Vanilla Overdose Naked Cake

Well, mostly naked...

Four layered vanilla sponge soaked in simple syrup with vanilla cream cheese frosting and topped with frosted blueberries and grapes. COUNT ME IN.

Basically, the cream cheese frosting is the star of the show here. Although the sponge is pretty, dreamy, too. Recipe adapted from 27th and Olive's Blueberry Lemon Cake.

Ingredients

Cake:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 

1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

4 Tablespoon vanilla extract (or, you know, more, it's up to you)

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk (I make my own with one cup milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice)

Frosting:

8 ounces full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

3 and 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 - 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or half and half

3-4 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Grease and lightly flour two 8 circular cake pans. Set aside.

FOR THE CAKE:

Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until creamy (approximately 1 minute). Add granulated and brown sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until everything is combined, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed (get all the way down to the bottom). Set aside.

In a large sized bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat on low speed for 5 seconds, then add the buttermilk.

Batter will be quite thick but don't over mix at any point. Over mixing will give you a tough, dense textured crumb. Spoon batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Bake the three layers for about 21-26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before using a super sharp knife (technical term) to cut each cake in half. If you want to keep the cake extra moist, you can mix one part sugar in one part warm water and drip it (I used a pipette) over the cake and let it absorb all the way before frosting.

FOR THE FROSTING:

Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until no lumps remain, about 3 full minutes*. Add confectioners' sugar, 1 Tablespoon cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add 1 more Tablespoon of cream to thin out, if desired.

Assemble and frost! Place one layer on your cake stand (or cutting board because I don't have a cake stand). Evenly cover the top with cream cheese frosting. Top with 2nd layer, more frosting, then, you know, continue on. Top the final layer with frosting. I used a cake server to slather frosting on the sides and fill in the holes then used the same to scrape off the sides to give it a slightly naked cake look. Feel free to sugar whatever fresh fruit you have on hand (you can also put compote in between the layers if you like fruit in your cake) and put it on top with some fresh flowers!

CONSUME.

*If you're impatient like me and everything isn't room temperature, pop it in the microwave in ten second bursts otherwise it'll be a bit lumpy. A little lump is okay because it should smooth out when you add the confectioners sugar.