Faux-Fancy Small Vanilla Layer Cake
After weeks of binge watching The Great British Bake Show, I decided it was finally time to bust out my mixer. Baking has always been a hobby of mine, but in recent years it's taken a backseat. It made sense that I would start from the basics: a vanilla layer cake. Because there are just two of us, I knew I didn't want to make a large behemoth layer cake, so I scaled down my recipes to make a small layer cake - just about 6 inches wide, frosted. Although this cake is as simple as it gets, it looks spectacular. I'm calling it "faux-fancy". 
Can I just tell you how proud I am of how this cake turned out? As I was piping the frosting it transformed before my eyes and I could barely believe I had made something so beautiful. I am not an expert baker by any means, so the fact that I could create this gorgeous small layer cake floored me. This recipe made three identical 4 inch cakes, although I only used two of them. Do yourself a favor, if you're baking for a small quantity of people, just go ahead and get this set of 4 inch springform pans. LIFE SAVERS. I've used them in so many different ways and they make this recipe a breeze. 
The initial frosting was the hardest. I didn't put the right tip on the piping bag, so my frosting was a bit uneven to start. With the use of my favorite frosting spatula, I evened it out and was able to move on to piping the pretty frosting. It felt pretty touch and go there for a moment, though. How do people get the frosting so smooth? Seriously. Please tell me. Did I mention that I love that this is the perfect size cake for a small number of people? Have a couple of slices for 2 or make this cake and serve it at a small dinner party of 4 or 6. You will not catch me making a full 9" layer cake any time soon! 
[yumprint-recipe id='25']All in all, I am so proud of this tiny layer cake! I think it's beautiful and it tastes as good as it looks. If you're looking for a basic cake recipe, I think you'll be very happy with this no frills vanilla layer cake with buttercream frosting. 
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