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Dairy
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Diets 
This recipe captures all the best aspects of a snickerdoodle cookie to make the ultimate cake version! It starts with an extra-soft, cinnamon-sugar marbled vanilla cake that will make your kitchen smell like heaven. You’ll fill and frost those beautiful cake layers with Cinnamon–Brown Sugar Buttercream, then you’ll roll the entire cake in cinnamon sugar to coat it just like a snickerdoodle! Finish the look with a star border to make the cake extra cute. If you’re a fan of snickerdoodle cookies, you’ll be over the moon for this cake. Yield: 1 triple-layer 6-inch (15-centimeter) cake or 1 double-layer 8-inch (20-centimeter) cake
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon (8 grams) Gefen Ground Cinnamon
2 and 1/2 cups (265 grams) sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup (60 milliliters) vegetable oil
1 and 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup (60 grams) sour cream, at room temperature
1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 milliliters) whole milk, at room temperature
1/3 cup (67 grams) packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (30 grams) unsifted cake flour
2 teaspoons (5 grams) Gefen Ground Cinnamon
3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter, melted
1 and 1/2 cups (339 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (150 grams) packed brown sugar
5 and 1/4 cups (630 grams) powdered sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons (4 grams) Gefen Ground Cinnamon
1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons (60 milliliters) whole milk, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt, or as needed
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius). Prepare three six-inch (15-centimeter) or two eight-inch (20-centimeter) round cake pans by spraying the sides with baking spray and fitting a Gefen Parchment Paper circle to the bottom of each pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, oil and granulated sugar at medium-high speed for three minutes. Scrape the bowl and paddle. With the mixer running at low speed, add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl and paddle as needed. Mix just until the last egg is combined. Add the sour cream and vanilla, then beat the mixture at medium speed for one minute.
Scrape the bowl and paddle. Decrease the mixer’s speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions. Mix the ingredients until they are just blended. Stir the batter by hand a few times to make sure no large lumps remain.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans; set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon until they are combined. Pour the melted butter on top of the cinnamon-sugar mixture and stir the ingredients until they are just combined.
Add spoonfuls of the Cinnamon-Sugar Ribbon to the unbaked cakes and gently swirl it in with a butter knife. Bake the cakes for 35 to 40 minutes. They’re done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Let the cakes cool in their pans for five minutes, then remove them from the pans and cool them on a wire rack.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar at medium-high speed for about four minutes, until the mixture is creamy and light.
Decrease the mixer’s speed to low, and then add the powdered sugar two cups (240 grams) at a time, scraping the bowl and paddle after each addition.
Add the cinnamon, vanilla, milk and salt and mix the ingredients together at low speed for one minute, until the ingredients are fully incorporated and the frosting is smooth.
Level the cooled cake layers to your desired height. Fill and stack the cake layers with Cinnamon–Brown Sugar Buttercream, then crumb coat the cake with Cinnamon–Brown Sugar Buttercream. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes to allow the frosting to firm up.
Reserve about one cup (215 grams) of the Cinnamon–Brown Sugar Buttercream for step 7, then create a smooth buttercream finish with the remaining buttercream.
Refrigerate the cake for 20 minutes to let the buttercream set up. Meanwhile, make the Cinnamon-Sugar Topping: Place the granulated sugar and cinnamon on a rimmed medium baking sheet. Shake the baking sheet to slightly spread out the sugar and cinnamon and create an even layer for rolling (see Note).
When the cake has finished chilling, place a cardboard cake circle the same diameter as the cake on top of it. Run a warm paring knife around the bottom edge of the cake to separate it from the turntable, then use an angled spatula to gently lift the bottom of the cake up. Slip one hand underneath the cake. Place your other hand on the cardboard cake circle you placed on top of the cake and lift the whole thing up.
Turn the cake so that it is horizontal instead of vertical and gently roll the cake over the baking sheet to cover it in the Cinnamon-Sugar Topping, holding it with both hands the entire time. Keep rolling the cake, shaking the baking sheet to disperse the cinnamon sugar between rolls, until the sides are covered.
Place the cake on a turntable and remove the cardboard cake circle you placed on top in step 4. Add three to four tablespoons (39 to 52 grams) of the Cinnamon-Sugar Topping to the top of the cake and smooth it into the buttercream with an angled spatula until the top is fully covered.
Use the reserved Cinnamon–Brown Sugar Buttercream to pipe a star border around the top edge with a Wilton tip 6B.
Reprinted with permission from Anyone Can Cake by Whitney DePaoli. Page Street Publishing Co. 2023. Photo credit: Whitney DePaoli, Josiah DePaoli and Abi Porter. Purchase on Amazon.
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Came absolutely DELICIOUS!! and looked so professional. I did make it parev by mixing 1/2 c soy milk and 1/2 tbs lemon juice to use instead of the sour cream.
The amount of cream to cake ratio was perfect, and rolling it in cinnamon-sugar really worked and gave it a great effect!
apparently you know how to make cake more than me! look at that perfect size cake and the perfect amount of frosting! wow what can I say!