This is a cake! And you can cook it yourself

You won't believe it, but you don't have to be a pastry chef to make such a grand multi-tiered cake. This is within the power of any person who has mastered baking a biscuit at least once in his life. Anniversary cake with your own hands, a cake for a wedding, a cake as a gift for a significant date - it's … it's just a bomb!

Here is the cake! And you can cook it yourself!

Homemade birthday cake

For 15cm cakes (you will need 2 per tier)

vegetable oil for lubrication
150g softened butter
200g fine sugar
seeds from 1 vanilla pod
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 medium eggs
225g sifted flour
1, 5 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp hot water

For 20.5cm cakes (2 per tier)

vegetable oil for lubrication
275g softened butter
375g fine sugar
seeds from 1 vanilla pod
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 medium eggs from farm chickens
425g sifted flour
3 tsp baking powder
5 tbsp hot water

For 25.5cm cakes (2 per tier)

vegetable oil for lubrication
500g softened butter
650g fine sugar
seeds from 2 vanilla pods
1 tbsp vanilla extract
10 medium eggs from farm chickens
750 g sifted flour
5 tsp baking powder
10 tbsp hot water

Tiered Cake Workshop

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Lightly grease the chosen form with vegetable oil, line the bottom and sides with pastry parchment, cutting it 4 cm above the edge of the form. For 20.5 cm and 25.5 cm cakes, wrap the outside of the mold with a strip of newspaper in 7 layers and tie with a regular (not synthetic) rope so that the biscuit does not overbake.

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, vanilla seeds or vanilla paste and extract until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

Crack in the eggs one at a time. If the dough begins to delaminate, add 1 tbsp. flour. Add flour, baking powder, and water in batches and knead until smooth. Pour the dough into the prepared form, smooth the surface.

Bake 15 cm cake 1 hour - 1 hour 10 minutes; 20.5 cm - 1 hour 15 minutes - 1 hour 25 minutes; 25.5 cm - 1 hour 40 minutes - 1 hour 50 minutes, until the cake rises and becomes elastic (check with a wooden stick for readiness). Let cool in the mold for 15 minutes. Remove the sides of the detachable form, rearrange the bottom of the form with the cake on the wire rack until it cools completely. Bake the rest of the cakes.

Make sugar syrup. In a large saucepan over low heat, add sugar to water and stir until dissolved and transparent. Boil for 1 minute, remove from heat to cool. Divide the syrup into three portions: 175 ml for 15 cm cakes, 350 ml for 20.5 cm cakes and 550 ml for 25.5 cm cakes, add flavor of your choice (see Syrup with different flavors).

Cook the buttercream just before assembling the cake so that the cream remains soft and pliable. If you don't have a large bowl, make two batches of cream. Beat the butter with a mixer until soft, add half the powdered sugar, beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the remaining powder and vanilla extract, beat with a mixer for 3 minutes in a light fluffy mass. Thin with milk to make a thick, easy-to-spread glaze. Set aside, tighten the surface with a film so that it does not crystallize.

Let's start assembling the cake. Separate the pastry parchment from the bottom cake, place the cake on a rotating or cutting board. If the surface of the cake is uneven, trim it with a saw blade so that the next cake fits snugly.

Before separating the layers, make a thin vertical cut from one edge - this will serve as a guide when aligning the layers when you assemble the cake. Cut the second cake in half in the same way - in the end you will have four cakes of the same size for one tier.

Brush the cut side of the cakes with flavored syrup (see Syrup with different flavors). Brush slowly, at 10-minute breaks if necessary, to ensure the cakes are fully soaked.

Transporting each tier separately, finally collect the cake where it will be cut and eaten. To assemble, carefully remove the middle tier from the shipping box and place it on the support sticks of the lower tier. It should rest on sticks so as not to put pressure on the biscuit itself. Install the top tier in the same way.

For a final finish, if necessary, scrape off excess cream between tiers with a flat spatula. Brush the edges of the cake with powdered sugar (optional). Decorate with fresh flowers.

Tips you'll definitely need

Each four-layer tier consists of two biscuits cut in half. In general, for a 3 tier cake you will need two 15 cm, two 20.5 cm and two 25.5 cm cakes.
In order for the biscuit cake to rise and bake properly, the products must be at room temperature, then the dough will be homogeneous.
The butter should be so soft that it can be easily pierced with a finger. If it is denser, beat it with a mixer beforehand.
When beating the butter and sugar, the dough is saturated with air, providing fluffiness to the biscuit, so beat thoroughly, until a very pale (almost white), fluffy, mousse-like foam.
Bake each biscuit separately, store and freeze according to our recommendations.

Storage and freezing

If the cakes are supposed to be frozen, do not remove the confectionery parchment, wrap each cake tightly in cling film and put in the freezer for 5 hours so that the biscuit hardens, then the cakes can be stacked on top of each other friend and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost at cool room temperature, then cut in half, brush, glaze and assemble.

Syrup can be cooked in advance in full - 2 weeks before soaking the cakes and kept in the refrigerator. Divide the syrup into portions and add flavorings before cutting the cakes.

Assembled cake must be consumed immediately. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Cooking syrup with different flavors

Top tier - 175 ml sugar syrup to soak 15 cm biscuit cakes

Middle tier - 350 ml sugar syrup to soak 20.5 cm biscuit cakes

Lower tier - 550ml sugar syrup to soak 25.5cm biscuit cakes

Vanilla Syrup

Top tier: add 2 tsp to 175 ml syrup. vanilla paste

Middle tier: Add 4 tsp to 350ml syrup. vanilla paste

Lower tier: add 6 tsp to 550 ml syrup. vanilla paste

Lemon Syrup

Top tier: add zest and juice of 1 lemon to 175ml syrup

Middle tier: add the zest and juice of 2 lemons to 350ml syrup

Lower tier: add zest and juice of 3 lemons to 550ml syrup

Advice. If you will be making syrup with different flavors for different tiers, boil all the required amount of syrup whole, then divide into portions and add flavorings.