Low Fat Yellow Cake with Sesame Soy Cream (Whole Wheat)

Note that a hand mixer can be used in place of the stand mixer for this recipe.

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter 2 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.)

In a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, beat reduced fat spread and half the sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled).

Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy and add remaining sugar. Continue whipping the whites till hard peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter using a large wooden spoon or rubber/plastic spatula.

Spread batter evenly in the cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (I like to drop mine a few times from 2 inches up, making a great big noisy fuss.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.

For the sesame soy cream frosting:

Blend everything in a blender. Yes, that’s it.

You may need to double the frosting if you want generous layers of frosting. With a single batch, I barely managed to cover the sides of the cake.

Note: You don’t have to add xanthan gum if you don’t have it, but refrigerate the frosting for 2 hours before using to frost the cake. Xanthan gum speeds everything up.