Ami’s niece recently turned 13 and we were asked if we would make the cake for the party. We were told the colors are going to be rose gold and blush and she loves chocolate, but other than that we were free to do whatever we wanted. Hmmmm, the possibilities! She’s going to be a teenager, so we wanted something girly yet classy. A vertical ruffle design immediately came to mind. It’s a design we’ve been wanting to do for a while, and it fit perfectly with the party. For the flavor we decided on our chocolate covered strawberry cake since she also loves strawberries and it would give us the perfect blush pink color. This cake consists of chocolate cake layers filled with strawberry buttercream and chocolate ganache.
The vertical ruffle design is fairly easy to achieve. We love cake designs like this because they look amazing yet are simple to create. It’s a design almost anyone could do and will impressive everyone. The first thing you will need to do it stack, fill and crumb coat your cake. The outside of the cake doesn’t have to be perfect since you will be covering the whole cake with ruffles, but you will be able to see through the ruffles a little so make sure to get a thick enough coat not to see the cake underneath. Fill a piping bag fitted with Wilton petal tip 104. Hold the bag straight up with the large end of the tip against the cake. Starting at the bottom, pipe a ruffle up the side of the cake and release pressure when you get to the top. When you pull the piping bag away pull it up and towards the cake. Continue all the way around the cake making each ruffle a little different than the one before.
If you like, you can continue this technique on the top of the cake creating ruffles towards the center of the cake. For the top of this cake we decided to pipe a ruffle border around the edge and fill the middle with sprinkles to match the cake topper. We used the same tip for the top ruffles by holding the piping bag horizontal with the large end of the tip towards the middle of the cake and creating ruffles as we spun the cake. We used a mix of Wilton sprinkles that included white jimmies, white pearls and gold sequins.
This design was so fun to make, and we can’t wait to try it again! Maybe next time incorporating with some other designs.
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray three 6-inch round cake pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
- Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, water and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix a little longer to make sure everything is fully incorporated.
- Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
- 4.5 ounces semi-sweet, milk or dark chocolate finely chopped
- 3 ounces heavy cream
Instructions
- In a small sauce pan over medium heat bring cream just to a boil.
- Remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Let stand for 5 minutes without stirring.
- Stir with whisk until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.
Strawberry Buttercream
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 6 cups powdered sugar measured and then sifted
- 1/2 cup strawberry preserves optional
- 1 teaspoon strawberry emulsion
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed (about one minute).
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stop to scrape the bowl as needed.
- Add the strawberry preserves and strawberry emulsion and mix until combined.
- With the mixer still on medium speed, add the whipping cream, then increase the speed to high and whip for about 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Notes
