Mini White Gateaux

A few people have asked for the white buttercream cake recipe pictured in my Frosted Cranberries post from earlier in the week–this one’s for you Kate and Sarah! To be honest, the cake was only supposed to be the pretty platform in which to display the cranberries, so I hate to disappoint, but the cake portion was made with a little help from the Pillsbury Dough Boy and his Classic White Cake Mix. Typically, I’m anti processed box cake mixes, but since it wasn’t the focus of the post, I was trying to allocate my time wisely. If you’re looking for a good from scratch recipe though, try Martha Stewart’s Perfect White Cake Recipe. The buttercream, however, was made from scratch using this recipe from the Food Network. It whips up in minutes (as long as your butter is already at room temperature).

Here’s how to make the mini layered cake:

Items Needed:

• Pillsbury Classic White Cake Box Mix
• White Buttercream Frosting
• Cake decoration of your choice like sugared cranberries

• Two 5″ Pie Pans. I picked ours up at the Nordic Ware Retail Store, but you can also order them here.
• Electric Mixer
• Cooling Rack
• Large Serrated Knife (I used a large bread knife)

Step 1. Generously spray each of your 5″ pie pans with cooking spray or coat with butter. Sprinkle a handful of flour into each pan coating the entire inside bottom and sides. Turn each pan over and tap out any excess flour. Dusting with flour will make it a lot easier to remove the cakes from the pans after baking.

Step 2. Prepare the cake batter as directed on the back of the box.

Step 3. Pour batter into each pan filling only 2/3’s full. (You’ll have some batter left over.)

Step 4. Bake at 375 degrees F for +/- 20 minutes on the middle rack until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Step 5. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. When cool enough to handle turn cakes out (remove from pan) onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Step 6. While the cakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream frosting.

Step 7. Using a large serrated knife, gently cut each cake horizontally to essentially create two thinner cakes from the one thicker cake. Do the the same with the 2nd cake, so that you have four thinner cakes. If the top of either cake is  rounded and won’t stack well, use your serrated knife to shave a little off the top and flatten it out.

Step 8. Center one of the four cakes on your desired serving dish (I used a mini cake stand) and scoop roughly 3/4 to 1 cup of buttercream frosting on top of the cake layer. Use a rubber spatula to spread the frosting evenly so that it creates a level surface for the next cake layer. Make sure to spread frosting right up to the edges of the cake.

Step 9. Center another cake layer on top of the frosting layer and scoop 3/4 to 1 cup frosting on top, spread evenly.

Step 10. Repeat step nine 1-2 more times depending on how many layers you’d like. I only used 3 of the 4 cakes.

Step 11. Once assembled, use your rubber spatula to smooth any oozing frosting layers, so that both the cake and frosting layers are flush with one another.

Step 12. Garnish with fruit or birthday candles and enjoy!