Here’s a picture of the completed cake. It was a huge success (also a huge cake)! For anyone who is interested, I have also included my final “base” recipe below. I used the Cake Bible guidelines: 2X the base for the two 6” layers, 4x for two 9” layers, 7x for two 12” layers, and 6x for one 15” layer. Similarly to how Rose does it, I made the 6” and 9” layers together in one batch, using the 7x recipe. You may notice in the picture that the 9” tier is thicker than the other tiers, but I don’t think that would be too difficult to fix.
I also syruped the layers with a syrup flavored with vanilla and framboise. I think that really contributed to the wonderful texture and moistness of the cake. For the frosting I used the white chocolate cream cheese buttercream from RHC (x 26 for the whole cake).
Base recipe:
100g sifted cake flour
135g granulated sugar
7g unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1.5 oz canola oil
2 oz unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3.5 oz buttermilk
1 1/2 Tbsp red food coloring
1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees or 325 degrees in convection oven (what I used)
grease pans, line with parchment, grease parchment, dust pans with cocoa, wrap pans with cake strips
whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa
whisk together buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla
In stand mixer, beat sugar, butter and oil; then add eggs one at at time
add flour mixture in 4 batches, alternating with 3 batches of buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour
baking times (approximate): 48 min 6”, 51 min 9”, 55 min 15”
