Sweet Almond Cake

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and grease (3) 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a hand or stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until it turns light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes).
4. Mix in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl about halfway through. Then mix in the almond and vanilla extract.
5. Once combined, alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk. Dry, milk, dry, milk, dry. Mix well until everything just comes together.
6. Divide the batter evenly between your three pans and bake for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let the cakes cool inside their pans for about 20 minutes before removing them. Keep the parchment paper on and allow them to cool completely on a cooling rack. I like to make my cakes the day before so that they can chill overnight in the fridge (wrapping each layer in plastic wrap). This makes them nice and sturdy for assembling. If you don’t have that time, you can pop them in the fridge for at least 2 hours before building your cake.

Almond Buttercream

1. Once the cakes are completely cooled, make the buttercream. Mix together the room temperature butter and powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
2. In between the cups of powered sugar, mix in the milk one tablespoon at a time. You shouldn’t need more than 3 tablespoons max. Then once you get the right buttercream consistency, mix in the almond extract.

White Chocolate Drip

1. Stack cakes with an even amount of buttercream between each layer. Then apply an even coat of buttercream all around the outside of the cake. Scrape off as much excess as possible without damaging the cake to get the naked cake look. Then place the cake in the fridge to chill while you prep the white chocolate.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, add in your candy melts and heavy cream. Microwave for 1 minute and stir. If it’s not completely melted at that point, you can microwave for another 30 seconds.
3. The secret to getting a bright white drip is the Wilton white-white icing color. I mixed in around 15-20 drops to get the opacity I wanted.
4. At this point, the drip mix will be pretty thin so let it sit in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes to thicken up a bit. When it’s ready, it should have some slight resistance when running your spoon through it but it will still rapidly disappear into itself.
5. Pour the drip into the center of the chilled cake. Leave about 1/2 inch around the edge of the cake and use an off-set spatula or spoon to guide it to the edges of the cake so it can drip down. Top with a handful of sliced almonds and enjoy!
6. You can serve it cold or at room temp – it tastes great either way!