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Before I post this, I'm going to say that I'm sure no one including me will ever make this cake but I just had to copy it solely to post here. I was watching Martha Bakes yesterday and was watching her make this ombre-colored pink cake. I'd never make it but it was so darn pretty that I was intrigued as to how she frosted it. At the end she showed she used a petal tip held sideways to frost it and she commented that you would HAVE to have a cake stand that rotated in order to accomplish frosting the cake as she was doing. I didn't even SEE her doing the sides of the cake but she must be a contortionist to not only hold the frosting cone in the correct position while pressing out the same amount of frosting out of the pastry bag the whole time!!
As she was frosting it (she put 1-1/2 cups of frosting between each layer!), I thought, Wow, that must require a heck of a lot of frosting to frost that thing. Right before the end of the segment, she commented, "Did I fail to mention that this frosting used 18 EGG WHITES AND 12 STICKS OF BUTTER?" I almost fainted but I immediately chased down the recipe online and copied a picture of the gorgeous cake so I could show you guys!
Isn't that frosted cake pretty? I'm not so enthralled with the ombre layers but just the sheer beauty of the finished frosted cake! Here's the recipe just in case someone wants it, or just wants to see how much work it is. Or like me, you could always give that photo to a professional baker and get THEM to do it!!
Martha Stewart’s Ombre Strawberry Cake
Makes one 8-inch cake. Recipe from Martha Bakes, Episode 1012.
Talk about pretty in pink! Five different shades of vanilla cake are layered with strawberry jam and rich Swiss meringue buttercream here. The same frosting is piped onto the exterior to look like a rose.
Cake (you need FIVE 8-inch cake pans):
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into Tablespoons,
plus more for pans
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for pans
1-1/4 cups whole milk
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pink gel food color, such as deep pink
1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
Finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
4-1/2 cups sugar
18 large egg whites, room temperature
3 pinches of kosher salt
12 sticks (6 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into Tablespoons
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Pink gel food color, such as deep pink
1. Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Butter five 8-inch round cake pans; line with parchment. Butter parchment, then dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla.
2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until well combined. Continue beating while gradually adding butter until mixture is crumbly, about 3 minutes.
3. Slowly add half of milk mixture; increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly add remaining half of milk mixture, scraping down bowl as needed. Beat until incorporated, about 1 minute more. Remove bowl from mixer; divide batter evenly among five bowls (about 1 heaping cup per bowl).
4. Tint four of the bowls with pink food color, starting with a small drop and gradually adding more to each bowl to create a gradient of shades. [On TV, she used four toothpicks which she dipped into the bottle of food coloring, first 1/4 of a toothpick, then 1/2 of a toothpick, 3/4 of a toothpick and then the entire toothpick. As she removed each toothpick from the food coloring, she just put it into a bowl of batter; after each toothpick had been coated and put into a bowl, she dipped the toothpick deep enough into the batter to get all the coloring off the pick, which she then disposed of. She then proceeded to mix the color into the batter. I thought it was a really neat way to ostensibly “measure” very small amounts of food coloring.]
5. Transfer batter from each bowl to one of the prepared pans, spreading to edges with a small offset spatula. Tap pans on counter to release any air bubbles. Bake until a tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 15 minutes per cake. Transfer pans to wire racks; let cool completely. Turn cakes out of pans and remove parchment. In a small saucepan, heat jam and lemon juice and zest until warm.
1. Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Combine 1-1/2 cups sugar, 6 egg whites, and a pinch of salt in the heatproof bowl of a mixer set over (not in) a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch and feels completely smooth when rubbed between fingertips, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Transfer bowl to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; whisk on low speed until foamy. Increase speed to medium-high and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form and mixture has cooled completely, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; add 4 sticks butter, 2 Tablespoons at a time, whisking until fully incorporated after each addition. (Don't worry if buttercream appears curdled after all of butter has been added; it will become smooth again with beating.) Whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
3. Switch to paddle attachment; beat on low speed until air bubbles are eliminated, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic, and let stand at room temperature. Repeat process twice more with remaining ingredients, using the same amounts each time, then combining all three batches of buttercream in the large bowl and covering with plastic.
4. Add pink food color, a drop at a time, until desired shade of light pink is reached.
5. To assemble cake, place darkest layer, bottom-side down, on an 8-inch cardboard cake round. Using a pastry brush, brush cake with a thin layer of jam mixture; top with 1 cup buttercream, spreading evenly to cover completely. Repeat process with three more layers, stacking darkest to lightest. Finish with lightest cake layer, bottom-side up. Evenly spread top and sides of cake with a 1/2-inch thickness of buttercream, smoothing sides with an offset spatula. Refrigerate until chilled, about 20 minutes.
6. Transfer remaining buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a large petal tip (such as Wilton #127). Hold bag perpendicular to top of cake, with the wider part of the tip opening at the bottom. Pipe a petal in a circular pattern so that it adheres to top of cake. Simultaneously, rotate cake, and continue piping petals so that the end of each petal overlaps the beginning of the previous petal, until top of cake is covered completely. Next, pipe petals onto sides of cake: hold bag perpendicular to side of cake and pipe around cake, slightly overlapping each layer of frosting as you work from top to bottom of cake to cover completely.
As she was frosting it (she put 1-1/2 cups of frosting between each layer!), I thought, Wow, that must require a heck of a lot of frosting to frost that thing. Right before the end of the segment, she commented, "Did I fail to mention that this frosting used 18 EGG WHITES AND 12 STICKS OF BUTTER?" I almost fainted but I immediately chased down the recipe online and copied a picture of the gorgeous cake so I could show you guys!
Isn't that frosted cake pretty? I'm not so enthralled with the ombre layers but just the sheer beauty of the finished frosted cake! Here's the recipe just in case someone wants it, or just wants to see how much work it is. Or like me, you could always give that photo to a professional baker and get THEM to do it!!
Martha Stewart’s Ombre Strawberry Cake
Makes one 8-inch cake. Recipe from Martha Bakes, Episode 1012.
Talk about pretty in pink! Five different shades of vanilla cake are layered with strawberry jam and rich Swiss meringue buttercream here. The same frosting is piped onto the exterior to look like a rose.
Cake (you need FIVE 8-inch cake pans):
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into Tablespoons,
plus more for pans
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for pans
1-1/4 cups whole milk
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pink gel food color, such as deep pink
1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
Finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
4-1/2 cups sugar
18 large egg whites, room temperature
3 pinches of kosher salt
12 sticks (6 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into Tablespoons
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Pink gel food color, such as deep pink
1. Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Butter five 8-inch round cake pans; line with parchment. Butter parchment, then dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla.
2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until well combined. Continue beating while gradually adding butter until mixture is crumbly, about 3 minutes.
3. Slowly add half of milk mixture; increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly add remaining half of milk mixture, scraping down bowl as needed. Beat until incorporated, about 1 minute more. Remove bowl from mixer; divide batter evenly among five bowls (about 1 heaping cup per bowl).
4. Tint four of the bowls with pink food color, starting with a small drop and gradually adding more to each bowl to create a gradient of shades. [On TV, she used four toothpicks which she dipped into the bottle of food coloring, first 1/4 of a toothpick, then 1/2 of a toothpick, 3/4 of a toothpick and then the entire toothpick. As she removed each toothpick from the food coloring, she just put it into a bowl of batter; after each toothpick had been coated and put into a bowl, she dipped the toothpick deep enough into the batter to get all the coloring off the pick, which she then disposed of. She then proceeded to mix the color into the batter. I thought it was a really neat way to ostensibly “measure” very small amounts of food coloring.]
5. Transfer batter from each bowl to one of the prepared pans, spreading to edges with a small offset spatula. Tap pans on counter to release any air bubbles. Bake until a tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 15 minutes per cake. Transfer pans to wire racks; let cool completely. Turn cakes out of pans and remove parchment. In a small saucepan, heat jam and lemon juice and zest until warm.
1. Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Combine 1-1/2 cups sugar, 6 egg whites, and a pinch of salt in the heatproof bowl of a mixer set over (not in) a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch and feels completely smooth when rubbed between fingertips, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Transfer bowl to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; whisk on low speed until foamy. Increase speed to medium-high and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form and mixture has cooled completely, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; add 4 sticks butter, 2 Tablespoons at a time, whisking until fully incorporated after each addition. (Don't worry if buttercream appears curdled after all of butter has been added; it will become smooth again with beating.) Whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
3. Switch to paddle attachment; beat on low speed until air bubbles are eliminated, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic, and let stand at room temperature. Repeat process twice more with remaining ingredients, using the same amounts each time, then combining all three batches of buttercream in the large bowl and covering with plastic.
4. Add pink food color, a drop at a time, until desired shade of light pink is reached.
5. To assemble cake, place darkest layer, bottom-side down, on an 8-inch cardboard cake round. Using a pastry brush, brush cake with a thin layer of jam mixture; top with 1 cup buttercream, spreading evenly to cover completely. Repeat process with three more layers, stacking darkest to lightest. Finish with lightest cake layer, bottom-side up. Evenly spread top and sides of cake with a 1/2-inch thickness of buttercream, smoothing sides with an offset spatula. Refrigerate until chilled, about 20 minutes.
6. Transfer remaining buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a large petal tip (such as Wilton #127). Hold bag perpendicular to top of cake, with the wider part of the tip opening at the bottom. Pipe a petal in a circular pattern so that it adheres to top of cake. Simultaneously, rotate cake, and continue piping petals so that the end of each petal overlaps the beginning of the previous petal, until top of cake is covered completely. Next, pipe petals onto sides of cake: hold bag perpendicular to side of cake and pipe around cake, slightly overlapping each layer of frosting as you work from top to bottom of cake to cover completely.
I think I saw that same rainbow cake you spoke of either online or in a cooking magazine. I figure the only person who would actually make one of those is a parent for a child, as I'm sure most kids would love it. But it was the FROSTED cake that I thought was gorgeous, Beth. I not only wanted to show you guys a picture of the cake and how she did it, but I wanted to share how many egg whites AND HOW MUCH BUTTER (!!!!) she used to make enough frosting for that behemoth. Once I heard her say to put just shy of 1-1/2 cups of frosting between each layer, I started wondering how much frosting she made. But ol' Martha did crack me up when she said, "Did I mention...." right before she dropped that bombshell! She probably purposely kept it to the end so no one would tune out!
