frosting:
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled
4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons half and half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to blend together. Then pulse until the frosting is smooth.