• Blog
  • About
  • Work With Me
  • Recipes
  • Travel
Menu

Katherine in Brooklyn

Food, Photography & Travel
  • Blog
  • About
  • Work With Me
  • Recipes
  • Travel

Vanilla Almond Birthday Cake

February 1, 2016

Guys, I had a really great weekend that was made even better by this delicious vanilla almond birthday cake. It is a triple layer cake. Did you hear that? TRIPLE LAYER!! I think I have died and gone to heaven. But let me rewind for a second.

My mom's birthday was on Saturday and to celebrate, she and my dad were coming down to NYC for the day. We didn't have much planned but I wanted to make her a cake and I found the perfect inspiration from one of my favorite food bloggers, My Name is Yeh. All week I was planning out how I was going to make this cake: bake the cake on Friday night and then wake up early on Saturday to make the frosting and decorate so it was fresh before my parents arrived. I literally planned every minute I would be spending after work on Friday. Then, my parents let me know that they wanted to see a Broadway matinee show on Saturday. More planning! How was I going to do this? Should I go to the TKTS booth on my lunch break to try to score some cheap tickets? I was super stressed. Luckily my friend, Kelly, came to the rescue and told me about an app (called Today Tix) where you can browse show tickets for the week and purchase them on the app. It was a miracle! Thank you Kelly! I bought four tickets to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and felt like all my problems were solved. Now, back to the cake. If you can't tell, I am really into this cake. It was so fun to make because the almond flavoring smelled delicious in the oven and the multi-layers made me feel like I was constructing something very important. The cakes were super moist and dense and to add some fruitiness, I cooked up some fresh blackberries into a jam-like consistency and added it to the whipped cream frosting. It was perfect! I also enjoyed using my cake decorating skills (LOL) from my four years working at the local Ben & Jerry's during high school. Needless to say it was delicious and I can't wait to play with more cake recipes!

The overall weekend with my parents was wonderful as well! Before the play we had brunch at a French restaurant in my neighborhood where I had a brûlée grapefruit (I am now determined to buy a torch so I can do it myself) and grits with feta, eggplant and a poached egg. Yum. Pat and my dad ordered a crispy chicken sandwich, which turned out to be a massive fried chicken sandwich! It was so big. Afterwards we headed over to Times Square, my least fave part of the city, and pushed our way through the crowds to get to the show. I am embarrassed to say that I haven't been to a Broadway play since moving here (I have been to them in life, though, FYI) and I absolutely loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. The acting was amazing and I was in awe over the cool set. I recommend that anyone see this show, and I've decided that I should take advantage of going to more Broadway plays. I hope everyone has a great Monday!

Vanilla Almond Birthday Cake

For the Cake:

  • 1/2 c all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 6 oz almond paste
  • 6 eggs, separated
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • 1/2 c white sugar

For the Frosting:

  • 1 1/2 c heavy cream
  • 1/3 c powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • 1/2 cup blackberry “jam”

For the Blackberry “Jam”

  • 1 cup of fresh blackberries
  • 3 tablespoons of sugar
  • splash of water
  • lemon juice

To make the Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºf. You'll need three 6-inch cake pans, sprayed with coconut oil.
  2. Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
  3. With mixer, beat almond paste and egg yolks until well blended in a large bowl. Add in vanilla and almond extract and mix. Set aside.
  4. In another large bowl, beat the egg whites and salt with a mixer until peaks form. In parts, beat in sugar and continue to mix until stiff peaks form.
  5. Fold the whites into the yolk mixture. After mixed, gradually fold in the flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared pans as evenly as possible. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool.
  6. In a sauce pan, heat blackberries, sugar, water, and lemon juice on low until it comes to a steady boil. Using fork, crush blackberries and continue stirring. Cook for about 20 minutes and let cool. You can strain the blackberries if you want for a more even mixture (I didn't) or keep as is.
  7. For the frosting, whip up the heavy cream to soft peaks. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar and almond extract, and continue whipping to stiff peaks. Once the blackberry "jam" has cooled, fold it into the whipped cream mixture and decorate as you wish!
SAM_4721.jpg
SAM_4726.jpg
IMG_7295.jpg
SAM_4735.jpg
SAM_4751.jpg
SAM_4760.jpg
In New York City, Weekend, Recipe, Food Tags Vanilla Almond Birthday Cake, Almond Cake, Vanilla Cake, Birthday Cake, Triple Layer Cake, Layer Cake, Whipped Cream Frosting, Baking, Cake Recipe, Anthropologie, Broadway, My Name is Yeh
← Quarter Life Crisis ReflectionWinter Chia Seed Pudding →

Hi! I'm Katherine and I live in Brooklyn. I love baking, trying new food, exploring, traveling, reading, and taking photos. 


Instagram:

Happy 💞 Day! Hope everyone had some good chocolate today. ❤️🥰
Went to Mexico a couple weeks ago and ate a diet of 95% tacos and refreshing cocktails. 🌴🍹 Getting out of the Northeast when it was 6 degrees wasn’t bad either. 🤗 Mexican food is one of my favorite cuisines and the seafood in Tulum was so fresh and flavorful. Next places in Mexico I want to visit: Mexico City and Oaxaca. #travel #mexico #tulum
Back on here after a nice looong break. 💆🏻‍♀️
In the past couple of months I felt zero urge to bake and it was nice to get away from it for a while to clear my head, relax, and not spend hours taking/editing photos. Moving forward I’ll be doing a little less baking, and more cooking and non-cooking photos, as I’m expanding my interests and also changing my diet (to involve wayyy fewer sweet things). 🌟
I still enjoy creating but I think it’s just starting to come through in different ways! This morning I was at the grocery store and I saw these beautiful artichokes, so I steamed them and made a tzatziki dipping sauce. It was SO simple and so good! 
I’m glad to be back taking some foodie pics. 😊 #f52grams
Better late than never! 🍪 The day of the #virtualcookieparty2018 is over soon and I ALMOST forgot to post my pic but here it is! This year I made brown sugar coconut macaroons, dipped in dark chocolate and topped with sprinkles (the more glitter the better). ✨ The recipe is really easy with just a few ingredients, and is on the blog now. Thanks @cosetteskitchen for hosting!
Giveaway! 🍹 This holiday season I’m looking forward to gift giving. There’s nothing better than festive holiday cocktails - one of my favorite winter drinks is a spicy margarita. I’ve partnered with @wandpdesign to give away a craft cocktail set pictured here. 🥂 To enter, leave a comment and tag a friend, and follow me @katherineinbrooklyn and @wandpdesign! Winner will be chosen 12/14 at noon EST - US entries only.
It’s #nationalcookieday so I had to post some pre-baked ones since I typically like the dough better than the finished cookie! 🍪 Hoping to make some more cookies this weekend. ✨✨
New recipe! It’s #yesyoucranberry. ✨✨ These cranberry cinnamon buns are super gooey and are on the blog now just in time for 🦃 day! #cinnamonbuns
Pink cake for getting through today. ✨ 
@patgmusic and I went to Wildair tonight for dinner! I’ve been dying to go there for years and am so glad we finally tried it. I’ll be dreaming of the oysters, bread, and olive oil forever. ✨✨✨
Feeling hopeful after the Midterm elections so I was motivated to post a recipe on the blog after almost a month of not posting. 😱 There’s work to be done but it’s a good reminder that it’s important to focus on the big issues in life, but also the little things that make you happy. And for me, the little things are doughnuts (and this food blog.) 🍩 So the recipe for these baked banana doughnuts is on the blog now. ✨
Follow

Subscribe

Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates.

We respect your privacy.

Thank you!

Latest Recipes

Featured
 

Wanderlust

Featured

Powered by Squarespace

COPYRIGHT KATHERINE IN BROOKLYN © 2014-2016