Recipe

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease the bottom and sides of two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter with the sugar. Add the eggs scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. In a small bowl, stir together the milk, lemon juice, and the vanilla extract. On low speed, add half the milk. Mix until combined. Add half the dry ingredients. Mix until combined and scrape down sides of bowl. Add the remaining milk and the dry ingredients in the same manner. Divide the batter between the two pans.

Bake on the center oven rack for 15 minutes, until a tester inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then unmold the cakes on a rack. Cool completely. Peel off the parchment paper. To make the frosting, melt the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler, or in a heatproof bowl, over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

While the chocolate is cooling, combine the egg whites and sugar in the cowl of an electric mixer. Place the bowl in a pot of simmering water so the water comes a third of the way up the bowl. Lightly whisk the egg whites just until warm to the touch, about 1 ½ minutes. Remove the bowl from the pot and mix on high speed until very thick and cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Decrease to medium-low and add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Add the white chocolate and vanilla and mix until smooth. Let sit for 5 minutes. Crush the peppermint candies into small pieces. Sift the crushed candies and discard any peppermint dust. To assemble the cake, spread about 1 ¼ cups of the frosting over the top of one of the cake layers. Place the second layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake. To get the crushed candy on the sides of the cake, keep your hand about 1 inch from the sides of the cake and gently toss the candy onto the frosting.