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CAKE
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
6 large egg whites, room temperature
3 2 3/4 cups + 2 scant tablespoons cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon CLEAR almond extract
1 teaspoon PURE vanilla extract powder
1 1/4 cups WHOLE milk, room temperature
2 ounces avocado oil

• Preheat your oven to 335ºF.
• Oil and flour two 8″ x 2″ cake pans or line 18 cupcake tins.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• Whisk together milk, oil and extracts. Set aside.
• Cream butter in a stand mixer until smooth.
• Add sugar and whip 3-5 minutes on high until light and white.
• Add in room temperature egg whites one at a time, letting each fully combine after each before adding the next.
• Add in a third of the dry ingredients, combining well.
• Add in half of the milk mixture, combining well.
• Followed by another third of the dry, then the rest of the milk mixture and then the rest of your dry, mixing until just combined.
• Add batter into prepared cake pans.
• Bake at 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let cool ten minutes in pan and then turn out cakes onto a cooling rack for another 20 minutes.
• Wrap cakes warm with saran and place into the freezer to flash chill to lock in the moisture.
• Once cool, but NOT yet frozen, trim off the brown edges of your cakes and frost as desired.
• Chill cake.

NOTE: Cake flour makes a much more tender cake, but you can substitute 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour. Cake flour and all purpose flour are NOT an exact substitution.

Everyone needs a good creamy, delicious frosting in the recipe file, but sometimes you need options. So here is a plain buttercream AND a cream cheese buttercream.

BUTTERCREAM
8 ounces egg whites (4-6 extra large eggs) room temperature
32 ounces (8 sticks) unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
32 oz unsalted butter room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon CLEAR vanilla extract

• Whisk egg whites and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl.
• Whisk to combine on low then whisk on high, adding in your butter in small chunks, vanilla and salt. Turn mixer up to high and whip until light, fluffy and white.

CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM
4 ounces salted butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch salt
1 teaspoon of QUALITY, PURE Vanilla

• Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a mixer until blended.
• Add pinch of salt and powered sugar a cup at a time and continue to mix until sugar is WELL incorporated.