Wedding cakes part 1: Vanilla bean cake with strawberry buttercream

I love wedding cakes. I love all the flavour variations, pretty designs, the big tiered cakes and the small and simple ones. I like the fact that there are no rules anymore and one can have what you want. If I had to chose only one flavour and style, I simply couldn’t! Just check these and try to pick only one...

A few months ago a friend of a friend asked me if I could do the cakes for her wedding cakes. Of course, I said yes! I met with her to have a chat about what she had in mind and I was very pleased to hear that she wanted something simple and not over the top. She decided to have three cakes: chocolate and cream cheese, vanilla sponge and strawberry buttercream and lemon sponge with lemon buttercream and meringue. I happen to love all of these flavour combinations so I couldn’t wait to start. And what better than spending an entire day baking?

 And these were the finished cakes: 

The first cake I made was the strawberry cake. For the sponge, I followed the vanilla bean cake recipe from Sweetapolita, which I’ve made a few times and it always turns out perfect. The sponge is not very fluffy, just fluffy enough, and the flavour is subtle and rich at the same time.

For the buttercream, I made a simple buttercream and I added grated strawberries and strawberry pure. The result is a fresh and not very sweet buttercream that goes perfectly with the vanilla flavoured cake. Just make sure you eat the cake at room temperature, so the buttercream is soft.

Vanilla bean cake with strawberry buttercream

For the vanilla bean cakes

I used Sweetapolita’s Vanilla Bean Cakes recipe, which you can find here.

Makes 3 8 inch round cakes.

Strawberry buttercream

375gr/13oz unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into cubes

500gr/18oz icing sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

pinch of salt

150gr/6oz fresh strawberries, grated

4 tablespoons strawberry puree, made from 80gr/3oz strawberries

Directions

1. In a bowl, whip the butter with an electric mixer for 8 minutes on medium speed, until the butter becomes pale & creamy.

2. Gradually add the icing sugar, vanilla extract, milk and salt and mix on low speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. The buttercream will be light, creamy, and fluffy.

3. Add the strawberry puree and grated strawberries and mix until incorporated.

If you are not going to use it straight away, it can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or so.

Assembling the cake

Place one of the cake layers on a plate and spread about 1 cup of the buttercream on top of it. Place another cake layer on top of the first layer and spread another cup of buttercream over it. Place the last cake layer on top.  

Spread the remaining buttercream on top, as evenly as possible, and finish by covering the sides.

You can decorate it with fresh strawberries, sprinkles or leave it plain!For mine, I made sugarpaste strawberries.