Pretty in pink

My mom celebrated her 51st birthday just like a lady. My dad took us out for a steak dinner, bought her jewelry, and she had a cake that looked like a bouquet of flowers. If that isn't the classiest birthday I don't know what is.

I didn't want to make anything too ridiculous flavor-wise. I found a recipe for a white cake and icing from Country Cleaver, and though her rose frosting was beautiful I have yet to perfect my piping skills to even attempt to emulate such a design. I christened my Martha Stewart pastry decorating set nonetheless, and learned two things: I need to refrigerate buttercream if I know I can't work fast enough, and I need a frosting spatula because darn it, a butter knife just will not do.

This cake called for four layers of ombre goodness. I could not do that and because I did a shortcut version my cakes were thinner and much harder to pipe flowers on the sides...hence the spatula frosting job around the cake. The icing was delicious and the flavor of the cake was a little on the subtly sweet side. The almond extract definitely gave the cake another dimension of flavor.

A more ambitious second attempt would be to create the actual 4 layer cake and create a sturdy enough buttercream that piping rosettes would be a snap. All in due time...

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Ombre White Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Yield: 2 8" cakes and 3 cups of frosting

Ingredients: 

Cake (double this recipe to create a four-layered ombre cake)

2 3/4 cup cake flour, sifted

4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

4 egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

6 oz. white chocolate, melted and cooled

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

**Food coloring of choice**

Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl three times. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until the meringue holds soft peaks. 
Cream butter in a separate bowl and add the remaining cup of sugar until creamy. Add the sifted ingredients alternately with milk, a small amount each time and beating until the mixture is incorporated. Mix in the extracts. Add the meringue and beat thoroughly into the batter.
To create ombre cakes, divide the batter evenly between as many mixing bowls as you are making layers. Each bowl should have a different amount of food coloring, which you can adjust to your liking. Skip this step if you are disregarding the coloring. Spread batter into greased cake pans and bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a rack.

While the cakes cool, you can make your frosting. In a bowl, sift salt and powdered sugar over butter and beat together until light and fluffy. Combine heavy cream and vanilla extract in a separate cup and gradually pour the cream into the butter mixture, beating on low speed. Fold in the melted and cooled white chocolate until incorporated. Increase the speed mixture to medium-high and beat for another 3 minutes. 

If you are creating ombre roses, separate the frosting evenly into as many bowls as there are cake layers and adjust the food coloring to match the cakes as closely as possible. Otherwise, you can go ahead and frost this cake anyway you'd like.
When you are ready to start frosting roses, assemble your pastry bag (a disposable one would be best for this) with a 1M tip or a teardrop tip. You can start with the darker colored roses at the bottom. Holding the bag at a 90-degree angle, swirl the tip to create a blooming rosette. The bigger the piping tip, the bigger the rose. If you're using the teardrop tip, you might need two or three swirls depending on the size of the flower you'd like to create. 
Repeat this around the circumference of the bottom layer, and then the same goes for the other subsequent layers. Change your pastry bag as you change layers so the frosting colors are consistent and don't bleed over.When you get to the top, start piping roses in concentric circles starting from the outer edges and then going to the center. 

My frosting job was pretty free-form but when I do get a chance to make roses I will post them.

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xo,

k.