Vanilla Cheese Layer Cake

I know, another cheese layered cake. It might look the same as the ones I made many many times before, but this one is different.

I was craving for a simple yet satisfying cake lately. I've been working late for a while and I feel like I deserved to indulge a little. I don't want those fancy cakes with mousse, cream, gelee, chocolate. All I wanted was a simple and comforting cake, and the only thing on my mind was this cake. There's something about this cake that just very comforting, not to mention delicious, and a lot simpler to make than regular french gateau.

I'm trying new recipe this time. I usually use three layers of soft and moist sponge cake (with lots of egg yolks and butter), layered with simple buttercream, and cheese of course. This time is not that much different, except the method of making the cake and the frosting. A regular sponge cake method is beating the eggs and sugar until pale, folding the dry ingredients, then the melted butter at the very end. But this time, I used a recipe that calls to beat the butter separately, and folded in at the end. It uses more egg yolks than usual (although the usual has lots of egg yolks already). It's the same method as "Lapis Surabaya" cake, making the cake super soft and moist. Instead of regular buttercream, I used cream cheese frosting instead. I had about 165 g of cream cheese leftover and the amount is too odd to make something with it, but it is perfect for the cream cheese frosting I needed for that size of cake.

The verdict? I was surprised myself. The cake is super soft, the cream cheese frosting was lovely, not to mention the shredded processed cheese. The cake has to be good for this kind of cake because you will eat it the most, not the frosting, unlike any other french cakes I made where the cake is only the base. I know my friends would go crazy over this cake, but it was on Sunday night when I finished making the cake, so I didn't have time to share to them. I brought a slice or two everyday for snack at work. My little niece (she's 3 years old now) can finish two slices on her own in one sitting. I don't think the cream cheese frosting was that noticeable though, especially since I flavored it with the same thing (vanilla and a little rum extract). So next time, I think I will stick with this kind of cake, although it's more time consuming and more labor intensive, but just use regular buttercream for the frosting and filling.