14 layers of amazingness!
Hey Javacupcakers! I'm super excited to be here and I hope that you enjoy my first post 🙂 Normally, I bake cupcakes because they're fun and bite sized and so super cute but every once in a while, I find a cake recipe that I *have* to make because it's just that amazing. Enter the 14 layer cake that has been saved in my "inspiration" folder since I found Bakerella way back when. It looks a little intimidating but I promise you, it's more than worth the time and effort.
Do yourself a big favor and run to the grocery store to buy 14 aluminum cake pans (note to self: do not send boyfriend to the store, because he will come back with 18 pie pans, just sayin') and then get to work. The recipe makes a lot of batter, I followed Bakerella's directions and used the 12 layer recipe with 14 pans. Each layer had about ⅔ cup of batter. I found that the pans I sprayed with Baker's Joy were easier to work with than the pans that were buttered with flour and parchment paper, but that's just what worked for me. I ran out of parchment paper, so, what seemed like it was going to be a fail, actually wasn't that big of a deal.
It took about an hour to bake all of the layers and then about another hour to get the layers stacked iced with a delicious chocolate glaze, let the glaze set and then ice it with the most amazing dark chocolate buttercream. Best 2 hours, ever. PS. The satisfaction you feel after you cut into this cake and everyone ooohhhhs and ahhhhs at your amazingness, is unreal. You will want to give yourself a big ol' hug. Cause it's just that good.
Ingredients:
- Cake batter:
- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour , sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 2 ½ cups sugar
- 6 large eggs , at room temperature
- 3 cups milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- Chocolate Glaze:
- 3 cups sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder , preferably Dutch process
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter , cut up
- 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For step-by-step instructions, please visit the following links:
The Smith Family's 12-layer cake/Bakerella's Fourteen to the Fourtneeth
Thanks!
-Jenn
Great first post, I remember seeing this on Bakerella's site awhile ago and adding it to my "must try" list too... Yours looks so wonderful. It could be a fun cake to make for easter.. with different colors of pastel frosting between the layers maybe... hmmm now I really want to make one 🙂
Thanks, Michelle 🙂 Making an Easter cake sounds like a great idea! It was a lot of fun to make & tasted soooo good!