age is only a (n)ombré

Here we are about six months into this global pandemic, and there’s a lot that I miss about pre-pandemic days. Crowded bars, concerts filled with people, and birthday parties are just a few of those things I miss. But mainly, it’s doing and going to all of these places with my friends that I miss most.

Well, this weekend, I got to see two of my closest friends for the first time in six months. The last time we had gotten together back in February — which is really the last time I saw most people IRL — I was still keeping my pregnancy a secret, so they’re some of the few who will have actually seen this baby bump before the baby arrives in about a month other than my husband! This weekend was also one of their birthdays (and it was a big one!), so we had so much to celebrate. And what better excuse than a celebration to make a three-layer cake and try out some new decorating techniques!

I’ve been wanting to try this ombré technique all summer long, so was so excited to finally get to try it out. I absolutely love watching cake decorating videos in hyperlapse on Instagram, and this kind of ombré design is just mesmerizing to watch. In case you’re looking for a rabbit hole of endless hyperlapse cake decorating videos, I highly suggest following @cakesbae and @cakesdaily.gram for some truly addicting content. So as soon as we made the plan for this weekend, I got my cake turntable and scraper ready to go!

As someone who’s done a lot of ombré and balayage to her hair, I know the HOURS it takes in a salon chair to achieve that kind of hair color perfection. Luckily, it’s not quite the same when it comes to cake! Definitely one of those things that looks harder & fancier than it is to actually achieve. The main trick here is to make sure you’ve got your crumb coat layered on and to give it time to chill in the fridge a bit before adding your colored coats.

What’s a crumb coat you ask? It’s the first layer of icing that you lay on fully around the cake to catch any stray cake crumbs so that those crumbs don’t appear in your design. Once that crumb coat is on and chilled, the rest is pretty easy.

While the crumb coat chills, that gives you time to prep the different colors for your ombré. For mine, I only used a pink, a light pink, then finished off with a white layer on top, but you can definitely go bigger with more shades if you’d like. Also, for my lighter shade of pink (the middle color), I actually just used a teensy bit of red gel food coloring. Even just one drop from the bottle is too much to get this shade of pink, so I squeezed a drop out onto a plate, dipped a toothpick into the drop, and that’s all that went into my icing. A little bit goes a long way here!

Once you’ve got your icing colors ready and the crumb coat has chilled for about 45 minutes, you’re ready to get the ombré started! Using an offset spatula, start with the darkest color and lay it on thick all the way around the bottom. Then do the same with your lighter shade all the way around the middle, and continue doing this until you get to the top with the lightest or white icing. Don’t worry if it’s messy or that you can see distinct lines between the colors.

Now for the fun part! Grab your icing scraper and press it along the side of the cake with one hand while you spin the turntable with the other. Just keep going all the way around until you’ve got a smooth layer and the ombré will appear right before your eyes!

I think my icing wasn’t quite thick enough (I’ll be adding more powdered sugar next time), so I didn’t quite get the smooth ombré I was hoping for. I was running out of time and still had a few more things to do before my friends arrived, so rather than fickling around with the ombré more, I put the rest of my colored icings into a piping bag and piped out some pretty ombré rosettes around the cake to hide the unevenness. Sneaky, sneaky :) I was actually hoping to try out some multi-colored piping too, so this just seemed like more good practice for me anyway.

After all of my unexpected rosettes, I didn’t quite have enough icing to go around the top of the cake, so I grabbed some pink candied chocolates to finish it off. Sometimes you’ve just gotta do what you can with what you’ve got and hope for the best! This is why I’ve added this to my baking bloopers section, but I’m still pretty proud of how it turned out. Check out my Instagram for a video of the full cake spin!

Full list of ingredients & directions below. Vanilla sponge recipe is the “wedding cake” recipe from one of my go-to recipe books A New Way to Cake from Benjamina Ebuehi. Raspberry compote and lemon buttercream were winged on the spot by me :)

vanilla cake with raspberry compote and lemon buttercream

Prep Time: 30 mins | Bake Time: 20-30 minutes | Inactive Time: 2 hrs, 45 mins | Total Time: 3 hrs, 45 mins

VANILLA CAKE INGREDIENTS:

• 3 1/2 cups (450g) all-purpose flour

• 3 1/2 teaspoons (18g) baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature

• 375 grams granulated sugar

• 5 eggs, room temperature

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

RASPBERRY COMPOTE INGREDIENTS:

• 170 grams raspberries

• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup water

• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

LEMON BUTTERCREAM INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups unsalted butter, room temperature

• 640-704 grams powdered sugar, sifted (start with 640g, and add more depending on preferred consistency)

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• Zest of 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F and grease three (3) 6-inch cake pans and line them with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

3. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment on low-medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until pale & creamy (about 3-5 minutes). Add the eggs one at at a time, scraping the sides down as needed. With the mixer still running and turned down to low, add half the flour mixture. Once the flour is combined, add the buttermilk, vanilla, and remaining half of the flour mixture. Beat for a few seconds until the batter is smooth.

4. Fill each pan 2/3rds of the way to the top.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. Allow the cakes to cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before flipping the pans over to remove the cakes. Once removing the cakes from the pans, allow the cakes to cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap the cakes in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or ideally overnight.

7. Make the raspberry compote. Add the raspberries, water, and sugar to a small saucepan over low to medium heat. Bring to a boil while mashing the raspberries with the back of a wooden spoon. Once the mixture is boiling, add the cornstarch and boil for 10 minutes until it thickens. Remove from heat and let it cool while you make the icing.

8. Make the lemon buttercream. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and powdered sugar together until combined. Scrape the sides down as needed. Add the lemon zest and juice, and beat until fully combined. Add more powdered sugar to thicken if needed.

9. Remove the cakes from the fridge and trim off the tops with a long serrated knife if uneven.

10. Assemble the cake. Add a dollop of icing to the middle of the cake turntable, then place a 6-inch cake round (cardboard), and add another dollop of icing to the middle of the cake round. Place the first cake onto the cake round. Spread a layer of icing onto the top of the cake.
    Tip: After spreading icing over the cake, use a piping bag with a round tip to outline the outer ring of the cake top. This will help to keep the compote from spreading out to the sides of the cake.
    Spread a layer of the compote over the icing within the icing ring.
    Place the next cake over the raspberry compote and repeat the icing and raspberry layers, followed by the last cake.

11. Using an offset spatula, cover the cake (sides and top) in a layer of icing to create the crumb coat. Place the cake in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.

12. Divide the remaining icing into 3 separate bowls (about 1 1/2 cups each). Use pink gel food coloring in one bowl and mix until fully combined. Use a toothpick in a drop of red gel food coloring to color the second bowl of icing and mix until fully combined.

13. Decorate the cake. Take the darker of the pink icing, and cover the bottom third of the cake. Take the lighter pink and cover the middle third. Take the remaining white icing and cover the top third and top of the cake. Holding the cake scraper in one hand and pressing it against the cake, spin the turntable with the other hand. Continue to spin until the layers are smooth and the ombré pattern appears.
    Some icing will rise up over the top of the cake. Wipe the excess icing off of the cake scraper (I wiped it onto the mixing bowl in case I needed it later — which I did). Spin the turntable and use the cake scraper to flatten the excess icing over the top of the cake and smooth the top.

14. To add ombré rosettes, or to make any other design on the cake, add any remaining icing from all colors to a piping bag.
    Tip: place the piping bag into a tall glass and open the bag over the top of the glass. Add each color of icing to different sides of the piping bag. Remove the piping bag from the glass and squeeze the icing down until it starts to come out. Pipe out any finishing touches!