I found it!

The PERFECT white cake recipe...and I mean perfect!
That says a lot because I have been hunting down and trying white cake recipes for 13 + years.
I have some complete failures, some that were tolerable and some that were good, but none that were PERFECT.

This recipe is a white cake from scratch that has a fluffy yet durable texture , not too dry, not too moist with a wonderful light crumb.

I found the original recipe on the blog 'I Am Baker' and it's called ' The Perfect White Cake' .
Never has there been a more appropriate title.
I did adapt it to slightly to my taste by replacing the almond extract she calls for with additional vanilla extract.

It was my Grandmother's 85th birthday so I had an opportunity to give it a shot.
I found some Key Lime filling at the grocery store to pair with it.

I baked 4 - 8 inch rounds ( 2 inches high ) in which I multiplied this recipe by 3.

The Perfect White Cake

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 cup milk at room temperature
• 6 large egg whites at room temperature
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8-inch cake pans.
2. Make sure milk and eggs are room temperature.
3. Pour milk , egg whites, and vanilla extract into medium bowl and mix with fork until blended.
4. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter, cut into cubes and continue beating on low for about 1-2 minutes.
5. Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to flour mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat for about 1 minute.
6. Pour batter evenly between two prepared cake pans.
7. Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 27 to 30 minutes.
8. Allow cake to cool to room temperature.
9. Frost cakes with favorite frosting.

( I have a printable recipe card for this in the cake recipe file ) 

I used the key lime filling and my White Summer Buttercream recipe alternating between layers and iced it with buttercream tinted blue.

I received rave reviews and as burned out as I am on cake, I even ate an entire piece and would have had 2 if I wasn't counting calories.

This recipe will give even a beginner ,professional results.

The decor of this cake was nothing compared to the flavor.

The birds were made of fondant. I printed off a few bird silhouettes I found online for templates and cut them out of fondant. I  also made some colorful accents for them out of fondant . 

These are not designed to be real birds, I am a little scared of birds and have never really studied their markings, so these are 'fantasy birds'. 

The branches and leaves were made of fondant pressed into the Wilton mold I found at Michaels 

The birds nest is a 4 inch round single layer covered in brown fondant. 

Then I used my clay extruder with the largest round disc and piped out strings to wrap around the mini cake. 

The numbers were also made of gumpaste from a template I printed out using fonts I have installed on my computer.

A fun and easy cake!