If you can believe it, I had never tried to make an honest-to-goodness einkorn birthday cake. That is, until my son decided he would turn one (he didn't ask me if it was ok!).
Oh sure, I've made many cakes like this $4 chocolate cake I made for my husband's birthday.
But even without birthday cake experience, I plunged forward and tried it... and the results were amazing! Here are the step by step instructions for how to make your own Einkorn birthday cake! A light and fluffy white cake with homemade butter cream icing.
Reading over this recipe, you may think it seems a little overly complicated or finicky. It's honestly not. It may be a little different from other cake recipes you've tried, but trust me... it's worth it!
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Because the thing about Einkorn is that it just doesn't act the same way that regular flours do, which is a really good thing! Read about why I love (and exclusively use) Einkorn Flour here.
Best Recipes for Getting Started with Einkorn Flour
Einkorn Birthday Cake
This recipes makes a reasonably sized cake, but don't be afraid that it won't feed your crowd. My family is the biggest bunch of cake eaters you can imagine, and there was still plenty left over after the 15 adults had eaten a slice!
It's so rich that even we had a hard time finishing the slices we originally thought were small!
Of course, it was so delicious that we persevered and managed to take down the beast :-)
This is how much was left after all the adults (and 3 kiddos) had eaten their fill!
(Love my wooden cake stand? Get yours here!)
Even as rich as it was... when it was gone, we were all sad and immediately started looking forward to the next birthday. ;-)
Einkorn Birthday Cake with Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
For Cake
- 4 cups Einkorn flour
- 2 sticks room temperature butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk I use raw
- 3 egg whites whipped to stiff peaks
For Icing
- 3 sticks of butter room temperature
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup of milk again, I use raw
- dash of salt
Instructions
For Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Butter two tall, straight-sided cake pans. I used 8 inch pans, but you could use 9 inch or even a square or rectangular pan… just make sure it has high sides!
- Once your pans are buttered, dust with flour. Be sure to remove the excess flour!
- In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I creamed the butter alone until very smooth before adding the sugar, then beat on med-high for another 5 minutes.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well until each is incorporated.
- Add the vanilla extract to the milk.
- Alternating between the dry ingredients and the wet ones, add to the butter and sugar. Mix until combined after each addition. Beginning and ending with the dry mix works best!
- Using a spatula (not your mixer), gently fold in the egg whites. Stop when the egg whites are combined, but not completely incorporated.
- Pour the batter evenly into your pans. Bang the cake firmly on the counter (keep pan flat) to make sure there are no air pockets.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick cake comes out clean.
For Icing
- Place butter in mixer and whip until smooth.
- Slowly add sugar - about a half cup at a time. Scrap down the sides often. Mix until all is well combined.
- Slowly add milk.
- Add vanilla and salt.
Recipe Notes
Make sure that cakes are cool before icing.
$4 Einkorn Chocolate Cake
Bonnie says
We’ve loved this cake and have made it two years in a row for our son’s birthday but this year he’s having cupcakes. How would we alter the cooking time please? Also is it possible to make butter cream without powdered sugar? Thanks, Bonnie
Victoria says
Hi Bonnie! Oh I’m so glad y’all love this recipe! For cupcakes, I usually just bake for 25 minutes at 350, then test to see if done.
For my buttercream without powdered sugar, this is my favorite recipe!
Honey Sweetened Buttercream:
1 cup butter, room temp
1/2 cup water, room temp
1/4 cup honey (or to taste)
1 tsp gelatin (we use grassfed)
1. Gently heat water just enough to disolve gelatin. Stir well, remove from heat and allow to come to room temp.
2. Beat butter until creamy and smooth, add honey. Slowly add water/gelatin mix and beat until light and fluffy.
Note: You will need to scrap down the sides often, and I have found that if I turn up the mixer to high and shield the edges with a towel (to avoid splashing) it takes about 5 minutes to incorporate the water.
Keep at room temperature to pipe, pipes really well!
Mia says
Made this for my husband’s birthday, as he had specifically requested an einkorn flour vanilla cake. The recipe was a good bit of work, but turned out to be worth it. I halved the recipe and used a glass 8×8 baking dish. It was still a lot of batter, so it rose well above the height of the dish. I found the batter to be quite thick, and more like a loose cookie dough than cake batter, so I added an extra 1/3 C of milk or so. It took 50 minutes in my oven. The cake could have been a tad sweeter, so I will probably add an extra 1/2 C of sugar next time. But the texture was amazing… it was fluffy, spongy, and bouncy. I made chocolate peanut butter frosting at Hubby’s request, and he was thrilled with how this turned out. Thank you!!
Victoria says
Whoo hoo! So glad!
GeekyGirl says
I made this cake for my next door neighbors 13th birthday. He wanted to a vanilla cake with a wave on top . I doubled your icing recipe to make the ocean wave. I wish you could have seen the expression on his face when he saw the cake. Priceless. He was so happy and he got to add his home made surfer to it. The recipe was sooooo easy to follow and worked REALLY well with the einkorn flour. My 87 year old mom couldn’t get enough of it. I had to swat her hands away from the cake and she licked the beaters. It disappeared far too quickly! More einkorn flour recipes please…..
Victoria says
This is officially my favorite comment of the day! That’s so awesome, I’m glad y’all enjoyed it!! And your mom sounds amazing, ha! :-)
Any recipe on the site that contains wheat is specifically made for einkorn flour, so I hope you get to try more of them soon!
Thanks for stopping by!
Essie says
My son wants a birthday cake and I wondered if I could make this with whole einkorn flour?
Victoria says
Hi Essie! Absolutely! If you are grinding it yourself, you may need to adjust the liquid amount. You just want a nice thick cake batter. Let me know how it goes!