Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8-inch cake pans and two 6 inch round pans with baker's floured cooking spray, or grease and line with parchment rounds.

Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined. Mix bits of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture looks crumbly.

Pour in egg whites and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in the buttermilk and vanilla extract in two installments, on a low speed. Add in and oil, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.

Bake for 35-37 minutes, (or until a toothpick or skewer comes out clean). Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then run an offset spatula or knife around perimeter of the pan to separate the cake from the pan, then remove the layers from the pans. Place cake layers into the freezer for 45 minutes, to accelerate the cooling process.

Once the layers have fully cooled, they can be leveled and any caramelized bits can be trimmed from the sides / top of the cake using a serrated knife if desired. Be sure the layers are completely cooled or chilled before trimming. If you try to trim the layers while they’re still warm, they will crumble and break.

While you’re waiting…make your frosting!

Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt if needed and beat until well combined.

Place a smear of frosting on your large cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your large first cake layer in the center of the circle. Spread the layer with frosting). Add your next cake layer on top, and repeat the process with your remaining cake layers.

Next, repeat the same process with your smaller cardboard circle and cake layers. Of note – if your circles aren’t pre-center-punched, be sure to grab a dowel or straw and make your own hole in the exact center of the circle! This will allow you to center the tier on the base tier later on. (You’ll see in the video I used a bit of simple syrup flavored with 1/8 teaspoon of lavender on the top cake tiers – I’d had to leave them in the oven an extra 7-ish minutes to be sure they were done in the middle, and didn’t want them to taste dry. Optional, but not required!)

Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake tiers to keep crumbs out of your final layer.

Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layers of frosting and smooth with a cake scraper or pastry cutter. Don’t stress this part too much; you’ll texture the frosting with an offset spatula in a minute! For my larger tier, I was able to smooth the frosting fairly well free-handed, but I struggled getting the sides smoothed on my smaller one. Trimming the layers just smaller than the cake circle and using the cardboard as a guide for my bench scraper worked well for smoothing the frosting on the top tier.

Texturing the frosting is fairly straightforward – hold a large offset spatula against the side of the cake, and press gently while rotating the cake on the turntable. One tip – I did find that I got a much smoother and more even line with my spatula when I warmed it a bit in hot water and dried it with a paper towel before each pass around the cake.