Dorie’s Perfect Anniversary Cake
July 23, 2010 | Print | E-mail | Filed under cake
Today is mine and hubby’s anniversary! So naturally, last night I had to make a cake for dessert today. I decided to go with Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake since I love the texture of the cake and since it always comes together so easily. I know, I’ve already posted about it - but that was a marbled sheet cake I made for a friend, and the recipe had several modifications. This time, I stuck pretty closely to the original cake recipe, although I did make my own buttercream frosting (but I’ll include the recipe for Dorie’s below). If you’ve never made this cake before, you’re in for a real treat!
Recipe adapted from Baking From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
For the cake:
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt (I used kosher)
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract (I used vanilla)
For the buttercream:
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 large egg whites
- 3 sticks unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For finishing:
- 2/3 cup jam, warmed until spreadable (I used lemon curd)
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray two 9″ cake pans with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Whisk together the milk and eggs in a small bowl.
In a large bowl, pour in the sugar and sprinkle in the lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest in the sugar until the sugar becomes moist and fragrant. Add in the butter and beat on medium speed until crumbly. Beat in the extract.
Beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture and then half of the egg mixture. Then, add in the rest of the egg mixture and the rest of the flour mixture, beating until well-combined.
Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted into the centers of the cakes comes out clean. Let cool for about 5 minutes before inverting to remove from the pans.
To make the buttercream, heat the sugar and egg whites over low-medium heat in a double boiler, whisking constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove from the heat. Beat the meringue for about 5 minutes and then add in the butter one stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter has been added, beat until smooth, and then gradually add in the lemon juice and vanilla extract. The buttercream should be smooth and shiny.
To assemble the cake, slice each layer in half. Spread a layer of jam (or curd) and a layer of buttercream on three of the layers. Top with the fourth layer.
Use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Happy anniversary!!! Beautiful cake to celebrate!!!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Happy anniversary! That cake looks delicious.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Happy Anniversary! That cake is gorgeous and looks delicious!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Wow-that cake batter is so gorgeous-pure white! I think the step of rubbing the zest into the sugar is amazing. I wish I had a reason to celebrate so I could make this cake! You can’t use 3 sticks of butter in 1 recipe for no reason, right? It has to be a party, right? Right?
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Such a pretty cake! Happy Anniversary!
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Happy Anniversary
You picked an awesome cake to celebrate with 
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Happy Anniversary, Tracy!!! And a gorgeous celebration cake, too!
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:34 pm
That cake looks so delicious. I really wish I had some right now:) Will definitely put this on my must-make-soon list. Happy Anniversary!
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Happy Anniversary! Beautiful cake! The one you made us was delicious so, I’m sure this one was just as great! I LOVE lemon curd. yum!
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Happy anniversary! What a lovely cake… Now I’m wishing it was my anniversary so I had an excuse to bake a cake
July 23rd, 2010 at 8:27 pm
happy anniversary, have a great weekend and the cake looks heavenly
July 24th, 2010 at 8:46 am
Happy Anniversary!! That cake looks like an amazing way to celebrate!
July 24th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Happy Anniversary!!!! The cake looks perfect!
July 25th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Happy Anniversary!!! ? And that cake is beautiful!
July 25th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Hope you and your husband enjoyed a wonderful anniversary dinner. Your dessert cake looks so pretty and…for lack of a better word…fluffy. Delighted to see a buttercream recipe without shortening so I am definitely going to try both the cake and the frosting. Thanks for posting and many more happy years for you and your husband
July 25th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Happy Anniversary! Your cake looks wonderful!
July 26th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Happy Anniversary! That is THE perfect cake for such an occasion
July 26th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Happy Anniversary! Dorie’s Perfect Party cake is one of my all-time favorite cake recipes. Delicious!
July 26th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
This is such a beautiful cake! Happy Anniversary!
July 27th, 2010 at 1:46 am
Beautiful Cake…perfect for ur anniversary!
July 27th, 2010 at 9:41 am
Happy Anniversary! I like the choice of using lemon curd in this pretty cake.
July 27th, 2010 at 9:54 am
That is GORGEOUS! Amazing photos. I will definitely be making this for the next special occasion! Happy Anniversary
July 28th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Happy Happy Anniv! This cake looks divine! I’m a fan of anything with lemon curd and hello coconut…swoon
July 29th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Happy Anniversary to you and your husband!!!
This cake looks great! I love your choice of using Lemon Curd as the filling. I love lemon curd!
July 30th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
This looks delicious and I love the lemon curd idea.
August 1st, 2010 at 8:35 pm
that looks amazing!
September 1st, 2010 at 3:24 am
Your cake is gorgeous! My family doesn’t like heavy, dense buttercream frosting, and I heard Dorie’s was just that. Would you care to share your frosting recipe? Thank you!
September 1st, 2010 at 8:49 am
Adriana – I used Wilton’s buttercream icing recipe, mainly because I didn’t have the egg whites needed to make Dorie’s. I’m afraid it’s also rather heavy, so I’m not sure it’s what you’re looking for, but you can find the recipe here: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Buttercream-Icing