Oscar Cake

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Oscar Cake.jpg

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1½ cups granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk
  • Julie's Buttercream Frosting:
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 8 ounces (250 grams) unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Gold leaf for sprinkling, optional

Method

Preheat oven to 375F.

Grease a 9x13-inch metal cake pan and line with parchment paper.

Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Beat in one-third of the dry ingredients, then beat in half the milk. Repeat, ending with the remaining dry ingredients. Spoon batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Beat egg whites until doubled in size, adding sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until incorporated. Increase speed of mixer and beat until stiff peaks form. Beat in butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, until it’s all incorporated, about 5 minutes. Whip on high speed until buttercream is smooth, about 5 minutes.

Trim top of cake so it is level, then cut in half lengthwise with a serrated knife. Spread the top of one half with about 1 cup buttercream, sandwich the other half on top and refrigerate for the icing to become firm.

With a small paring knife, sketch out the basic Oscar shape on the top of the cake, then cut away the excess, reserving all scraps. Squish and mould small scraps together and stick to cake to build up the arms, the face and the stand. When the shape looks good, give the cake a light masking of buttercream and refrigerate until firm.

Completely cover cake with more buttercream using a small spatula. Refrigerate.

Once buttercream is firm, smooth out any rough edges with your fingers. Sprinkle with edible gold leaf. Serves 6 to 8.