Daring Bakers' February Challenge

I really just did not feel like writing about this or anything else; I guess you can say I am not feeling it :-)  Anyway, so here is my Cookies and Cream Panna Cotta (left) and Strawberries and Cream Panna Cotta (right) with Xanthan Gum as my gelling agent.  The cripsy, sweet Florentine cookies accompany the panna cotta on a side plate.

Blog check language: The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

18. Confetti (Non-celebration) Cake

Confetti cake would make a great celebration cake and I recently have A LOT of things to celebrate. I could have made a cake to celebrate my new job, leaving my old job, my birthday, or just because I have amazing people in my life. But none of those reasons equate to why I made this cake.

I made this cake because I had a crappy week and I decided, I… WANT… CAKE… I have been meaning to make this cake for a while and had the sprinkles patiently waiting in the house. When I felt the overwhelming urge to make cake after a particularly crappy week, I decided to go to this recipe I wrote months ago. I mean sprinkles just have to brighten up a craptastic week… Right?

So, this is my recipe for a home made Confetti Cake (a take on the Pillsbury boxed Funfetti). I made an Almond Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting to frost the cake and go between the layers. Sorry about the poor pictures. When your week isn’t going well, the last thing you think about is prettying-up your cakes presentation. So sorry, the wax paper I used to keep the sliced sides of the cake covered is in the pictures.

Lastly, I was fortunate (or my friends were fortunate) enough to have several friends around to shove cake on, I mean to share cake with. They all LOVED the cake, leaving me with only the one piece I need to hit my cake-craving spot. So, a fantastic ending to a craptastic week!

Confetti Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup (2 sticks) Butter, room temperature
2 cups Sugar
3 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Almond Extract
2 1/2 tsp Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Buttermilk
3/4 cup – 1 cup Sprinkles, the longer cylindrical sprinkles (not the little balls)
Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare three 8 inch baking pans.

2. Cream together butter and sugar.

3. Add eggs one at a time until just combined to butter mixture.

4. Add vanilla and almond extracts.

5. Shift together dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, and salt.

6. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the buttermilk into the butter mixture beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

7. Fold in sprinkles until incorporated. Do not over mix.

8. Pour into prepared pans and bake for approximately 30-45 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, pulling away from the sides of the pan and a cake tester comes out clean.