8.5oz2 cups, aerated, spooned and leveled all purpose flour
2teaspoonsbaking powder
8oz2 sticks unsalted butter at cool room temperature
20oz3 cups caramelized granulated sugar
1scant teaspoon fine sea salt
2teaspoonsvanilla
4large eggsbeaten and at cool room temperature
1cupmilk at cool room temperature
For the Filling/Frosting
double batch of ermine frosting for a 4 layer6" cake
For the Cow Tales® Decoration
36Cow Tales®(for a 6" cake), trimmed to the height of the finished, frosted cake. You may need more or fewer depending on the size cake you're making. Each candy takes up about 1/2" of space all around the cake
Instructions
For the Cake
Set a rack in the center of your oven.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease and flour four 6" cake pans and fit parchment circles in the bottom of each pan (See Notes)
Whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream butter until smooth.
Add the caramel sugar, salt and vanilla and beat on medium to medium-high speed until light, fluffy, and pale in color, about 7 minutes. Scrape bowl and beater as necessary.
With the mixer on low, drizzle in the eggs a bit at a time, scraping bowl as necessary, until all the eggs have been added and mixture is smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes.
Alternately add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternating with the milk in 2 additions. Beat a few seconds after each addition and scrape bowl as necessary.
Divide batter evenly among the four pans and bake until the cakes are well risen, deep golden brown and just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes and then turn out on racks to cool completely.
To Fill, Frost and Decorate
Trim each cake layer to 1/2". Use a 2" or 3" cutter (depending on how much frosting you want to ingest) to cut out the centers of three of the layers. If using my cake recipe, you will have a lot of cake left over. Enjoy it or send it to lunch with your kids.
Place the whole layer in the center of your cake stand. Fill with a generous amount of ermine frosting.
Add the layers with the centers cut out, one at a time. Make sure you're using roughly the same amount of frosting between each layer to get the prettiest look. Spoon the frosting in the hole in the cake first and sort of press it in gently so there aren't any air gaps. Then add filling to an even depth before continuing.
Frost the sides with a fairly thin layer of frosting. The top layer can have a bit more--don't let any cake show through the top. Try to get the frosting as smooth as you can. You can also not worry about it and make any design you want on top.
Trim enough Cow Tales candies to go all around the cake and then press them in place. Admire your handiwork.
Store the cake in the refrigerator. Slice it while it is cold and then allow the slices to come to room temperature for 45 minutes or so before eating.
Enjoy!
Notes
*I used a 1-2-3-4 cake recipe which makes a lot of cake. If you use a different cake recipe, you may only be able to fill 3 6" pans. Whichever cake recipe you make, remember to fill the pans with batter no more than halfway.This is by no means diet food. It's more of a once-in-a-lifetime novelty. It's really tasty though, and you can save yourself some calories by not cutting holes in the center of the cake layers and just frosting as you would a regular cake. Nutritional information based on 12 slices.