Awesome cakes for awesome friends! Part Two..

2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups plus 1/3 cup buttermilk
5 whole eggs
2 egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Prepare your pans- I use Baker's Joy spray, and place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of each pan to aid in removing the cakes later.

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl, whisking with wire whisk to make sure they're combined well. Add butter and 1 1/4 c buttermilk, mixing well on low speed with electric mixer. Increase mixer speed to medium, and beat 2-3 minutes and batter is light and fluffy.

In a second bowl, combine eggs, egg yolks, remaining buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture  a little at a time, making sure the batter is mixed well after each addition.

Pour batter into pans, filling each pan approximately half full. Bake 28-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Remove cakes from oven, and cool in pans on cooling rack. Once layers are cool, turn out of pans onto cooling rack and cool completely. Turning out of pans too soon will result in a broken layer. Trust me. Been there done that, twice!

Chocolate Ganache from Savory Sweet Life

8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

Heat cream over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Pour cream over chocolate chips in medium sized bowl. Let sit for a minute, then stir until chocolate is melted. Refrigerate for a 5 minutes to set. For this recipe, i wanted a pourable consistency for my filling, so I used it pretty quickly. For a spreadable consistency, refrigerate 30 minutes, removing from fridge often to stir and check consistency.

Tiramisu Buttercream

6 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds (5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons warm water
1 tablespoon instant coffee

In a glass bowl sitting over a pan of gently boiling water, beat egg whites and sugar until hot to the touch and it resembles marshmallow creme. Remove from heat, beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Add butter and vanilla,  beating well until combined and light and fluffy. Dissolve instant coffee in water, and add 1 tbsp at a time until desired flavoring is reached.

I'll post instructions for cake assembly later.

Let me know what you think!