Patty Cake

You know the rhyme, Patty Cake, where it says to bake me a cake as fast as you can? Well that's kind of what happened today. I was left out of the loop, and no one told me we were celebrating mom's birthday a day early. So I got to baking as soon as she said she was going to take a nap. I decided to try a more "grown up" cake today. And I have to say I'm pretty proud of the results...maybe later I can get some real pictures of it up, but for now, I only have what I could get from photobooth.
I made a meringue-frosted cake with raspberry filling. I got it from Martha Stewart's website. Hopefully it tastes good!

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, plus 3 large egg yolks (reserving whites for meringue, plus 1 additional white)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk
5 ounces frozen raspberries, thawed and drained (1/2 cup)

1/4 cup raspberry preserves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper. Butter paper; dust with flour; tap out excess. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, beat butter with 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla; beat until combined.
3. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat just until combined. Divide batter between prepared pans.
4. Bake cakes side by side (not touching), rotating pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of pans. Invert cakes onto a cooling rack; remove parchment. Cool completely, upside down. (Wrap in plastic, and store at room temperature, up to 1 day.)
5. In a small bowl, combine raspberries and preserves. On an ovenproof serving platter, place one cake layer, bottom side up; spread with raspberry mixture, leaving a 1-inch border. Top with second cake layer, bottom side up.
6. Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with rack in bottom third. Using an electric mixer, beat reserved whites with additional egg white until soft peaks form. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating whites until stiff. Using a spatula, frost top and sides of cake, lifting spatula occasionally to make peaks. Bake until tips of meringue brown slightly, about 2 minutes, watching carefully so they don't burn.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Meringue-Frosted Cake with Raspberry Filling - Martha Stewart Recipes