eggboy's birthday cake!

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Hiiii!!! How were your Thanksgivings and Thanksgiving leftovers?? Ours was great, Eggboy completely knocked it out of the park with his annual pumpkin pie. I have never truly freaked out about a pumpkin pie, but this one was subtle and pudding-like, which I promise you is not just code for under seasoned and undercooked. He did indeed omit the cinnamon since mum is allergic, and the center never actually set, but I think those were two of the biggest contributing factors to why I loved it so much. It was creamy and light, not heavy and mashed root-vegetable-y. I can’t stop dreaming of it. This is the recipe he uses, from Sarah! The only other change he made aside from omitting the cinnamon was using more heavy cream instead of creme fraiche, and then I think he also cooked the filling for like three times longer than Sarah says to because he was over in the kitchen stirring the pot for half of the dog show. 

After Thanksgiving we went downtown and I survived my high school reunion!!!! I even remembered everyone’s names (and if I didn’t you’d have thought that I did because I had the liquid confidence of 1.5 margaritas). Everybody is nailing it! Everybody seems happy, has great hair, is doing cool things like designing airplanes/tesla batteries/fancy meat and molding the minds of future generations. It was just like time hadn’t passed and we were back in high school all over again minus the awkward turtles. I’m so glad I went, it was totally worth all of the hours stressing out about my outfit. 

We came home with a suitcase filled with various types of chocolate covered marzipan from both Christkindlmarkt and my all time favorite chocolate shop, Anderson’s, in Richmond, Illinois, which makes their own candy bars. I haven’t had them in like 20 years but now mum lives not too far from them and we went over the weekend and their dark chocolate covered marzipan is exactly how I remember it. 

Now we are home and ready to celebrate Eggboy’s 31st birthday, a.k.a. his reverse Bar Mitzvah, h/t to Drake for that inspiration. Tonight we’re going over to the Eggparents’ for salmon and birthday cake (it is also Eggpop’s birthday!) and tomorrow is Eggboy’s official birthday, so we’ll eat birthday cake for breakfast and then have goulash for dinner. 

Over the weekend I spent quite some time sitting on mum’s couch waiting for commercials to be over because Skate America was on (holy cow Nathan Chen’s short program, holy cow Bradie Tennell, and holy cow Shib Sibs!!!). During these commercial breaks I picked up one of the Vanity Fairs from the coffee table and flipped to a story about three very stylish English sisters that were the daughters of a duke and duchess who had descended from a family that came over from France in, like, the year one thousand. I am pretty much a sucker for any story involving stylish royal people our age (go Meghan!) but my greatest takeaway from this particular article involved their family traditions. It was per tradition that they moved into the 356 room castle when their grandpa passed away, and it was per tradition that they threw elaborate balls for their 18th birthdays, and per tradition, weekends are spent in the country riding horses with their flock of English hound doggos. And when they plant trees they have to envision how they will look in 300 years. 

Suddenly I was hellbent on finding a traditional birthday cake that will be relevant one thousand years from now.

So! I knew it’d be a yellow cake since Eggboy always wants a yellow cake for his birthday and he always makes me one on my birthday. The past couple of years for my birthday he has used the recipe in the Mast Brothers cookbook which he bought me years ago. Admittedly, this has brought on monstrous disasters every time, except for the first time when he made a bunch of random uninformed substitutions that somehow worked out but that he didn’t write down. I always assumed his disasters were just because the amount of pans wasn’t specified and because his baking experience is limited. But then when I tried to bake this cake earlier this week, guess what happened! Total disaster. Crater larger than the Grand Canyon. Expletives all over my texts to Michelle. Angry notes written in pen on the page. 

I'll spare all of the details and just cut to this birthday cake that is sitting in front of me and that I am very happy with and that was last minute made three-tiered because it's fun! It has Mast Brothers' frosting because Eggboy loves it, it is cream cheesy and tangy and good, but I have decided that Sarah's yellow cake, which I made last year, is officially the front runner for becoming our traditional family birthday cake. It's delicious, moist, a true classic, all you could ever want in a birthday cake. Eggboy, consider this my official proposal to make Sarah’s cake + Mast brothers frosting the official family birthday cake. Please and thanks! 

This three-tiered sitch is made of two batches of cake: a full 8" cake on the bottom, and then the 6" tier and 4" tiers make up the second batch. The sprinkles are a mix of India Tree's nature's colors confetti and cylinders, wilton gold pearls, and grocery store sundae sprinkles and chocolate sprinkles. Just call me a sprinkle mixologist. 

***Throws sprinkles in the air and dashes off to go wrap Eggboy's presents***

Hooray!!!!!!!! Happy birthday, Eggboy and Eggpop!!!!!!! 

classic yellow cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting

cake from sarah kieffer's the vanilla bean baking book, frosting based on the mast brothers cookbook

makes one 2-layer 8-inch cake

ingredients

for the cake:

3 large eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tb pure vanilla extract

3/4 c sour cream

1/4 c buttermilk

2 c (284 g) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 c (297 g) sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 lb (2 sticks; 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces

for the frosting:

8 ounces (226 g) dark chocolate, chopped

1/2 c (1 sticks; 113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 lb (454g) cream cheese, room temperature

1 tb pure vanilla extract

a good pinch of salt

2 c (226 g) confectioners' sugar

 

clues

for the cake:

adjust an oven rack to the middle position. preheat the oven to 350ºf. butter and flour two 8 by 2-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

in a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, sour cream, and buttermilk.

in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt on low until combined. with the mixer running on low, add the butter one piece at a time, beating until the mixture resembles coarse sand. with the mixer still running on low, slowly add half the wet ingredients. increase the speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. with the mixer running on low, add the rest of the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. increase the speed to medium and beat for 20 seconds (the batter may still look a little bumpy). scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and use a spatula to mix the batter a few more times.

divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. tap the pans gently on the counter 2 times each to help get rid of any bubbles. bake 17 to 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cakes are golden brown and pull slightly away from the sides and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.

transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes. turn the cakes out onto the rack, remove the parchment paper, and let cool completely. once cool, the cakes can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated overnight or frosted.

for the frosting:

melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each.

in  the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream together the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, salt, and confectioners' sugar. Add the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. 

layer and frost the cake. enjoy!

-yeh!

vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

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(psst... it's a video ☝🏼)

I have formed this dumb awful habit of allowing myself to stay awake in bed. It happens either late at night when I should be falling asleep or at 3am when I wake up and suddenly everything of minor importance appears to be super urgent. The smart thing to do of course is to try to fall asleep just by brute force or by reading one of Eggboy’s books about economics but the thing about having an amorphous work schedule is that at 3am if I suddenly happen upon the need to do some bridesmaid up-do research I can push my alarm back by 30 minutes and dive right down into Instagram. The problem with all of this is that a) I’m exhausted the next day and b) my brain is so mushy at 3am that all of my decisions made at that hour are just bad. Last month I ordered $400 worth of raincoats from my phone just in case the one that Alana got me for Alaska didn’t fit around my thicker than average arms. They were returnable, I reasoned. And in the end it didn’t rain at all on our trip. Last week I made a hair appointment, saved a dozen inspirational photos of ombré balayage, and made a vocabulary list of hair styles to tell my stylist at my appointment, but then woke up and decided to just go full on brunette and then cancelled my appointment. And of course, 100% of my buttercream flower video watching was also in bed when I should have been asleep. 

I am going to get better at this as soon as I understand everything there is to know about butter based cake. 

That’s what keeps me up the most at night lately.

With the exception of sprinkle cake, pretty much all of my go-to cakes have been oil-based. They’re very easy, reliable, adaptable, and most importantly, moist. I had no reason to stray from them other than that I woke up a few months ago feeling funny that I wasn’t very familiar with butter cakes, and I also just wanted butter. And some change. So I put my stand mixer to work and tinkered with ratios and different ingredients and sat in the parking lot of the gym googling things that i thought of on the way there like “is there a reason that you shouldn’t use heavy cream in cakes” and made a spreadsheet of every single vanilla cake that I could find. I thought about acidity of sour cream and wrangled with our new oven heating elements that took a few days to even out… It was like being back in music school again, trying to learn a new excerpt. I felt like Rob with his spreadsheets which he used to track every single tempo of every single recording of every single important percussion excerpt.

And I went so crazy that I had to finally download that app where you grow trees if you avoid using your phone for long portions of time. 

You know how you’re not supposed to change a door knob? (Because if you change your door knob you’ll soon feel like you’ll have to re-paint your door and if you re-paint your door you’ll have to paint the room and if you paint the room you’ll have to paint the rest of your house, pretty soon you’re demolishing and building a new home? Or something.) That’s what I feel like I’ve just done. I’ve switched from oil to butter and now because I’ve done that I’ve needed to adjust moisture levels and because I’ve adjusted moisture levels I’ve needed to adjust dry ingredients and eggs and cooking time and approach and vision and values, etc. 

I’m aware that about ten thousand vanilla cupcake recipes exist.

But I also have this hunch that my ideal moisture level of a cake is on the very high side, and that’s what’s shaping my every move. I want a moist cake that has been lifting some weights. Moist, dense, soft cake. Like if these slipper socks were a cake. Not some airy light dainty pantyhose situation. There’s a time and a place for pantyhose cake, and in my life, that’s Passover in the 90s. 

So the name of the game became cramming fat into every possible orifice of this thing, without it deflating. Too much fat will destroy a cake’s structure, it will deflate. Too much liquid will also make it deflate. But of course not enough fat will make it dry. So I drew the conclusion that a moist enough cake will deflate just slightly when it comes out of the oven, making it have a flat top or just a slight divot when it’s cooled. It does not need to have a nice dome. It does not need to be pretty, it just needs to be moist. 

So I collected all of the fats:

butter (for flavor, duh)

and it’s european style butter (which has 2% more fat than traditional butter, cha-ching)

refined coconut oil (for additional moisture)*

heavy cream (fat and liquid)**

sour cream (for more richness)***

*since the coconut oil is solid at room temperature, it gives it slightly more structure than canola oil. You can use unrefined if you like a hint of coconut flavor. And if you don’t have coconut oil, using canola oil will indeed work.

**heavy cream adds tons of fat and richness, which is what we’re going for. But it adds so much fat that it makes the structure a little on the edge of stability. There’s enough stability in this batter for cupcakes, but not so much for full layer cakes. We’re going to talk about layered butter cakes in a later post. This recipe will also work with whole milk! Using heavy cream will make it richer, but if whole milk is what you have, that's ok. 

***I wouldn’t make you clear out the dairy aisle if it weren’t for a good reason. The difference that sour cream makes in this cake is like the difference between the flannel-lined duck boots and the shearling-lined duck boots. You are reading the blog of a shearling-lined duck boot owner. (You could sub this for plain whole milk yogurt. It will be just slightly less rich than using sour cream.)

And put them in with some flour (all-purpose, not cake flour because I prefer the denser texture of all-purpose), sugar, eggies (I didn’t go down the road of adding single yolks, which, yes, will add richness, but I just have this thing right now where I'm trying to avoid using only part of the egg), vanilla, and for some of the tests, almond extract, which I sometimes enjoy in a vanilla world. 

I went through dozens of tests (most of which were right before the Eggsis wedding which provided 320 taste testers and some of which are still in my deep freeze… would you like some cupcakes?) and came up with a cupcake recipe that I am so very happy with!! It has all of the moist/dense qualities that I was going for, and even after all of this taste testing, I still make audible “mmmmm” sounds when I have a bite. 

I have one major takeaway that doesn’t have to do with ingredients at all though, and that’s that you cannot let these over bake. Over-baking, even by like 30 seconds, will dry these out. So use an oven thermometer, begin checking them when I say, and when your cakes are thinking about starting to brown, and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs on it, take em out. 

Let them cool.

And then frost them with a good American buttercream that uses a good European style butter. Because, again, we want more fat.

Sprinkles ad infinitum.

Ok I’m done. 

For now. Because part two of this saga is that we make a layer cake.

Thank you so much, Land O' Lakes, for sponsoring this post and for providing all of the butter for the endless test batches that were required for this recipe! Land O' Lakes®’ European Style Butter has a fat content of 82%, 2% more than traditional butter in the states, so it has more flavor and a creamier texture. It makes a great moist cake and a delicious buttercream frosting!!

vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

makes 18 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 3/4 c (222g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 c (180g) heavy cream, room temperature
6 tb (90g) sour cream, room temperature
1/2 c (113g) land o' lakes® european style unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 c (50g) refined coconut oil, soft but not melted
1 c (200g) sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

Buttercream:

1 c (225g) land o' lakes® european style unsalted butter, room temperature
3 c (360g) powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1/4 tsp almond extract, optional
3 tb (45g) heavy cream

Clues

To make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350ºf. Line two cupcake pans with 18 cupcake liners, spacing them out evenly between the two pans.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, and then lightly stir in the salt and set aside. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the heavy cream and sour cream and set aside. 

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, coconut oil, and sugar on medium high for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add the vanilla. Reduce the mixer to medium low and add the dry mixture and cream mixture in 3 alternating additions, mixing until just combined. Using an ice cream scoop, distribute the batter evenly between the 18 cupcake liners. 

Bake for 10 minutes and then rotate the pans and continue to bake until the cupcakes are thinking about starting to turn brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs on it; begin checking for doneness 6 minutes after you rotate the pans. If the cupcakes need more time, continue to bake and check them frequently (like every 30-45 seconds). Let them cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To make the buttercream: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and almond extract, if using. Once combined, beat in the heavy cream. 

Frost cupcakes as desired and enjoy. These are best enjoyed within a day or two. 

This post was sponsored by Land O' Lakes! I'm very excited to be partnering with this minnesota-based farmer owner company this year!

All photos and video by Celeste Noche! 

chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream

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we* made a stop motion video about the most important time of day: cake o'clock!! 

i partnered with android to demonstrate a quick easy way of decorating a string-light-inspired holiday cake (with marzipan, of course, duhhh) for their #magicminute project. because even if you're running late for cake o'clock, you still deserve festive tasty decorations. enjoy this stop motion (turn the sound on!), bop your head along, and stick around for the bloopers at the end!! below is the cake and frosting recipe that i used for it. it's my basic go-to rich chocolate cake and fluffy vanilla buttercream.  

*video credits:

indoor photography -- eggboy and me

outdoor photography -- chantell and brett

eggboy -- as himself

macaroni -- as themselves

sven and ole cat -- as their extra mischievous selves

ole handler -- eggboy

chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream

makes one 2-layer 8-inch cake

ingredients

for the cake:

1 3/4 c sugar

1 3/4 c flour

1 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 large eggs

1 c buttermilk

1 tb vanilla extract

1/2 c flavorless oil

3/4 c boiling water

for the frosting:

1 1/2 c unsalted butter

2 c powdered sugar

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tb whole milk

clues

for the cake:

preheat the oven to 350ºf. grease and line the bottoms of two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper.

in a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and oil. add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. whisk in the boiling water.

pour the batter into the cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. begin checking for doneness at 28 minutes. let cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool completely.

for the frosting: 

use an electric mixer to beat together the butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk. 

level the cakes and frost as desired. enjoy!

-yeh!

thank you android for sponsoring this video! 

classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting

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eggboy is 30 today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yayayayy!!! we celebrated the other night with eggpop (whose birthday was yesterday) and the whole eggfamily and ate big bowls of goulash, tara's roasted carrots, and a citrus fennel salad. eggboy and eggpop both received antique books on sugar beets that i found at omnivore last month, and eggboy's gettin a little birthday trip in the new year to hawaii! and then we had cake, of course. eggboy's favorite cake is a classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting--he loves it so much that he made *me* one for my birthday this year--so i took the hint. i used sarah's recipe from her new book, vanilla bean baking book, and it was solid gold. (i wouldn't have expected anything less though because everything i've made from her blog and every recipe test she fed me over the last year was fantastic. my mom has this fear of making new recipes for the first time for special occasions because what if it doesn't turn out? but i've learned that i can trust sarah's recipes to come out amazingly every time and if you like baking and want a book full of reliable amazing beautiful recipes, you need her book, 100%).

so we had cake for breakfast! and listened to the beatles. and then ate muhammara and drove to fargo for the annual sugar beet farmers meeting (partayyyy)! and that's where we are now. we're getting ready to party with all of our farmer friends tonight but first we have to go to barnes and noble for more eggboy birthday books. the barnes and noble is a must-stop in fargo (aka the big city). 

yay!

p.s. i have a few #mollyontherange events coming up: fargo, grand forks, and d.c.! just when i thought i was going to stay put for a few weeks, the d.c. trip came up but i could not be more excited! see you guys there :) details this way. 

classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting

Recipe by Sarah Kieffer

Eggboy's favorite birthday cake, yellow cake with chocolate frosting from Sarah Kieffer's the vanilla bean baking book

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 22 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Yield: 1 2-tiered 8-inch cake

Ingredients

  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tb pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 c sour cream
  • 1/4 c buttermilk
  • 2 c (284 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 c (297 g) sugar
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 lb (2 sticks; 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 8 ounces (226 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 3/4 lb (3 sticks; 339 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 3 tb corn syrup
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 c (226 g) confectioners' sugar

Cooking Directions

  1. for the cake:
  2. adjust an oven rack to the middle position. preheat the oven to 350ºf. butter and flour two 8 by 2-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
  3. in a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, sour cream, and buttermilk.
  4. in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt on low until combined. with the mixer running on low, add the butter one piece at a time, beating until the mixture resembles coarse sand. with the mixer still running on low, slowly add half the wet ingredients. increase the speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. with the mixer running on low, add the rest of the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. increase the speed to medium and beat for 20 seconds (the batter may still look a little bumpy). scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and use a spatula to mix the batter a few more times.
  5. divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. tap the pans gently on the counter 2 times each to help get rid of any bubbles. bake 17 to 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cakes are golden brown and pull slightly away from the sides and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.
  6. transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes. turn the cakes out onto the rack, remove the parchment paper, and let cool completely. once cool, the cakes can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated overnight or frosted.
  7. for the frsoting:
  8. put about 1 inch or water in a medium saucepan and bring it to a gentle boil.
  9. melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over the pan of boiling water, being careful not to let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. stir constantly until just melted and set aside to cool slightly.
  10. in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter on medium until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. add the vanilla, corn syrup, and salt and beat on medium until combined. turn the mixer to low and gradually add the confectioner's sugar. beat at medium, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. add the chocolate and mix on low speed until no streaks remain.
  11. layer and frost the cake. enjoy!

classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting

from sarah kieffer's the vanilla bean baking book

makes one 2-layer 8-inch cake

ingredients

for the cake:

3 large eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tb pure vanilla extract

3/4 c sour cream

1/4 c buttermilk

2 c (284 g) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 c (297 g) sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 lb (2 sticks; 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces

for the frosting:

8 ounces (226 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3/4 lb (3 sticks; 339 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 tb corn syrup

1/4 tsp salt

2 c (226 g) confectioners' sugar

clues

for the cake:

adjust an oven rack to the middle position. preheat the oven to 350ºf. butter and flour two 8 by 2-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

in a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, sour cream, and buttermilk.

in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt on low until combined. with the mixer running on low, add the butter one piece at a time, beating until the mixture resembles coarse sand. with the mixer still running on low, slowly add half the wet ingredients. increase the speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. with the mixer running on low, add the rest of the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. increase the speed to medium and beat for 20 seconds (the batter may still look a little bumpy). scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and use a spatula to mix the batter a few more times.

divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. tap the pans gently on the counter 2 times each to help get rid of any bubbles. bake 17 to 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cakes are golden brown and pull slightly away from the sides and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.

transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes. turn the cakes out onto the rack, remove the parchment paper, and let cool completely. once cool, the cakes can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated overnight or frosted.

for the frosting:

put about 1 inch or water in a medium saucepan and bring it to a gentle boil.

melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over the pan of boiling water, being careful not to let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. stir constantly until just melted and set aside to cool slightly.

in  the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter on medium until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. add the vanilla, corn syrup, and salt and beat on medium until combined. turn the mixer to low and gradually add the confectioner's sugar. beat at medium, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. add the chocolate and mix on low speed until no streaks remain.

layer and frost the cake. enjoy!

-yeh!