Five Years of Nicholas Warren

This young man is now 5. Oh my goodness... Five years have gone in a flash.
For Nicholas' birthday, he asked for a vanilla cake, with vanilla pudding, and vanilla frosting because that would be delicious! Well sure thing kid!! How to decorate it? Well first off, he wanted a disco ball - I vetoed that in a quick hurry. I kept priming him to do a camping cake. One day I showed hi ma few on Pinterest and he agreed! Hooray!!! I loved making this cake. I took my take and made the different parts over two weeks. the flames from melted hard candy, the tent with fondant and graham crackers, the trees from ice cream cones. Loved making this. My wonderful 5-year-old? Refused to eat it. I kept suggesting a S'more Cake - thinking how perfect those flavors would be - nope vanilla. Then the kid doesn't even eat any. Bah! Oh well - he loved it - I loved making it and hey - I love him! So thankful for this imp.

Yellow Cake
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 yellow cake mix
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep 3 6" cake rounds (or 2 8" cake rounds) with a wipe of shortening and dust of powdered sugar. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla, egg whites, and vegetable oil until thoroughly combined.
Sift in the cake mix. Stir until just combined (don't overmix!), then divide between prepared cake rounds.
Bake for 25-27 minutes until center is baked through (don't overbake!). Remove from oven, let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a cooling rack until room temperature. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least a day before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature (3 sticks)
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 - 4 Tbsp heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle or whisk attachment whip butter on medium-high speed (if using whisk attachment whip on high speed) until nearly white and very fluffy, about 7 - 8 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until blended, then increase speed to medium and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 - 6 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Immediately spread over cooled cake or cupcakes.