I’m a little late to the TWD party this week, my apologies. We’ve recently added a new family member and this little bundle of energy has taken up all of my free time.  We are first time dog owners so this has been quite the experience for us both as we’re in a constant state of extreme worry and extreme joy over her.  It’s been so great.  Also, our three cats are responding better than we could have ever hoped.

Our new Great Dane puppy.  My boyfriend named her “Kinder”, like the kinder  in “kindergarten”.  It means “child” in German.

Now, on to the cake.  :)

I usually make mention whenever I hit a “milestone” on my blog. This time, it’s my 70th Tuesday with Dorie recipe (which is not how many week’s I’ve been participating with the group, although it’s close, but how many of the TWD selections I’ve made so far). I couldn’t think of a better choice to ring in my 70th with than this Perfect Party Cake. So thank you Carol of mix, mix… stir, stir for choosing it.

This is a white layer cake flavored with lemon and raspberry, with a swiss meringue buttercream and a sprinkling of shredded coconut.

The cakes baked up really nice.  I’d never made a swiss meringue buttercream before where you heat egg whites first and then whip up a beautiful frosting with three sticks of butter (yikes!), but everything went smoothly.  The raspberry filling was no more than warming up some raspberry jam.

I think I’ve finally conquered my fear of layer cakes. I didn’t have any problems with this recipe at all. My layers weren’t as uniform as I would have liked maybe, but I also kind of cut my cakes in half with reckless abandon so I guess I couldn’t expect that.  It was easy to cut and serve, although at times the jam in the layers made it a little slippery.

This cake is definitely perfect for a party.  I had a thought while I was tasting it that it would be a good wedding cake too, maybe minus the coconut.  I shared it with our neighbors who also really liked it.  I don’t think you can go wrong here and it seems like a versatile cake where you could easily change up flavors and it would still turn out great.

Thank you Carol for choosing Perfect Party Cake on pages250-252 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours. Please check out the book or stop by Carol’s Blog for the recipe. Next week, the TWD logo contest winner Lisa of Surviving Oz chose Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies on pages 96-97.