Recipe Review: Sweetapolita's Fluffy Vanilla Cake

Do you dream of light, fluffy, super vanilla-y white cake? I do. And the epitome of wonderful white cakes? [Head bow in shame] The boxed ones. Nothing homemade could really come close to that boxed white cake mix... Or so I thought until I got a chance to try this recipe.


At Sweetapolita, Rosie has an inspiringly beautiful blog that it chock full of great recipes, photos and advice. Among the gems, there is a recipe for Fluffy Vanilla Cake with Whipped Vanilla Bean Frosting.

I was immediately buoyed with hope as I read how Rosie was also looking for the perfect white on white cake recipe. Real anticipation started growing as I read on and noted that she adapted this cake based on a Cake Bible (a book I really need to get one of these days, btw) method of mixing the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients instead of vice versa.  I started to wonder if this could be "the-cake-that-tastes-like-boxed-cake-but-is-made-with-real-ingredients"? So how better to find out than to bring out the pans and make a cake?

I didn't have any cake flour at hand so I made it with all purpose flour. It still turned out so fluffy and tender that, in my haste to have a slice, I broke a chunk off by not waiting for it to cool enough.

Instead of frosting it with her suggested frosting I decided to try a roux based frosting that I'd seen floating around the internet.

It was a little strange to make, but it made a really light and lovely frosting without the fuss of making a meringue buttercream.

Of course the frosting wasn't as buttery or rich, but that was the point. I wanted to try to make the cake even lighter and fluffier with a layer of cloud-like frosting. And the verdict?

It was divine. A moist, tender, fluffy white cake with a delicate blanket of frosting that was perfectly airy and delicious without being overly sweet. So perfect in fact, that this cake was the unequivocal choice for my son's upcoming birthday party cupcakes. Which coincidentally is the next post :)