A Short Fairy Tale and a Tall Cake

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Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a lovely little princess. She loved to laugh and play and dance and sing. She was the apple of everyone's eye and all of her subjects adored her!

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Meanwhile, in a neighboring kingdom, there lived a handsome, young prince. He also loved to laugh and play, but instead of dancing and singing, he liked to play baseball and dig in the dirt.

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One day, a long time later, the handsome prince spied the lovely princess in a strange new land called College. He was struck by her beauty, charm and grace and endeavored to win her over. Alas, the princess was already betrothed to a no-account knave someone else and this was not to be, but she never forgot him.

After a few years, at a fancy fete called Happy Hour, the prince and the princess met again. By this time, the princess had gotten wise to her fiancee's rapscallion ways and bid good riddance to bad rubbish. The two young monarchs-in-training fell in love and were soon inseparable.

Eventually, they wed......

and had a lovely little princess of their own......

And they all lived happily ever after.

On the twenty-second anniversary of their royal marriage, the princess decided to commemorate the occasion by baking this beautiful and extremely delicious cake. It was a three layer vanilla buttermilk cake with chocolate fudge frosting from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne. The prince was so touched by this selfless gesture, that he bought her this gorgeous Marc Jacobs black patent leather carry-all as token of his affection.

The End!

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Instant Fudge Frosting (Printable Recipe)
from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes

For the cake:

4 whole large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 9-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper and grease the paper.

Place the eggs and the yolks in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Whisk to blend well.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl and whisk to blend. Add the remaining buttermilk and butter to the dry ingredients and with the mixer on low speed, blend together. Raise the mixer to medium speed and beat until light fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.

Bake the cake layers for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out the cakes onto a wire rack and peel off the paper liners. Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

6 ounces of unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled
4 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
12 ounces of unsalted butter at room temperature
6 tablespoons of half and half
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate. Then, process until frosting is smooth.