Buttercream Cactus Cake
Bake my easy homemade vanilla cake, homemade sour cherry jam, and a double recipe of American buttercream. Dye the buttercream, add it to piping bags with metal tips, and decorate this sunset desert succulent cake!
Yield: 24
Materials
Gel Food Color
Baking Preparation
Instructions
Baking Preparation
- Bake the vanilla cake and let it cool. In the meantime, make the sour cherry jam or fruit jam of your choice. You can skip the filling if you prefer.
- Make a double batch of the American buttercream recipe. If you only make one batch, you will not enough enough to fill the cake, frost it, and pipe decorations.
Dye Buttercream
- Light pink buttercream: add 1 cup of buttercream into a bowl, mix in 1 drop peach + 1 drop dusty rose. Dark pink buttercream: add 1 ½ cups of buttercream into a bowl and mix in 1 drop peach + 3 drops dusty rose. Light green buttercream: add 1 cup of buttercream and mix in 1 drop laurel. Dark green buttercream: add 1 ½ cups buttercream mix in 3 drops cypress gel dye.
Prepare The Piping Bags With Metal Tips
- You can pipe many designs with different piping tips. Prepare a piping bag by adding in a metal tip, cutting just enough of the tip so it won't fall out. Prepare the following:#13 tip and fill with ½ cup of light pink frosting. #3 tip and fill with ½ cup of the leftover undyed buttercream. #869 tip and fill it with ½ cup dark green frosting.
- For couplers: Prepare two piping bags with couplers using the same instructions above only using a plastic coupler instead of a metal tip. Fill one bag with ½ cup light green frosting, and the other with ½ cup dark green frosting.
- For two tone buttercream: Prepare a piping bag with a coupler. Use a small spatula, butter knife, or an offset spatula to add the remaining ½ cup dark green frosting to one side of the bag, and add ½ cup dark pink frosting to the other side. It's okay if they mix slightly.
Assembling The Cactus Cake
- After your cake layers have cooled, use a serrated knife to cut off cake tops if it has a domed. Add a cake board onto a turntable or table. Smooth the undyed buttercream onto the first cake layer and pipe a ring if you’re adding filling to prevent filling from spilling out of the sides. If you aren’t adding filling you can skip this step. If you are adding a filling, repeat the same process for the second layer. Then, place your third cake layer on top.
- Crumb coats are thin layers of buttercream that “catch the crumbs.” Add buttercream on the top of the cake and sides. Use an offset spatula to smooth out the buttercream. Use a cake or bench scraper to gently help remove excess buttercream. Then, place the cake in the refrigerator or freezer to chill for at least 5 minutes.
- Take out the cake from the fridge. To make the sunset, add light pink buttercream to the top half of the cake. Then, add the dark pink buttercream to the bottom half.
- Go over the cake with a bench scraper, gently pressing into it to remove excess buttercream.
- Gently smooth a little bit of buttercream over the part of the cake board you can see. Use your hand to press graham cracker crumbs onto the bottom of the cake and the board. If you have full crackers, use a food processor to turn them into crumbs. Use a spoon to add crumbs to the top of the cake in a “C” shape on one side.
Decorating
- Please watch the video for visuals! Use the #21 open star tip to pipe cactuses onto the sides of the cake. Use firm pressure and pipe a straight line, starting from the bottom of the cake and dragging up. Pipe curved cactus “arms.” Continue to pipe different shaped cactus which will create variety. To add some details, pipe white dots using the #3 tip and pink flowers using the #13 tip.
- Take out a baking tray to put the buttercream succulents onto it for freezing. Cut 2-inch parchment squares. Hold a flower nail in your non-dominant hand. Pipe a small dot of buttercream onto the center of the nail and press a parchment square on top.
- Using the #869 tip, pipe a big dollop buttercream and pull the bag straight up. Stop applying pressure, gently push the tip down and then pipe again. Repeat one more time. Add a little pink flower with the #13 tip. Remove gently from the flower nail using the parchment paper and place onto the baking tray.
- Use a #21 tip and pipe a dollop of buttercream in the center of the nail. Pipe additional lines leaning onto the center. Finish with pink flowers using the #13 tip.
- Use the #8 tip to pipe a small dollop for the center. Add more buttercream around the center.
- For a rose, screw on the #104 tip with the coupler ring to the two tone buttercream bag. Pipe a small dollop in the center of the parchment paper. Angle the larger opening of the tip facing the ceiling. Create small petals by piping horizontal around the dollop. Pipe longer petals as you get to the outside.
- For a flat flower, use the same #104 tip and two-toned buttercream. Point the tapered side up, create small "rainbow" petals. Keep creating petals, piping them side by side. Then, add another layer of petals.
- Attach the leaf tip #114 to the two-toned buttercream bag. Start piping leaves in the center and pull them out towards the edge of the parchment. Continue to pipe leaves, then pipe smaller leaves on top.
- Freeze your buttercream succulents in the freezer for five minutes. It's much easier to place frozen succulents on the cake.
- Remove the parchment paper and arrange them on top of the graham cracker crumbs. Work fast, your hands will heat them up. Use the #21 tip to pipe little dollops to fill in any spaces.
Notes
- Cover the cake with plastic wrap or in an airtight container. The cake can be left at room temperature for two days and then I suggest refrigerating. You can freeze iced cake slices in airtight or freezer safe containers for up to two months. Let it thaw before serving.