Yellow Cake and Dairy-Free Frosting

My daughter turned 2 in November.   She demands cake every other day so why should her birthday be any different?  I was happy to make her a cake but I didn't want to make the same mistake as last time: giving my dairy-allergic baby frosting with milk in it.  Let's just say we stopped taking pictures after cake time.

I was going to do myself a favor and make it from a boxed mix again. (Last year I did this with white cake mix but I made it more complicated by making a rainbow cake.  To my credit I baked it a week or two before and froze it.  I highly recommend this!) Unfortunately I ran out of cake mix!  Fortunately I had the internet to the rescue.

The Kitchn had a yellow cake recipe that tasted great AND was just as easy as a box mix.  Thank you, Faith Durand and the Kitchn!

The frosting was super-easy and also delicious.  Not great if you're not a coconut fan though.  My friend was surprised at how good the cake was cuz it looked so pedestrian.  I was not surprised that none of the cake was left after I went to put my daughter to sleep.  V ate two pieces by herself.

Basic Butter Yellow Cake
makes one 9x13 or two 9-inch cakes

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Take the butter out of the fridge to soften and preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare one 9x13-inch pan or two 9-inch round pans by greasing them thoroughly with butter or baking spray. You can also flour them, if you want, although this isn't strictly necessary. Sprinkle a little flour over them, tilt and shake to distribute evenly, then tap out the excess over the sink.

Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat the softened butter and sugar together until fluffy and light, then add the eggs and beat until fully incorporated and light. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, and finally the milk and vanilla. Beat everything together on low for 30 seconds, then high for 3 minutes.

Immediately pour into the prepared pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops spring back slightly when pressed.

Let cool on wire racks for at least 15 minutes, then flip each pan over onto the rack and tap gently all over. Lift the pan slightly. If the cake doesn't feel like it's falling out smoothly, lay a slightly damp kitchen towel over the pan and tap again. If necessary, let the cakes cool more. If they have been baked thoroughly, however, they should fall right out of the pans once they've cooled a little and the sides of the cake have shrunk back from the pan.

Cool completely then frost and eat!

Coconut Oil Frosting

ingredients:
1/4 cup unrefined (virgin) coconut oil
16 oz powdered sugar
4-6 tablespoons coconut or soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
This is much easier with a hand blender, but you can definitely do it with a whisk - and build some muscles! It's also best if you can measure out the powdered sugar with a scale. If you don't have one, feel free to just use two cups of powdered sugar and a little less soy milk. :)

steps:
"cream" the coconut oil until it breaks up and gets nice and smooth
add in 1/4 of the powdered sugar, the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of soy milk
mix together until nice and smooth
keep adding powdered sugar along with tablespoons of soy milk as needed until everything is combined - you don't want any clumps of powdered sugar or coconut oil.
frost everything in the vicinity
This frosting melts pretty easily, so make sure whatever you put it on is nice and cool. It should be enough to cover one 9x13 sheet cake. :D