Naked Vanilla Cake

For the cake:
Set oven to 350ºF and grease two round baking pans. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir and set the dry ingredients aside. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, then whisk in 1 1/2 cups sugar, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and buttermilk. With a wooden spoon or spatula, slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Stir until mixture just comes together. Divide batter evenly between pans and bake for 25–30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

For the frosting:
In a large bowl or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, stir softened butter until smooth. Add icing sugar bit by bit, followed by vanilla extract. Add buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until frosting comes together and is smooth and creamy, if it is necessary to add more than 4 tablespoons to reach the desired consistency then add a touch more. Stir in a pinch of salt to taste.

For the candied rose petals:
Set up a sheet pan with parchment paper, one small bowl with the egg white in it, one small bowl with the sugar, and another bowl with the rose petals. Take each rose petal and run gently through the egg white, coat in the sugar and place on the sheet tray to dry for a minimum of 2 hours.

To assemble the cake:
When cakes come out, transfer to a cooling rack and set in the fridge to cool for 1 hour before levelling them off and icing them. Once cakes are cool, use a serrated knife to cut off the rounded top of the cake. (There are a number of good videos on how to do this properly online and they are definitely worth checking out.) The trip to perfectly smooth icing is to use a spatula for the top of the cake and run a pastry scraper along the sides of the cake to give it a smooth and uniform appearance.

Top with raspberries or candied rose petals or both, slice and enjoy. Chill cake in the fridge and remove it 30 minutes before you’d like to serve it to allow the cake to soften up slightly at room temperature.