May West Cake. Based on the classic Canadian snack cake. A light moist white cake filled with creamy vanilla buttercream frosting and covered in a thin layer of chocolate.
May West Cake
I cannot remember a time when Vachon brand, May West snack cakes were not on the store shelves here in Canada. They have been a favourite of mine since I was a child.
May West Cake
To open your lunchbox at school and find one of these was a real treat every time. Even the vintage packaging style has been maintained over the decades.
The sight of a package on the store shelves still evokes those childhood memories.
May West snack cakes in Canada.
While some kids preferred the Jos Louis, which is basically the chocolate cake version, or a famous Flakie, I was never disappointed in my simple May West.
Adding the dry ingredients.
The base ingredients for white velvet cake.
Whipping the base of the cake.
The final white velvet cake batter.
Batter for white velvet cake in the cake pans.
As I did with my Jos Louis Cake, I decided to throw together a celebration sized cake to share. The base for this recipe is our ever popular White Velvet Cake.
It was very much appreciated at a family dinner just last week.
May West Cake.
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May West Cake
May West Cake. Based on the classic Canadian snack cake. A light moist white cake filled with creamy vanilla buttercream frosting and covered in a thin layer of chocolate.
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons good quality vanilla extract, if you want pure white use clear vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or milk soured with a tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice)
FOR THE FROSTING
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 4 icing sugar (powdered sugar, approximately)
- 3 tbsp (45ml) heavy cream (or milk)
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch salt
For the Chocolate Ganache
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup whipping cream (heavy cream)
Instructions
To prepare the cake
Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside.
Grease and flour 2 nine inch round cake pans and line the bottom with 2 circles of parchment paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy
Beat the eggs in one at a time.Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
I always add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared 9 inch cake pans.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
To prepare the frosting
- In a mixer whip the softened butter with icing sugar until well combined.
- Add the vanilla, whipping cream and salt.
Beat for another 3-5 minutes on hight to get the creamy consistency you want. (if you need to add another couple of tablespoons of icing sugar or a little more cream to balance the texture, use your own judgement.)
To Construct the cake.
- Place one layer of the cake on a flat serving plate.
- Add the frosting to the top of that layer, reserving about 1/3 of it.
- Use the other 1/3 to add a skim layer of frosting to the sides and top of the cake. (This will help keep the outside of the cake smooth.)
- Chill this cake in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before adding the chocolate coating.
- Melt together the chocolate chips and cream in a double boiler just until melted. DO NOT OVERHEAT THE CHOCOLATE.
- Working quickly and with the help of a spatula (a lazy susan is useful too) pour the melted chocolate on top ot the cake and spread it to the edges of the cake, letting it drip down the sides.
- Then with your spatula, smooth the chocolate onto the sides of the cake.
Chill again to set the chocolate before serving.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 636Total Fat 33gSaturated Fat 14gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 17gCholesterol 77mgSodium 321mgCarbohydrates 78gFiber 2gSugar 58gProtein 6g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Sara c.c. DaCosta
Thursday 15th of August 2024
great cake!
Shelley Casmey
Tuesday 13th of August 2024
😱 sooo awesome!!! I will definitely be trying the recipe! Now!!!! How bout a recipe for the pink coconut ballot logs?! Hmmm