• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

However, an icing, frosting, or buttercream is another thing entirely. Here, you want density, less air. Leave the butter out at room temperature until soft, about 1 hour.

* * *

To ice:. Frost up to 4 hours before serving; store at room temperature.

Banana Frosting

For the best taste, the banana should be well beyond the stage where you’d slice it into cereal. Makes enough frosting for a two-layer cake or a 13 × 9-inch sheet cake (can be doubled for 3-layer cakes)

1 small, very ripe banana (with many brown spots on the skin)

1 tablespoon dark rum

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 to 4½ cups confectioners’ sugar

Mash the banana, rum, and salt in a large bowl with a fork until pureed.

Add the butter and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Add 3½ cups confectioners’ sugar and beat well. Stir in the remaining confectioners’ sugar in ¼-cup increments with a wooden spoon until a soft, spreadable frosting forms (usually about ½ cup additional confectioners’ sugar).

You can also frost the Buttery Vanilla Layer Cake with:

Lemon Buttercream

Spiced Buttercream

Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting or Chocolate Mousse Frosting

For this dense chocolate layer cake, take your pick of our two most decadent frostings, the first loaded with chocolate and the second with a marshmallowy texture. Makes one 9-inch, two-layer cake

14 tablespoons (1 stick plus 6 tablespoons) cool unsalted butter, cut into chunks, plus additional for greasing the pans

2¼ cups cake flour, plus additional for dusting the pans

1 cup boiling water

¾ cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1½ cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting or Chocolate Mousse Frosting (recipes follow)

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter two 9-inch cake pans; dust them evenly and thoroughly with flour, shaking out any excess.

Pour the boiling water over the cocoa powder in a small bowl, whisk until smooth, and set aside for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, clean and dry the whisk. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside as well.

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light, smooth, barely grainy, and lemony creamy, about 4 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the eggs one at a time, adding another only after the former has been thoroughly incorporated. Beat in the vanilla, then beat in the dissolved cocoa and water until smooth.

Turn off the beaters, add the prepared flour mixture, and beat at low speed just until the flour is fully moistened.

Scrape down and remove the beaters. Turn the batter a few times with a rubber spatula to make sure the flour is evenly distributed, then scrape evenly into the two pans. Rap the pans against your work surface to get rid of air pockets.

Bake until slightly puffed and firm to the touch, until a toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool completely before icing.

To cool and unmold: Transfer the layers to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes, then unmold the cakes by running a knife around the inside perimeter of the layers, inverting them onto a cutting board, removing the baking pans, and reinverting the cakes onto the wire rack.

To store: Do not ice. Wrap the cooled layers individually in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature for up to 2 days before icing.

To ice:; frost no more than 4 hours before serving.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

Makes enough frosting for a two-layer cake

24 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped, melted in the microwave or in a double boiler over simmering water, and cooled

2 cups regular or low-fat sour cream (do not use fat-free)

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter,