baked with love - vanilla cake, cocoa frosting, raspberry heart

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, I thought I would make a heart cake to share with you ;)  I got the vanilla cake recipe from my Better Homes magazine and added a simple buttercream chocolate frosting. I'm always on the search for an amazing vanilla cake and this one turned out pretty good! I'll be keeping it in my really unorganized recipe book. Ha! I'm picking a day next week to clean out my whole baking cupboard... should be a fun process ;) See the recipe below and if you make this let me know how you like it!

Basic Vanilla  Cake: 

6 large egg whites

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup butter

2 2/3 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla 

2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Allow the egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Grease two 8x2 round cake pans. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper, grease and flour the paper too. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and 3/4 tsp. salt, set aside. In electric mixer, beat butter for 30 seconds on medium to high. Add sugar and vanilla, beat until combined. Add all egg whites at once and beat for three minutes on medium-high. Alternately, add flour mixture and buttermilk to batter, beating on low after each additions just until combined. Divide batter evenly into the round cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let them cool on a wire rack for another 30 minutes before you frost.

Fluffy, Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
8 tablespoons butter (softened)
2 2/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat butter until creamy. Add sugar and cocoa and mix well. Gradually add the milk, slowly and mix well. Add vanilla. You can add more sugar if you need... it's your preference!

Frost your cake and put some between the layers. Wash the raspberries and make a heart shape!

Photo credit: Sugar and Charm