Grocery Basket
butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, milk, shortening, powdered sugar, orange food coloring, black icing
Method
Mixing bowls, baking pan
Category
Sweet Endings
Cook Time
20 minutes
Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too? Pssh, please! When it looks this good and tastes this good, we’re putting it in our mouths.
This is an essential March Madness recipe. It oozes basketball about as much as it oozes deliciousness. Make this. Don’t think about it. Make it. You and your friends won’t be sorry. It’s the perfect addition to any basketball watch party.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups salted butter, room temp
2 ¼ cups sugar
4 egg whites
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ cups milk
1 ½ cups unsalted butter
1 ½ cups shortening
12 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6–7 tablespoons milk
Orange food coloring
1 tube black decorating icing
Cake
Frosting
Directions
For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the egg whites and vanilla and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute, no more.
Combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium-sized bowl.
Add about one-third of the flour mixture to the batter and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
Add about half of the milk and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
Continue alternating adding dry and wet ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, and beating until incorporated after each addition.
Fill a 10-inch, lightly-greased round cake pan about halfway with batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, combine butter and shortening and mix until smooth.
Add 6 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
Add vanilla extract and 4 tablespoons of water or milk and mix.
Add remaining powdered sugar and mix until incorporated.
Add more water or milk until desired consistency is reached.
Color frosting with orange food coloring. Start with 2–3 drops and go from there.
Frost the cake, adding a basketball design with black icing tube. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Note
Pro Tip:
Besides grease, another great way to prevent sticking is to cut out a circle of parchment paper the same size as your cake pan (10 inches, in this case). After the pan is greased, line the bottom with the parchment paper round and grease lightly again. Once the cake is out of the pan, just peel off the paper!