TWD- Cake Perfected

There was a time when I was willing to settle...for mediocre desserts. Boxed cookies, over-refrigerated restaurant cakes, and I'll admit to eating more than a few chocolate bars past there prime. That white stuff is safe right? Well friends, those days are over. Baking classes, awesome blogging groups like Tuesday's With Dorie, and a whole lot of Food Network have made me quite the dessert snob these days. Why settle for old grocery store cake when I have a Perfect Party Cake recipe in my arsenal?!
This is the second time I have successfully made this cake and despite many previous white cake disasters I thinks I am finally getting the hang of this thing! I'm not so over confident as to branch out just yet so I followed this recipe almost exactly, save for halving it to make a 4 inch mini cake and replacing the lemon extract with vanilla.

For the layers I used homemade raspberry pan jam and and I totally heart pressing coconut into the buttercream. Especially since it covers up my less than stellar icing job.
Finally being able to bust out darn good dessert from my kitchen is enough to make me want to celebrate. For more Party Cake perfection, head on over the blogroll.