Brown Butter Coconut Carrot Cake

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It's already started to snow. To me it's too early for snow and I'm not ready to wear more layers to go outside or to be careful where to step so I don't fall. If only it would hold off for a few more weeks, as it doesn't stop snowing until at least March. My plan is to just stay inside all winter in my bed where it's warm. You can't go wrong with being cozy! And you most certainly can't go wrong with eating this brown butter coconut carrot cake either!

I decided that a good carrot cake would be just the right thing to make after Halloween. I mean it has veggies in it. It's like that healthy kick after eating all of that candy you stole from your kids while they were sleeping. 

Make it extra

This brown butter carrot cake has an added depth of flavor to it that makes it go to the next level. Brown butter. You really cannot go wrong with adding some brown butter into baked goods. Then you throw in the spices, carrots, coconut, some nuts and you know it's going to be even better. A carrot cake is such a simple cake, and since the flavors are so prominent in this cake the decoration can be really incredibly simple. So I stuck to just frosting it rustically and then adding a cute little carrot wreath on the top. Sometimes simple is better and you can't go wrong with that.

Products I recommend

Above are some products that I personally use and recommend for this recipe and to have for everyday use. My absolute favorite is the BlueQ oven mitts. I have a collection of them and I love them! They are great quality and it’s nice to have a kitchen item with a sense of humor.

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brown butter carrot cake

this carrot cake is full of flavor from the brown butter to the coconut. a fall favorite with a little twist

cake

• 2 sticks butter (browned)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 4 oz chopped walnuts
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk

buttercream

• 1 8 oz package cream cheese
• 3 sticks butter
• 5 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp heavy cream

cake

1. place the butter into a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat. let the butter simmer until it starts to turn a dark brown and has a nutty aroma to it. (if you would like a detailed tutorial on browning butter, go here)
2. preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and prep three 6-inch cake pans. in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars for about a minute. scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the eggs and vanilla. add in the shredded carrots, coconut, and walnuts and mix until combined. in another bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and powder, and salt. gradually add the dry into the wet. add in the milk and mix until incorporated. divide the batter among the cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. let the cakes cool 10 minutes and then carefully remove from the pans. continue cooling and then wrap in cling wrap until ready to use.

buttercream

1. place the butter and cream cheese into a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. mix until smooth. scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients. mix on slow speed and gradually increase the speed. let mix until fluffy and lighter in color, about 3 minutes.

Bloody Brain Cake Tutorial

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It is officially almost Halloween! Ugh, I can't wait! This bloody brain cake tutorial is super fun and perfect for Halloween with a very fun surprise when you cut into it. It will both please and gross out anyone and everyone and although it takes some time to make, it is easy to do. Maybe a little messy as well. but isn't that what Halloween is about? To have some fun and do some tricks if you don't get any treats?

And there you have a lovely gory, bloody brain cake tutorial. Perfect for Halloween or even just because!

Have fun with it!

Let's be honest. Making a cake is no feat but the edible blood is super easy to make and fool proof. If you aren't one for carving cakes than make some cupcakes instead and fill it with edible blood. Use it as a filling in a cake and make it ooze out for a vampire theme party.

Change it up!

The edible blood calls for strawberries to give it a better flavor. But if you would rather use a different fruit than by all means, give it a try! I suggest cherries or raspberries. But be careful since the ratios may be different as well as the water content in the fruit. The water content can make the edible blood more runny and not as thick as the original recipe.

Products I recommend

Above are some products that I personally use and recommend for this recipe and to have for everyday use. My absolute favorite is the BlueQ oven mitts. I have a collection of them and I love them! They are great quality and it’s nice to have a kitchen item with a sense of humor.

bloody brain cake

tutorial on making this gory brain cake covered in edible blood

• 4 layers red velvet cake
• 1 batch buttercream
• 1 batch edible blood
• 1 bag white candy melts

1. The very first step is to make the cake! And you can make any kind of cake you want, but the requested, and I highly suggest, was red velvet. The red velvet adds the "bloody" aspect to the cake. I used this recipe from Hummingbird High and I doubled the recipe. I used a large, square cake pan for this cake, and made 6 layers but only ended up using 5 of the layers and put the extra in the freezer for something else.
2. Once the cake is baked and ready to go, fill and stack the cakes with a plain vanilla frosting. I also did a crumb coat then placed the cake in the fridge for about 30 minutes until the cake is cold to make it easier to carve.
3. Carving the cake was interesting. I was trying to figure out how to make the shape of a brain and concluded to base is off the shape of a football. I carved the cake on the diagonal of the square shape and rounded it until I was happy with the look.
4. Using a paring knife, I carved out a decent sized round at the top of the cake. Carefully remove the piece that you carved and set it on a piece of wax paper or a plate.
5. Melt white candy melts and using a small off-set spatula, carefully coat the inside of the cake that was carved out to create a shell. Once the candy has set, do a second coat. The piece of cake that was removed, carefully remove a layer or two of the cake and do a coat of the candy melts on there as well.
6. Now the fun part is making the surprise that goes into the part that you just carved out in the cake! Blood! Now this is an edible blood and it's quite an interesting mixture of ingredients that actually worked out really well to make this blood (recipe at end of post).Fill the cake with as much blood as you can or want and once you have it filled, but make sure to leave a little bit leftover, take the piece of cake that you took out and coated with the candy melts and carefully insert back into the cake. I melted more candy melts and did a little coating along the edges of the re-inserted cake piece to prevent some blood back splash.
7. Once the chocolate has hardened to a quick crumb coat on the whole cake, make an indentation line across the center of the cake and then put into the fridge to let harden and set.
8. With a piping bag fitted with a large, round tip and filled with a nude/peach colored frosting, start piping zigzag like designs on one half of the cake and then continue onto the other half. The center line is there to help create that brain look and keep the piping in line.
9. With the leftover blood that you have, use a spoon and drop the blood onto the cake to give it the bloody look.

Edible Blood

edible blood flavored with strawberries and cocoa

• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 small strawberries
• 1 tbsp milk
• Red food coloring

1. Blend the strawberries and milk into a food processor or blender.
2. In a bowl, combine the light corn syrup, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and strawberry mixture. Once combined add in the red food coloring until just the right coloring of blood.

NOTE: i suggest using a hot knife to cut into this cake. the chocolate can be hard to cut through so a hot knife will help. just boil some water, stick the knife in and wipe with a towel.

Mystery Machine Cake Tutorial

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This is the most fun cake that I've made so far. My sister and I love Scooby Doo. We grew up on it and other old cartoons thanks to our dad. So for her birthday she had requested a cake featuring the Scooby gang. And a surprise guest too of course! So here is a scooby doo mystery machine cake tutorial for you all!

Fondant or not to fondant?

Personally I think this scooby doo mystery machine cake would've been 100% better if it had been decorated with just fondant. But my sister hates fondant. And since it's her birthday cake I couldn't use it to decorate the cake. Well except for the two small pieces that I painted the gang and Mr. Hyde on. Thankfully she lived with it after complaining for a few minutes. The chocolate did come out very well though after a few trial and errors. It's definitely not the best looking cake, but it is the most fun. It being Scooby Doo makes it even better.

Make it extra!

I made this cake into a pinata cake and filled it with a bunch of sprinkles and some chocolate chips too. But I think it would be even more fun if it had had some of those graham cracker Scooby snacks and fruit snacks too! Make it completely a Scooby Doo theme I think! Or you could go for the glutenous ways of Scooby and Shaggy and filled it with fun food shaped gummy candy. Little pizzas and ice cream cones would have been a hoot in this mystery machine cake!

Stencil

Use these stencils  to accurately carve out the mystery machine into the correct shape. I also included stencils to draw out the gang and Mr. Hyde as well if you want to make it look exactly like I made the cake. This is completely optional though! The stencils also include notes on what each stencil is used for and how to use them.

Products I recommend

mystery machine cake tutorial

leanr how to make a fun scooby doo mystery machine cake featuring the gang and mr. hyde!

• candy melts (light blue, green, white, black, and orange)
• 4 layers cake (use a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. any flavor)
• 1 batch vanilla frosting (tinted light blue)
• white fondant (optional)

cake filling ideas

• candy
• scooby snacks graham crackers
• scooby doo fruit snacks
• sprinkles
• candy

1. once the cakes are cooled, start by filling and stacking the first 3 layers of cake. in the center, cut out a decent sized whole. fill this whole with whatever you like, or use some of my ideas!
2. place the last layer of cake on top and do a crumb coat. place the cake into the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill.
3. use the stencils i've provided to cut the cake to be the exact shape. i used some pins to help keep the stencils in place while i trimmed. if you make a mistake, just use the cake trimmings mixed with frosting (like making a cakepop) and form it into the shape you want.
4. once the cake is formed, do another crumb coat and place the cake into the fridge to chill.
5. while the cake is chilling, use the other stencils and the candy melts to trace the mystery machine designs to put onto the cake. let dry
6. while the chocolate is drying, take the cake and do a final thick coat of frosting on the cake.
7. carefully peel the chocolate designs off the wax paper and place onto the designated areas of the cake.
8. if you have the artistic ability or a projector then paint the scooby gang on some fondant. do the same thing for the back of the cake with mr. hyde.
9. eat and enjoy!

Devil's Chocolate Cake

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Making this devil's cake was crazy fun. As I've mentioned before and will mention again, October is my favorite time of the year. When all of the scary creatures come out to play, the devil among them. It's fun seeing all the creative costumes that people come up with. I love seeing all the fun homemade ones for kids and couples.

No kids allowed at this party

This cake is a twist on the original devil's food cake, but with much more excitement. Sorry, no kids allowed on this chocolate goodness because it is jam packed with chocolate, cayenne, cinnamon and a lot of whiskey. I just kept on pouring the whiskey in because clearly there is no steady hand here. Let's just say that I could only smell whiskey, but I don't have a problem with that.

Too hot to handle

There is a lot of cayenne pepper in this devil's chocolate cake, but don't worry you can change the spice level to your preference. Or you can totally omit it completely and just have it be a chocolate whiskey cake instead.

Change it up!

If you aren't feeling the whiskey in this cake as much as I do, than you can substitute it for some fresh orange juice. Chocolate and orange is a great combination because the flavors compliment each other perfectly. Because let's face it, not all people like whiskey. Unless it's peanut butter whiskey because that's my jam!

The devil's chocolate cake is definitely the devil's delight. All that chocolate, a lot of spice, and a ton of booze makes it perfect for that grown up Halloween party!

Products I recommend

Above are some products that I personally use and recommend for this recipe and to have for everyday use. My absolute favorite is the BlueQ oven mitts. I have a collection of them and I love them! They are great quality and it’s nice to have a kitchen item with a sense of humor.

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Devil's cake

this cake is spicy, chocolatey, and even has lots of whiskey. It's the perfect combination that even the devil himself would love

cake

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup 8oz dark chocolate chips
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup whiskey
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2-1 tsp cayenne pepper (use as much as you can handle!)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and baking powder

buttercream

• 6 oz boiling water
• 4 sticks unsalted butter
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup black cocoa powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-5 tbsp heavy cream (or whiskey!)

cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray and line three 6-inch cake pans. Place the butter and chocolate into a small pot over low heat and melt. Add in the eggs, oil, whiskey, vanilla, and buttermilk. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and salt and whisk to combine. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and whisk until incorporated. Add in the boiling water. Divide the batter among the cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

buttercream

1. put the butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. whip on low and gradually increase speed, whipping for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. add in the heavy cream and continue whipping, about a minute. add in some red food coloring if desired.

Vanilla Cake with Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Ganache

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It is officially October, which is my favorite month of the year! I love October; the weather starts to get cooler so sweaters and cute boots can be worn and leaves start to turn colors and start falling to decorate the ground. Pumpkins can be carved and the seeds roasted for a snack; but you can't forget the obvious though! All the candy and the scary movies; my favorite part! The best part though? This vanilla cake with pumpkin spice white chocolate ganache!

I don't know where this flavor idea came from for this cake, but I'm super glad it did. It's super easy to make and really delicious. The flavors really remind me of fall as the pumpkin spice white chocolate ganache filling reminds me of pumpkin pie! It tastes exactly like pumpkin pie and I had to resist real hard to not eat it by the spoonful. It is that delicious and I'm not even a pie person! I know, shame on me dissing pie.

This is a really simple cake. That doesn't mean it doesn't have lots of flavor to it though. It has sweetness from the white chocolate, flavor from the pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and the chocolate buttercream ties it all together! Now I wanted this cake to say Halloween, so I added some black food coloring into the frosting. This isn't necessary though, as it would be just as pretty without the food coloring. If you think about it, without the food coloring the colors would be great for thanksgiving.

Make it extra

If you want it to really say Halloween, then you could add in some orange food coloring into the ganache to really make it pop! Then add some orange and black sprinkles and maybe even some of those candy corn pumpkins on top.

Products I recommend

Above are some products that I personally use and recommend for this recipe and to have for everyday use. My absolute favorite is the BlueQ oven mitts. I have a collection of them and I love them! They are great quality and it’s nice to have a kitchen item with a sense of humor.

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vanilla cake with pumpkin ganache

a simple vanilla cake that is filled with a white chocolate pumpkin spice ganache and covered in a dark chocolate buttercream

cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

ganache

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 12 oz bag white chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• pinch cloves

buttercream

• 4 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup black cocoa powder
• 6 oz melted dark chocolate
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-5 tbsp heavy cream
• black food coloring (optional)

cake

1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line three 6-inch cake pans with parchment paper. in a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. make sure that the brown sugar isn't in clumps. in another bowl, combine the oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk and whisk together. pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until fully combined. divide the batter evenly among the cake pans and bake for  30-32 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. let the cakes cool for 10 minutes then carefully remove them from the pans to continue cooling. wrap in cling wrap until ready to use.

ganache

1. place the white chocolate and all of the spices into a heat proof bowl. in a small pot, combine the heavy cream and pumpkin puree and place over low heat (i use a gas burner, so if you are using an electric one you can increase the heat to medium-low). constantly whisk the mixture until it starts to simmer or creates steam. when the pumpkin mixture is hot enough, pour over the white chocolate. constantly whisk the mixture until all of the chocolate is melted. put cling wrap over the bowl and place into the fridge to chill.

buttercream

1. melt the chocolate in a microwaveable bowl. put the butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, melted chocolate, and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. whip on low and gradually increase speed, whipping for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. add in the heavy cream and continue whipping, about a minute. add in some black food coloring if desired.

Almond Butter Cake with a Pear Filling

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The idea for flavors just randomly pop into my head and sometimes I get so excited about a certain flavor combination that I just automatically have to make it right then and there. This almond butter cake is one of those cakes. The combination is packed with flavor from the almond butter, caramelized pears, and the brown sugar buttercream. It is so good! Like really good. Especially the buttercream!

The best buttercream ever

This ermine buttercream though has got to be my new favorite. Ermine buttercream is super light and fluffy and I thought Swiss buttercream was great! Honestly, when you try this buttercream, I promise you will never go back to any other type of buttercream that's ever been created. And yes, it is made with flour, which I thought was odd. Who makes buttercream with flour? Whoever created this odd concoction obviously knew what they were doing. It's usually made with granulated sugar but I thought that for the flavor profile I was going for that brown sugar would fit better. And was I right! This brown sugar ermine buttercream pairs perfectly with this almond butter cake.

Learn everything there is about edible printing

Want to learn how to get images onto cookies and even cakes and chocolates? Then check out my new online edible printing course that will guide you through everything you need to know about edible printing, from start to finish! You won't regret it! Not too sure if you want to buy something so pricey if you aren't sure you'd like it? Then you can certainly check out my array of edible paper images you buy and try out before making such a huge purchase.

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almond butter cake

this almond butter cake is filled with a caramelized pear filling and a light brown sugar ermine buttercream.

cake

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 10 oz jar almond butter (2 tbsp reserved for later use)
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup boiling water

filling

• 2 pears (peeled, cored, and diced)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup water

buttercream

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)
• 1 3/4 cup brown sugar
• pinch salt

cake

1. preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and prep three 6-inch cake pans. place a pot of water on the stove to boil. in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the almond butter, about a minute. scrape down the sides of the bowl. add in the eggs, oil, vanilla, milk and mix to combine. in another bowl, combine the flour, both sugars, baking powder and salt and whisk together. gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet. once the batter is fully mixed, add in the boiling water and incorporate into the batter. divide the batter evenly into the cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. let the cakes cool 10 minutes then carefully remove from the pans to continue cooling. wrap in cling wrap until ready to use.

filling

1. place all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat. stir the ingredients together and then cover slightly with a lid. let cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15-20 minutes and until the sugar has become thicker and caramelized. the cook time also depends on the ripeness of the pears. make sure to try a piece at the 15 minute mark to see if they are soft and tender. (no one wants to bite into a hard piece of pear)

buttercream

1. in a saucepan combine the flour and milk and place over medium-low heat. whisk the mixture constantly until it starts to thicken, about 8-15 minutes. (this depends on if you have a gas or electric stove top.) once thick remove from the heat. put the mixture into a bowl and mix in the vanilla extract. place cling wrap directly over the mixture so a skin doesn’t form. let cool until room temp. once at room temp, place the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. whip until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. before adding the flour mixture, make sure there aren’t any clumps. if there are i suggest putting the mixture through a fine mesh sieve. add the flour mixture a spoonful at a time into the butter mixture. once the flour mixture is all added, whip on high for about a minute. the buttercream will resemble whipped cream.

assembly

1. trim the tops off the cake to make it level. start with one layer and spread half of the reserved almond butter on top. i found it easier to heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds before hand. after the almond butter, spread a thin layer of the buttercream and then with a piping bag, pipe a dam around the sides of the cake. put half of the pear filling next. repeat with the second layer of cake. once the last layer of cake is stacked, spread a crumb coat on the whole cake. place the cake in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes or until the crumb coat has set. once set, spread a thicker layer of the buttercream on. pipe designs/boarders if desired.

Orange Almond Cake

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This orange almond cake is light and fluffy, which makes it perfect for a spring or summer afternoon treat. With a subtle flavor of almond and hint of orange, it pairs well with the creamy texture of the ermine buttercream that surrounds the cake layers.

sometimes when i'm in the mood to bake something but don't want to go to the store to buy ingredients, i will just take a look into the cabinets and fridge to see what i have. usually i don't have much of anything, but this time around i found some oranges and some almond extract. that's a plus especially since i just recently moved into my own apartment and everything is still a very hot mess. it's not easy to unpack everything when you don't have everything. especially furniture. you need lots of shelves when your apartment is so small that there's no closet for your clothes and extras. major shopping trips are definitely in my future.

it's also fun though to just come up with something out of what you already have. you never know what kind of fun creative combinations you could come up with. the opportunities are endless! give it a try sometime and see what you can come up with. one thing i will always have in my fridge is almond milk. i never drink regular milk, i find it foul and disgusting. if i'm baking i will use regular milk when i need to, but usually it's buttermilk and the occasional almond milk. this time around it's almond milk, perfect for the orange almond flavor of the cake.

Ermine buttercream

this cake is super light and perfect for this time of the year. the cake is light with orange flavor and the almond buttercream is ermine buttercream, or flour buttercream, which adds to the light and fluffiness of this cake. it's a really great combination and i'm absolutely in love with it. now the ermine buttercream can be tricky and temperamental. you have to make it exactly as said, or else it just won't turn out and will turn into a curdled mess. i know because i've done it before. wasn't pretty. so just make sure to follow the directions exactly.

You can also sign up to receive my newsletter and by doing so you will get a free buttercream guide. My buttercream guide will tell you everything you need to know about ermine buttercream plus 6 other buttercreams too! Just sign up below to receive your buttercream guide today!

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Change it up!

You can easily replace the orange juice with another citrus fruit!

If blood orange is in season I would give that a try, otherwise grapefruit, lemon or even lime would be lovely in this cake.

Other recipes you may like

Mango orange peeps

Blood orange sorbet

Almond raspberry cupcakes

almond orange cake

a gorgeous almond orange cake made with almond milk that is coated in a fluffy ermine buttercream.

cake

• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and baking powder
• juice and zest of 1 large naval orange
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup almond milk (i used the organic 40 calorie almond milk from Silk)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

buttercream

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 cups almond milk (or regular milk)
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)
• 2 cups granulated sugar

cake

1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line three 6-inch cake pans with parchment paper.

2. in a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and whisk together.

3. in another bowl combine the orange juice and zest, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, almond milk and whisk until incorporated.

4. pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix until fully combined. separate the batter evenly among the cake pans.

5. bake for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. let the cakes cool for 10 minutes and then carefully remove from the pans to continue cooling. wrap in cling wrap until ready to use.

buttercream

1. in a saucepan combine the flour and milk and place over medium-low heat. whisk the mixture constantly until it starts to thicken, about 8-15 minutes. (this depends on if you have a gas or electric stove top.)

2. once thick remove from the heat. put the mixture into a bowl and mix in the almond and vanilla extract. place cling wrap directly over the mixture so a skin doesn't form. let cool until room temp.

3. once at room temp, place the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. whip until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

4. before adding the flour mixture, make sure there aren't any clumps. if there are i suggest putting the mixture through a fine mesh sieve. add the flour mixture a spoonful at a time into the butter mixture.

5. once the flour mixture is all added, whip on high for about a minute. the buttercream will resemble whipped cream.