Cake of the Day: Organic Lines Ombré Cake
This beautiful pink tower of cake and fresh berries comes from bespoke cake designer Charlotte White and her new book Deliciously Decorated. Today she shares with us the trendy ombré icing technique that takes your favorite shade from light to dark. Try it yourself in White’s recipe, below.
Organic Lines Ombré Cake
Ombré! Undeniably the buzzword of the last few years, this design is a very easy way of bringing a little ombré to your table in impressive fashion.
Serves up to 34
8-inch and 6-inch. Classic Victoria sponge cake tiers (see below) filled with cream cheese frosting (see below) and raspberry jam
Selection of whole fruits – such as cherries, strawberries and blueberries
1 extra large egg white
Caster/superfine sugar
Cream cheese frosting (see below)
Dusky pink paste food coloring
Tools
4 dowelling rods
8-inch and 10-inch cake drums/circles
Double-sided sticky tape
Icing turntable
Large palette knife
Side scraper
Dusky pink ribbon
Begin by preparing your 8-inch and 6-inch Classic Victoria Sponge Cake tiers, filling them with raspberry jam and a little Cream Cheese Frosting or Buttercream. Set your 8-inch cake onto a 8-inch cake drum/circle.
Fix your 8-inch tier to a larger 10-inch cake drum/circle. A cross of double-sided tape in the centre of your 10-inch cake drum should be sufficient to stick the 2 tiers together.
Prepare the sugared fruits, which will be the finishing touch to your beautiful cake. To sugar a fruit is a quick and simple task of painting with a thin layer of egg white before immediately sprinkling with or dipping into caster/superfine sugar. Sugared fruits should be allowed to dry for 2–3 hours before being arranged on your cake.
Crumb-coat your tiers with cream cheese frosting. Allow the tiers to set for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Divide your remaining cream cheese frosting evenly between 2 bowls and color 1 bowl with Dusky Pink paste food coloring.
Remove your 6-inch. tier from the fridge and spread a thick layer of white cream cheese frosting over the top and half way down the sides of the cake. Spoon a little of your pink cream cheese frosting into your white and combine into a shade of pale pink and spread this thickly around the bottom half of your 6-inch tier.
Clean off your large palette knife and hold the tip of the blade so that it is gently pressed against the top edge of the side of your cake. Without moving the blade, slowly turn your turntable anti-clockwise (assuming that you are holding the knife in your right hand and turning with your left) so that you are creating a line in the frosting. As you reach one full rotation, gently move your blade down to create a second line directly under your first. As you continue to move around the cake, bring the blade downwards in this same way until you reach the bottom. The cake should have a pattern of organic lines that have blended the 2 shades of frosting into each other.
Tidy up the top edges of your 6-inch tier using your side scraper, pulling all top edges into the centre of the cake.
Repeat step 6 with your 8-inch tier, this time using your pink Cream Cheese Frosting on the top and half way down the sides, before pausing to add a little more Dusky Pink paste food colouring to your remaining pink frosting. Spread this darker shade of pink around the bottom half of your 8-inch tier.
Repeat step 7 with your 8-inch tier, being careful to ensure that the dowelling rods are still exposed and still slightly higher than the top of your frosted cake.
Spread a little dark pink frosting around the bottom of your cake to cover the silver of your 8-inch cake drum/circle and finish the edges of this drum with a pink ribbon. Carefully stack your 6-inch tier on top of the 8-inch tier. Finish the cake with the sugared fruits, which you’d prepared in advance.
Classic Victoria Sponge Cake
There are few things in life that are more disappointing that a dry slice of Victoria Sponge Cake. That’s why I won’t make one! This recipe is foolproof and the result is fluffy, light and moist. Whip up this cake for an afternoon teatime treat that is sure to delight your guests.
Makes one 8-inch cake
3 sticks unsalted butter
1 3⁄ 4 cups caster/granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 2⁄ 3 cups self-rising/ rising flour
11⁄ 2 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons whole milk
Two 8-inch round cake pans
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Cream the butter and sugar together until they are pale and creamy. Never underestimate the time that it will take to complete this step. Allow 5 minutes using a freestanding mixer with a paddle attachment or 5–7 minutes using an electric hand whisk. If you want to opt for manual power, beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until cream-like and your arm falls off.
Add one egg at a time, allowing each egg to be fully incorporated before adding the next. This patience should prevent curdling.
Stir the vanilla extract into your mixture.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl and fold into your wet ingredients by hand. Be gentle and stop mixing as soon as the flour is incorporated.
Add a little milk to make a dropping consistency – the cake mixture should dollop off of your wooden spoon like thick cream. Divide this mixture between 2 round cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cakes are risen and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. A 6-inch cake will need 25–30 minutes and cupcakes will take approximately 20 minutes to bake.
* Halve all quantities for a 6-inch cake or 12 cupcakes
Cream Cheese Frosting
This is the only way to complement Red Velvet cake. However, I promise that if you try this in place of basic buttercream in your Victoria Sponge Cake, you will never go back!
Makes enough for one 8-inch cake or 24 cupcakes
2 sticks unsalted butter
9 ounces of full-fat cream cheese
6 1⁄ 4 cups icing/confectioners’ sugar
Roughly carve up the butter and beat in a freestanding mixer for 3 minutes until creamy. You can also do this using a handheld electric mixer or by hand, although you’ll find that the latter takes much longer.
Add 2 generous cups of icing/confectioners’ sugar and beat until fully combined.
Spoon the cream cheese (yes, you need to use full fat, this is not a diet option!) into the buttercream mixture and beat until combined. You may find that the mixture goes wet and soupy, or that it starts to look like it is curdling — please do not worry in either case.
Add another 2 generous cups of icing/confectioners’ sugar and beat until fully combined, scraping down the sides at least once.
Remove your beaters from the frosting and test by running a finger through the mixture; your finger should leave a trail that holds in the frosting. You are aiming for a thick whipped cream consistency so add more icing/confectioners’ sugar if the mixture is too runny.
Once you are happy with the consistency of your frosting, I recommend that you allow another 2 minutes of beating to create a beautifully smooth consistency.
Excerpted from Deliciously Decorated by Charlotte White. Ryland Peters & Small, $21.95. Photography by Dan Jones.
More ombré Cakes of the Day:
Vanilla Blackberry Mascarpone Cake
Pink Ombré Almond Cake with Cherry Jam
