Adapted from Molly Yeh – this recipe appears in her cookbook, Molly on the Range. Even when I was young I was never as cute as Molly, but I have overcome my initial envy, and come to love her!
For the cake:
- 2 1/2 cups flour (I used unbleached, but I bet cake flour would produce a softer cake)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder (upped a bit from Molly’s)
- 1 cup – 2 sticks – unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 egg whites, also room temperature
- 1 tablespoon clear vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles, and as Molly says, artificially colored cylinders that you’ll find in the baking aisle at any grocery store; don’t use nonpareils, colored sugar, or anything naturally colored!
For the frosting:
I did not use Molly’s recipe here – it seemed to have way too much butter in proportion to powered sugar
- 12 tablespoons, 1 1/2 sticks salted or unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cups of confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt (omit if you use salted butter)
- 1/4 cup milk, half & half, or cream
Makes a 3-layer 8-inch cake or 24 cupcakes.
Heat the oven to 350° Grease three 8-in. cake pans, and line the bottoms with wax paper or parchment rounds, OR line two 12-cup muffins tins with paper liners. If you only have one muffin tin, you can store the extra half of the batter in the fridge while the first half bakes.
Make the cake: Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl – a whisk works well for this. Cut the butter into chunks and drop it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, and beat for a few minutes. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. (you can do this with a handheld mixer or by hand, but you’ll need a good mixer and strong arms!) Add the egg whites one at a time (or as close to one at a time as possible – I was pouring the whites in from a plastic container where they’d been saved, and had to guess, but it worked OK!) and beat well after each addition. Measure the milk in a spouted measuring cup, and add the extracts, then, with the mixer running, add the flour and milk to the egg mixture in 2-3 alternating addition. Finally fold in the sprinkles, and divide the batter into your cake pans or muffin tins.
Bake for 25-30 mins, until a toothpick stabbed into the center comes out clean – start checking at 20 minutes.
Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.
Make the frosting: Cut the butter into chunks and drop it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, and beat for a few minutes. Add the sugar, vanilla, salt (if using) and the milk. Cover the mixer with a dish towel, hold on, and beat until the sugar is moistened – you’ll know because the sound will change. Remove the towel, scrape the sides of the bowl, and add more milk or water carefully – by teaspoons – until you have a good spreadable consistency. Beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes to get it really nice and fluffy. Frost the cake or cupcakes and decorate the tops with more sprinkles. Set in the fridge to set the icing, but tastes best if you let it come back to room temperature before eating.
Made for a part zoom, part in the flesh, baby shower for a mom-to-be of twins, Spring 2021
