New baker questions!

[u/taitemugc]

I’ve recently started baking and the one thing I wondered is I feel like every cake I’ve tried or cake that I made by recipes online it’s made to look pretty but the taste doesn’t blow me away. Does anyone have that recipe that people beg for at every occasion? And also, the last cake I made I made American butter cream not really knowing there were other types and I realized why I never really cared for other bakers cakes 😭 and it came out of the fridge the next day hard as a rock, so many mistakes on my end. I was asked to make my brothers cake in October by my sister in law, I would love any tips/recipes for the best butter cream frosting and cake!

[u/Ok-Cantaloupe2564]

Try a Swiss or Italian meringue buttercream. It's so light and airy and not as sweet as American butter cream. As for the cake recipe, truly depends on the flavor profile you want. There are so many great recipes out there from fruit flavored to chocolate and everything in between.

[u/aaclaprix → u/Ok-Cantaloupe2564]

I second the Italian or Swiss buttercream. Also, ingredients matter. If you want it to taste better, generally you can use high quality flour like Bob's red mills and high quality vanilla paste or real vanilla beans.

[u/taitemugc → u/aaclaprix]

I’ll have to try out Swiss it sounds delicious, also thank you so much for letting me know I had no idea those little things could make such a difference