Best Cake recipe EVER!

Yesterday was my father in law's birthday. We had a small BBQ at our house. I was the designated birthday cake baker. Naturally, I used my favorite cake recipe and I made a banana cream filling using ingredients I had on hand. My son requested Banana Cream Pie cupcakes for his last birthday and I had an extra box of banana cream pudding mix so I decided to make a cake version. The cupcakes are so yummy it should be tasty as a cake too! I got out my ingredients for the cake and started baking.

Here is the recipe for your baking pleasure:
Cake Layers
3 cups Cake Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 1/4 cups Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup Milk
8 Egg Whites
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-In a medium bowl, sift together Cake Flour, Baking Powder and Salt.
-In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat Butter and 2 cups of the Sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in Vanilla.
-With the mixer on low speed, add the Flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the Milk, beginning and ending with the Flour. Beat until just combined, do not over mix. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
-In the clean bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low-medium speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup of Sugar, beat on high speed until stiff glossy peaks form. Do not over beat. Gently fold one third of the egg white mixture into the butter/flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining egg white mixture.
-Transfer batter to lined muffin pan or cake pans of your choice. For this cake I used two 8" rounds, greased with butter. Bake cupcakes for 15-20 minutes, cakes for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Once my cakes were cooled, I cut the tops off to prepare for filling and frosting. Unfortunately I am not very good at slicing straight so this is how it turned out. Fortunately, you can level everything out with the cake filling.

Filling
1 3.4 ounce package of Instant Pudding, flavor of your choice (I used banana cream)
3/4 cup Whole Milk
1/3 pint Heavy Cream
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract (optional)
-Whisk together all ingredients until thick, pudding consistency. Refrigerate until the mixture sets.

I lined the bottom layer with banana slices, then chopped half of a banana and mixed that into the pudding mixture. I spread the mixture over the layer of banana slices, then placed another layer of banana slice on top of the pudding mixture.

 After I spread the filling evenly over the bottom layer, the cake was level!

*Sorry for the clutter in the background...my fiance's figurines are back there....I should hide them in the garage.

I crumb coated the cake then frosted it with my homemade buttercream. (2 sticks of butter, about 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract, Powdered sugar to your heart's desire.) I never use specific measurements when I make my buttercream, I just go by consistency and taste. I made a washi tape banner and tied it to some paper straws I had, we don't have wooden skewers and toothpicks are too short. Here it is, the best cake ever!

**I also like filling cakes with strawberries and cream, chopped up fresh strawberries and home whipped cream. Super easy too.

I hope you have fun baking this cake. Let me know how it turns out for you!

Happy Monday!