A friend gave me this recipe a long time ago because she knew pink is my favorite color. I never made it before and honestly, I approached this with a lot of trepidation, which is typically not a good thing for baking! I had a long and not so good day, I was tired, it was late….but I had all the ingredients and was determined to make it. This is a light, pretty, pale-pink cake that would be so nice for Spring, a birthday or just a Sunday afternoon. It’s never too early for a little touch of Spring!

This cake was supposed to be six layers – SUPPOSED TO BE. It’s four. During baking, I tested the first two layers, which were done and just assumed the third layer was, too. Well, it wasn’t! When I took the third layer out to cool, the center was not done and the whole thing did this kind of slo-mo collapse in on itself. Not to be “done in” by a little pink cake, I cut out the middle, tossed it and with the extra frosting, we had a little midnight, spur-of-the-moment marshmallow fondue party. The frosting for this cake is AMAZING – not too sweet and simply yummy! Seriously, my tummy was a little upset from eating too much  – serves me right, doesn’t it? This is a cooked frosting and yes, you need a candy thermometer, but trust me, it’s really easy and worth the effort! Chill your bowl and wire whip (or beaters) in the freezer so they are very cold when whipping your egg whites for the frosting.

I decided to try liquid egg whites instead of the 8 (yes 8!) egg whites needed for the cake. I’d never used these before I and wasn’t sure how it was all going to turn out – typical! You know what, it turned out just fine! You can, of course, use actual egg whites for the cake. Don’t use liquid egg whites for the frosting, though – you need the real deal egg whites for whipping. See my thoughts on layer cakes at the end of the post!

Tickled Pink Cake with Marshmallow Frosting

Cake Ingredients:

• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 1 ¾ cups milk
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 egg whites ( I used 2 cups of liquid egg whites)
• ¼ teaspoon red food coloring
• Raspberries or strawberries for garnish

Marshmallow Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• ½ cup light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup water
• 5 egg whites (I used actual egg whites for the frosting, because liquid egg whites will not “whip”.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease and flour three 8” or 9” cake pans. I greased my pans, lined the bottoms with parchment, then greased and floured the parchment and sides of the pans. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix sugar and shortening for about 1 minute; slowly add egg whites. Add flour, milk, vanilla and red food coloring, beating at low speed for about 1 minute until all ingredients are blended. Beat at high speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. The batter is very pale pink – it doesn’t even look pink in the bowl, but it is!

Pour batter evenly into cake pans. Bake 30 – 35 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center of cakes comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and cook completely on wire racks. NOW you see the pale pink!

Prepare frosting: Heat sugar, corn syrup and water to boiling in medium saucepan, stirring occasionally until sugar is melted. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, making sure that the tip is immersed in the liquid but not touching the bottom of the pan. Boil, without stirring, until candy thermometer reads 242 degrees (soft ball stage), which takes about 4 to 5 minutes. Here’s the boiling sugar syrup, ready to go into the egg whites.

Bubbling, cooked sugar syrup

While the sugar syrup is cooking, beat egg whites in large bowl to soft peaks. If you are not using a copper bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tarter to the egg whites. Gradually beat in hot syrup and continue beating until the mixture is glossy and stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla. Look how thick and yummy this looks. But perfectly spreadable! hmm…that’s a word, right?

Thick, delicious, marshmallow frosting!

Marshmallow frosting, ready to go!

To make a 6 (or 4!) layer cake, cut each layer in half horizontally, either with a serrated knife or with a wire, cake divider. (Hopefully you can see it in the photo below!) A wire cake divider is a great addition to your arsenal of baking supplies, if you don’t have one! This one is from Wilton. It makes quick and easy work of dividing layers! Place a layer, cut side down, on a plate and spread with about 1/3 cup of marshmallow frosting. Repeat with remaining layers. Frost the top and sides of cake with remaining marshmallow frosting and top cake with raspberries or strawberries.

Cake divider and wire rack

Slice, enjoy and be Tickled Pink!

I didn’t know how Dave would feel about this cake, being a chocolate, cheesecake loving guy – but he really liked it! I know a lot of people don’t like making layer cakes. You never know how the layers are going to bake, sometimes they are uneven, etc. Here’s my take on layer cakes – go ahead and have fun with them! Unless you’re pastry chef, work for a bakery or making a cake for a wedding, it’s all about the TASTE! You can push a sliding layer cake back into place, fix a multitude of sins with frosting and “piece” cakes together. I’ll take an imperfect, delicious cake over a perfect, not so tasty one any day! Who’s with me?

Have a happy, relaxing Sunday and make something delicious!

Linking up this recipe at the Thursday Are Your Days party at 52Mantels!

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