Private Chef Sasha's Tahitian Vanilla Cake Recipe

On this week's episode of Food Network's "Private Chefs of Beverly Hills," there was big drama surrounding my Tahitian Vanilla Cake.

What wasn't shown, that I wish made it to air, was me sticking cocktail umbrellas into my hair and stomping around the kitchen hollering, "Nobody tells me no!" before walking the cake out to guests who burst into applause when the saw what I'd made.

Regardless of how it looked, that cake was insanely delicious and exactly to the client's specifications for a White Chocolate Mousse-filled Tahitian Vanilla Cake with fresh Raspberries. But no one watching knew that.

After seeing the show, I got really nervous, wondering if I'd been made to look kind of incompetent. And then something crazy happened; I started getting fan mail. Well, actually, my cake started getting fan mail. For the first time since the show aired, people emailed me asking for the recipe of something I cooked. And it wasn't one or two people, it was almost a dozen! Therefore, may I present...

Sasha Perl-Raver's Tahitian Vanilla Cake Recipe

(If you like this cake, be sure to click here to check out my recipe for Salted Caramel Brownies.)

Tahitian Vanilla Cake Batter:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon Tahitian vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease three round cake pans, graduating in size.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and light.

Add the eggs one at a time.

Combine the flours and add in four parts, alternating with the milk and the vanilla extract.

Divide batter among the cake pans.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Let cakes cool completely until ready to frost.

Meanwhile prepare mousse and frosting.

Tahitian Vanilla White Chocolate Mousse:
4 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded
2 teaspoons Tahitian vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, scraped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
9 oz white chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over simmering water, melt the white chocolate and let it cool slightly.

In a separate bowl whisk together the yolks, the sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the cornstarch and whisk well.

Add the scalded milk, vanilla and vanilla bean scrapings and transfer the mixture to a heavy saucepan.

Over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, heat mousse until it is thick and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, butter and slightly cooled melted white chocolate.

Place plastic wrap on the surface of the mousse and chill completely.

To complete, beat cream until it hold stiff peaks and fold into mousse. Refrigerate until ready to frost cake.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
6 ounces white chocolate, chopped
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons Tahitian vanilla extract

In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over simmering water, melt the white chocolate and let it cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter.

Add powdered sugar, vanilla and slightly cooled chocolate.

Set aside

To assemble cake:
Also needed: Two pints fresh raspberries, 1 pint sliced in half, 1 pint left whole
to decorate
edible gold (optional)
edible flowers (optional)
cocktail umbrellas

Slice cake rounds in half

Top each half with white chocolate mousse and sliced raspberries.

Top with other half and frost layer.

Chill lightly while frosting additional layer, repeating the process.

Stack layers on each other and decorate with whole raspberries and, if using, edible gold, edible flowers and umbrellas.

Slice cake and serve with raspberry coulis and unsweetened whipped cream.

Off to The Races at Hollywood Park

Up until last night, I'd never been to a horse track before.

Holy hell was I missing out. As an animal lover, I certainly had my moments of "I hope these beautiful creatures are being treated well and have good lives," but as an insanely competitive freakazoid, I also had a bunch of "COME ON NUMBER FOUR!!! MAMA NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES!!!" outbursts.

Not only was it a great night of gambling and ridiculousness, it was capped by a Joan Jett and the Blackhearts concert which was free with your $8 admission to the track! Let's put another dime in the jukebox, baby and get into it.

En route to the track, Randy's Donuts (featured in "Iron Man 2" which I saw on Thursday, but more on that later), an LA institution.

I wanted to stop for either a glazed old fashioned or an apple fritter, but we had places to be.

I believe this is called a paddock but I'm not really down with the track lingo. It's the Alice in Wonderland-looking promenade where the horses are shown pre-race so you can pick your favorites. I was so bummed we didn't have any carrots or apples but Rachel said it probably wasn't on their strict diets. "They're athletes," she said.

Studying our programs...

Big money, no whammies.

Rachel and Ricky scooping the competitors. Ricky showed us the ways of the track, taking me to place my first ever bet.

We got a good feeling about that one.

The lovely gentlemen who took my four dollars and placed my bet for me. Minutes later, one of the two tickets he handed me would be a winner!
Way to go, Ruination! Better luck next time, Bran Jammas. That was my favorite name of the night. Rachel said it sounded like grandma's breakfast cereal.
Looking back to the stands from the outdoor stage where Joan Jett was getting ready to rock.
Yeah. Bah da da da da dah. My, my such a sweet thing. I wanna do everything. What a beautiful feeling.
By the end of the night, I was only down $4.40 after four bets, had experienced some of the best people watching of my life, and now have another great place to head on Friday nights over the summer. If the cute boy who worked with Jenny had asked for my number (oh, boys), Rachel had brought a jacket (it was kinda cold and we ended up sharing my sweater), and DollarDollarBillYall (my other favorite name of the night) hadn't scratched, it would have been a perfect evening. As is, I give it a 9.75.

On a Mission to Get E!'s Attention with Salted Caramel Brownies

I'm just a girl with a dream. A dream to be on E! one day. All I want is to sit down across from Ben Lyons and trade reviews, to kick back with Sal Masekela and Catt Sadler and dish some "Daily 10," to tuck into some "Soup" with Joel McHale.

It's a simple dream and it's mine.

You see, I grew up addicted to "Entertainment Tonight." Every evening I'd thrill at the sound of the theme song (dun-na-nuh-nuh-dunt-dun-dunna-nat-na-na!), racing to the TV to be enraptured by John Tesh's luxurious locks and Mary Hart's flesh-colored stocking legs under the ET glass desk of power as they delivered celebrity news. It was so magical and glamorous.

I especially looked forward to Leonard Maltin's movie reviews. I can't lie, I'm a total Maltin groupie. He was my professor for a class at USC called Cinema 466... I took it five times. I would always sit in the front row, the first to raise my hand, in full-on teacher's pet mode. It's not that I want to do The Maltin, it's that I want to be The Maltin. But without the glasses and beard.

Then I got older and they invented an entire 24-hour channel that did what "Entertinment Tonight" did for thirty glorious minutes every evening. I was hooked. It's been my mission to get a job working for them ever since.

I got close once. When I was the head cocktail waitress at Spiderclub, almost five years ago, Giuliana Rancic (then DePandi), came in to do a segment on "The Drinks of the Stars" for E! News and I was asked to be her oncamera co-hort. By the time we were done shooting our three minute segment, she was my new BFF and kept saying "You should do this for a living."

Girl! I would if I could but your bosses won't hire me. But I'm working on it.

Last week I found out E! was looking for a new reporter so I'm pulling out all the stops on a mission to get their attention. I sent them my Fox News clips, my GossipSauce movie review vlog, my NBC appearance for the Golden Globe noms, and then, to seal the deal, I dropped off Salted Caramel Brownies. Who could say no to that?

I began by making dulce de leche caramel by boiling down sugar, butter, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and Maldon sea salt until it turned golden brown, then let it cool.

Next, I made my famous brownie recipe and poured half the batter into the bottom of the pan, allowing it to cook 8 minutes to create a base for a layer of caramel...

Onto of the middle caramel layer went the rest of the batter which was swirled with even more caramel and topped with additional sea salt.

Seacrest, I'm gunnin' for your job, buddy. Look out!

The Famous Brownies:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
1½ cups good quality semisweet chocolate, chopped finely
3 extra large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups sugar
¾ cup flour
½ tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk chocolate chips
½ cup 60% cacao bittersweet chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melt butter and semisweet chocolate together in a double boiler over simmering water.

Allow to cool slightly (but not harden), then add eggs, vanilla and sugar.

Sift together dry ingredients and add to chocolate mixture. Add additional chocolate chips at the last minute, folding in to combine.

Pour into a greased 8 by 8 baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes, taking care not to overbake.

A tester stuck into brownies will not come out clean. The idea is to create a brownie whose center is closer to fudge and under-baking is crucial to that end.

Remove brownies from oven and allow to cool before serving.

Enjoy!