Bonnie Butter Cake with Toffee and French Silk Frosting

Even though I tried really hard to perfect the angle and lighting in these photos, my mind was really focused the whole time on how much I wanted to try a big fat bite of cake. Luckily my sister showed up and asked to eat some. So eventually all this picture taking craziness came to an end, and we were able to devour the slice in the picture.

If anyone (probably just me) is wondering whether or not this is screwing up my diet, rest assured that I ate a green pepper, cheese, and veggie pasta for lunch. See. Only a few bites of bonnie butter cake.

Sometimes I like to vastly exagerate things, but this actually may be one of the easiest and best cakes I've ever baked. The cake itself is a vintage Betty Crocker recipe that I remember making when I was probably 6 or 7 years old. You can tell it's pretty old and used via all the water staining and such. I love that kind of thing. It was (is) my mom's that she received as a wedding gift in the 60's. For once in my life I followed a recipe exactly. Ok, that's a lie. I specified salted butter (like usual) and cut the salt in half, but other than that I swear it is the same recipe, if not written a little more in depth.

I used the suggested "french silk frosting" which is really just a good chocolatey buttercream, and added some homemade toffee between the layers. If you need a good toffee recipe then use the one below. Otherwise you could possibly substitute store-bought.

Bonnie Butter Cake

For the cake layers:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup (10 1/2 tbl) salted butter, at room temp
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9" round cake pans. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar on high speed until creamed together, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs and beat until completely incorporated. Then beat for an additional 3 minutes (this is a time when you want to overbeat the eggs into the batter). Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed alternate adding the flour mixture with the milk in three seperate additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat until just incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide the batter between the three pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of each pan and inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the toffee:
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
4 tbl (1/2 stick) salted butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar

In a saucepan over medium heat melt together 3/4 cup of the heavy cream, butter, corn syrup, and sugar together. Bring to a boil and let cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture turns a deep amber color. Remove from the heat and whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup of the heavy cream. Let cool completely. Spread over the bottom layer of cake, leaving about 1/4 inch perimeter. Place the second layer on top and spread over more toffee sauce, leaving 1/4 inch border. Place on the top layer of cake.

For the french silk frosting:
2/3 cup (10 1/2 tbl) salted butter, at room temp
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbl milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and chocolate. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and beat to combine. Add the vanilla extract and milk and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Spread on the top layer of cake. Chill before serving.

Source: Cake and frosting adapted from The Betty Crocker Cookbook, Toffee adapted from Food and Wine magazine.