Whole Wheat Vanilla Layer Cake

This nutty, slightly savory cake was my idea of taking a traditional white cake recipe and making (marginally) healthier.

Sort of.

I cringed when people started to yell at the family reunion

"Her cake is healthy! We can have two slices!"

It is still cake. It does still contain sugar. And fat.

Nevertheless I was on a mission to make and light and fluffy whole wheat layered cake, full of frosting and strawberry jam. I started with a basic white cake recipe, which really I didn't need to do as the whole wheat made the cake brown.

Eh... you live and you learn.

Whole Wheat Vanilla Cake

Makes 3 - 9" round cake layers
Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
3 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs, separated


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cream together sugar and butter. Add the sugar gradually until the mixture is light, fluffy and creamy.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. If some of the wheat germ is left in the sifter, discard it.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the milk. Do this is 3 parts. Flour, mix, milk, mix, flour, mix, etc...

Whip the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter. Pour evenly into three 9" round cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool completely before frosting or filling.

Filling options

I spread a homemade strawberry jam between the layers of my cake and frosted it with a vanilla buttercream frosting.

If you want, spread between the layers any flavor of jam or preserves.

Another alternative, make a custard filling from the left over egg yolks. A chocolate or vanilla cream filling would be great with this cake.