Sun Cake: Celebrating 100 posts & Summer!

I made it. I finally made it.

I never thought it would happen, but this is my 100th post.

I remember when I reached my 25th post. Feels like forever ago! I made a Mini-cake to celebrate the occasion and felt quite silly for doing it.

Now that I have made it to 100 posts, I really feel like celebrating. So much has happened since I started blogging, and you know I've almost quit a couple of times! But I hung around, and I am still here! Yay! So I won't feel silly for celebrating this milestone. And what celebration is complete without cake, I ask you?

I call this creation my Sun Cake. You'll see why!

The cake is my new favorite recipe for a Classic Butter Cake. I love the simplicity of a butter cake. It is flavorful, moist and just perfect. 

But what really makes this cake special is the filling! I filled the layers with a flavorful, nutty, slightly salty sunflower seed butter! Yes - you read right! Butter made from sunflower seeds. If you're asking  "what's that?!", it is kinda like peanut butter but different.

I got my sunflower seed butter as a part of an awesome package I received from my friend Ruchira from The Great Cookaroo, as a part of a Foodie Exchange program! More about the awesomeness of the package in the next post. The sunflower seed butter is really lovely on a lot of things and I am feeling a little sad that the bottle's almost empty, and I haven't seen it in any stores around here! But you know what - you can make your own sunflower seed butter! Yay! I've got to try that soon!

I wanted this cake to be a celebration of summer, too. Yes. Why fight it? Summer is here to stay, and we might as well accept it. I know - the heat and humidity is quite unbearable. I fuss and moan about it a lot, too. But summer means a lot of nice things too - vacation (I hope I get one this year!), bright colors, watermelon and most of all - the mangoes! I colored the layers of this cake in three summery colors - a light lemony yellow, a bright sunflower yellow and a lovely orange. I didn't do a great job with the yellows because they're kinda similar looking, but you get what I was trying to do, right?

The outside of the cake is a classic vanilla butter cream. I love butter cream. It's rich, sweet and luscious. I don't understand when people say "I don't like butter!". Really? What's wrong with you?

SUN CAKE

Butter Cake Layers

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

Method

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy.

3. Add the sugar and cream until completely combined.

4. Add the eggs in one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. Beat in the vanilla extract.

6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, followed by 1/2 of the buttermilk, another 1/3rd of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk and finish off with the rest of the flour mixture. Stir well to combine between each addition.

7. If desired, divide the batter equally into three bowls and color as desired.

8. Bake in greased and floured 8" round cake tins at 350F/180C until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean - about 20-25 minutes per layer.

9. Allow to cool in the pans for 15 minutes, and transfer onto racks to cool completely.

10. Fill and frost as desired.

Sunflower Seed Butter Filling

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sunflower seed butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 - 2.5 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1-3 tbsp milk

A few drops of yellow food coloring, if desired

Method

1. Cream the butter and sunflower seed butter in a bowl until light and fluffy.

2. Add the vanilla (and the food coloring, if you're using it) and continue creaming for about 30 seconds.

3. Add 2 cups of sugar - 1/2 cup at a time - until completely incorporated and fluffy.

4. If you find the filling too thick, lighten it with milk, adding 1 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. If you find the filling too running, add more powdered sugar.

Vanilla Butter Cream

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter

3 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1/4 tsp salt

2-3 tbsp whipping cream

Method

1. Cream the butter until light and fluffy.

2. Add the vanilla and salt and cream for about 30 seconds.

3. Add 3 cups of the sugar - 1/2 cup at a time - until you have a light, fluffy frosting.

4. Add 1 tbsp of the whipping cream and beat for about a minute. 

4. If you find the filling too thick, lighten it with more whipping cream, adding 1 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. If you find the filling too runny, add more powdered sugar.

Assembly: Divide the sunflower seed butter filling into two equal portions. Fill the cooled cake layers with the sunflower seed butter, and frost the sides and top of the cake with a plain vanilla butter cream. Decorate with yellow and orange fondant daisies, if desired.

With colors of summer and flavors of sunflower, I think Sun Cake is a good name, don't you? I love this cake because the salty sweet sunflower seed butter filling offsets the sweetness of the cake and frosting. I just love that sweet-salty hit! 

This post is also hopefully the beginning of more regular blogging. Life has been crazy this past month and I really miss posting regularly. And more than that - I miss visiting all my favorite blogs! Don't be mad at me for not visiting you, okay? I am going to start being more regular this week. 

I am a lot more active on Facebook these days, and if you haven't connected with me on Facebook yet, please visit my page and say 'hello'! 

I wish I could share a slice of this cake with each and every one of the people I've met through this blog. Who knew, when I started posting 100 posts ago, that I would meet so many awesome new people, and make some friends who will stay with me for life? Thank you all for the love and support!

This post is dedicated to each & every person that I have met through The Harried Cook. 

Have a blessed week, all!