12-inch vanilla buttermilk cake
Most conventional ovens will not accommodate three 12-inch pans, and you may need to bake this cake in 2 batches. See step 4.
MAKES 3 LAYERS
- 6 ⅔ cups cake flour
- 4 ⅓ cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 ¾ cups buttermilk
- 9 whole eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter three 12-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
- Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 2 cups of the buttermilk. Mix on low speed briefly to blend; then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Because this is such a large amount of batter, at this point, you will need to finish the cake by hand.
- Pour the batter into a very large (10- to 12-quart) shallow bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining ¾ cup buttermilk until well blended. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the cake batter and fold in completely with a large rubber or silicone spatula. Repeat this step twice with the remaining egg mixture, folding it in completely after each addition. There will be about 15 ¾ cups of batter. Measure out 5 ¼ cups for each of the 3 prepared pans.
- Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Note: Most ovens will accommodate only 2 pans of this size. If that is the case, cover and refrigerate the remaining batter immediately. When the other cakes come out, pour the batter into its prepared pan and bake separately. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 15 minutes.
- Turn the layers out onto wire racks by placing a rack on top of a pan, inverting it, and lifting off the pan. Peel off the paper liners and let cool completely. When the layers have cooled, place a cardboard cake board on top of a layer, invert again, and lift off the rack. To make the layers easier to handle, wrap them on their boards completely in plastic, so they don’t dry out, and refrigerate them.