Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links, including Amazon Affiliate links. An affiliate link means I may earn an advertising fee if you make a purchase through my link without any extra cost to you. This helps to keep this little blog alive, so thank you! For additional information, please view my privacy policy.
The one thing about being a new mom is that I have lost sense of the days of the week and of which holidays are right around the corner. Canada Day is not anything big in our household, but I was feeling festive this year for some reason. In all honesty, I would love to make a little something out of every holiday from now on. Probably another symptom of becoming a new mom?
I had some grand plans of hosting a Canada Day barbecue for friends and family in themes of red and white. Then as the day approached, I started to feel like I’d rather spend my days lounging in the sun on my deck than preparing for such party.
So I figured baking a cake in honour of my country’s birthday will do for this year.
It’s true. I make delicious cakes. I hate decorating cakes though. I salute those folks who do such beautiful art on their cakes, because cake decorating is definitely not for the faint of heart and takes some mad talent to get it right.
Thank goodness for the trending beauty of rustic farmhouse, because now my cakes still look cute without having to be a pro cake designer! I just threw some fresh red berries on top, smoothed out any filling cream that spilled out the sides of the cake and finished it off with some adorable mini Canadian flag picks.
This cake is a one-bowl recipe, which admittedly is something I have never done before. I usually mix my dry ingredients and my wet ingredients separately, then mix the wet into the dry. And there’s no milk used in this recipe, so it produces a much denser and coarser cake than I’m used to. But when there’s a screaming and jumping baby around, this one-bowl method saved me.
This cake would also be perfect for the 4th of July! Just add some blueberries and use American flag picks. Easy-peasy. Don’t tell me this is not the simplest and cutest thing ever!
Happy Canada Day and Happy Fourth of July!
— Shop The Post —
INGREDIENTS
For the cake
- 5 eggs, room temperature
- 1-1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened/room temperature
- 2-1/2 cups flour
- 1-1/4 cups sugar
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the filling
- 1-1/4 cups cream cheese
- 2/3 cup icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2-1/2 cups heavy cream
- mixed berries for topping
Method for cake
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8-inch pan and a 6-inch pan with butter, line the bottoms with parchment paper and dust the sides with flour.
Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, mix all the ingredients together on low until just combined. Then mix on medium-high until fully combined.
Pour batter into pans and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 30 minutes give or take.
Invert cakes onto cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
Method for filling
With the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, mix cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla on low until just combined. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until smooth and creamy.
Reduce speed to low and slowly add heavy cream. When combined, increase speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form.
Assembly
Using a serrated knife, cut cakes in half horizontally. You can use toothpicks spaced evenly apart as a guide if needed.
On the 8-inch cake, use about 1-1/2 cups of filling on one half of cake, spreading filling to edge of cake and smoothing out top. Place other half of cake, cut side down. Do the same on 6-inch cake, using about 1 cup of filling.
Spread a dollop of cream on top of 8-inch cake and carefully set 6-inch cake on top.
If any cream has seeped out onto the sides of the cake, use a metal spatula to spread it out for a semi-naked cake look.
Decorate cake with berries, using more cream to keep berries in place if needed.
