The Cake Merchant

Purple Ombre Layer Cake

Purple Ombre Layer Cake

Baker friends, do you make your own special occasion cakes? I always make my own birthday cake as well as the birthday cakes of every nearby family member, but I have been forbidden to make my own wedding cake. You would think that this would be a relief (and it is, especially with the wedding right around the corner), but it’s just so hard to give up control sometimes. I feel like the entire wedding planning process has been an exercise in letting go, but it’s especially hard where the cake is concerned. However, no one is stopping me from making a pre-wedding cake, right? I’m celebrating my last days as a single lady with this over the top purple cake!

I’ve been wanting to make a purple ombre cake for as long as I can remember, but just haven’t found the right occasion until now. I can’t think of anyone other than myself who would love a cake that looks like the color purple exploded, and I had so much fun making this! Even though my wedding is in just a few days and I probably shouldn’t have been spending my time baking, it really helped relieve some of the stress.

For the cake, I used my Pink Almond Party Cake recipe but omitted the almond extract and divided the batter between 5 6-inch cake pans. Rather than add the food coloring all at once, I divided the batter between 5 bowls and tinted them individually. I highly recommend using gel food coloring rather than liquid. Add a tiny amount at a time until you get the color that you want. Since you are dividing the batter into 5 parts, the thinner layers will only need to bake for about 15-18 minutes.

Purple Ombre Layer CakePurple Ombre Layer CakePurple Ombre CakePurple Ombre Layer Cake

I used the same frosting recipe as my Pink Almond Party Cake as well but upped the quantity. The recipe for the larger batch of frosting is below. You probably won’t use all of it, but I find that it’s best to have some extra when you’re tinting the colors. Just in case you overdo it with the food coloring, you have some extra white to add back in.

Purple Ombre Layer Cake

For the cake recipe, click here.

Print
Purple Ombre Layer Cake

Yield: One 5 layer 6-inch cake

Ingredients

    For the Vanilla Frosting:
  • 2 cups (450 grams, 4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 5 cups (575 grams) confectioner's sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
  • Purple gel paste food coloring

Instructions

    For the Frosting:
  1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it becomes pale and creamy (2-3 minutes).
  2. Add the powdered sugar and salt and beat on low until combined. Turn up to medium and beat for an additional 2-3 minutes.
  3. Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine..
  4. Add the cream 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
    5. To Assemble the Cake:
  5. Place the white layer of the cake on an 6-inch cake board. Place about 1/2 cup of the frosting on top, and spread evenly with a palette knife. Place the next layer on top of the first and repeat the process with the next 4 layers.
  6. Place a generous scoop of frosting on the top of the cake, and spread evenly across the top of the cake. Work your way around the sides until the entire cake is covered with a thin layer of frosting.
  7. Let the crumb coat set in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
  8. Once the crumb coat has set, spread a thicker layer of frosting on the top and sides of the crumb coat to create a smooth finish.
  9. Divide the leftover frosting into 3 bowls and tint each with food coloring.
  10. Place the frosting in 3 separate piping bags fitted with star tips to decorate the top of the cake.
https://cakemerchant.com/2014/07/08/purple-ombre-layer-cake/

Cake recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated via epicurious.com

Lemon Berry Angel Food Cupcakes

Angel Food Cupcakes

My wedding is 2 weeks from tomorrow. Wow, that snuck up on me so fast! I’m just now realizing how behind I am on everything. For example, I should have started a Pinterest board the day after I got engaged (does a cake pinterest board count?) or maybe I should have though about how I want to wear my hair before now. And I probably should not have waited until this week to start my wedding diet. Does angel food count as diet food? Probably not. I’m pretty much the worst bride ever.

Luckily, these angel food cupcakes are easy enough for even a stressed out bride to be. Believe it or not, this was my first time making angel food cake. I was a little intimidated by the folding of the egg whites, but it’s easier than you might think. I’ve added a link to a tutorial just before the recipe in case you’re not sure how to do it. Also, if you don’t have superfine sugar, you can easily make your own by putting granulated sugar through the food processor. Don’t skip this step- your cupcake will have a better texture.

For those of you who like the not too sweet frostings but don’t want to mess with European style buttercreams, this frosting is for you. I first blogged about this sturdy whipped cream frosting in one of my very early blog posts (please ignore the pictures!) but haven’t posted about it since because some people wrote me and told me that they had trouble getting it to work. However, I’ve made it quite a few times since then and I’ve adjusted some things as well as come up with some troubleshooting tips.

First, make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature and whip it until it’s really smooth. It’s difficult to incorporate the heavy cream otherwise. You heavy cream should be really cold when you add it into the whipped cream cheese. You’ll want to drizzle it in SLOWLY while beating at the same time and you should end up with a light and fluffy frosting that holds up much better than regular whipped cream and is slightly tangy from the cream cheese and lemon. Also, be careful not to over whip, or you’ll end up with a curdled mess. If you’d rather, you can also whip the heavy cream and cream cheese separately and then fold them together, but I just hate to dirty two bowls.

Angel Food CupcakesAngel Food CupcakesAngel Food Cupcakes
Lemon Berry Angel Food Cupcakes

I topped these cupcakes with berries because the 4th of July is coming up and ’tis the season for fresh berries! Plus, I just can’t be trusted with food coloring right now.
Click here for a link to the folding tutorial.
Also, don’t forget to wipe down your bowl and utensils with vinegar before making your meringue. A greasy meringue is a weepy meringue!

Print
Lemon Berry Angel Food Cupcakes

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Ingredients

    For the Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes:
  • 1/2 cup (57 grams) cake flour
  • 3/4 cup (85 grams) powdered sugar
  • 5 large egg whites or 140 grams liquid egg whites
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) superfine or caster sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
    • For the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
  • 8 ounces (227 grams) of cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) superfine sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • Assorted berries for topping

Instructions

    For the Cupcakes:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
  2. Place 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
  3. Sift together cake flour and powdered sugar into bowl and repeat the this process 2 times.
  4. Beat egg whites and salt on medium high speed until frothy.
  5. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.
  6. Add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat until stiff peaks form.
  7. Add the vanilla extract and lemon zest and beat to combine for an additional 10 seconds.
  8. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over egg white mixture 1/4 cup at a time and fold in after each addition.
  9. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups and bake at for 16-18 minutes or until very lightly browned.
  10. Cool the cupcakes completely on a wire rack before frosting.
    11. For the Frosting:
  11. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese (use the whisk attachment for a stand mixer) until smooth.
  12. Add the sugar and beat to combine.
  13. With the mixer running on medium speed, drizzle the heavy cream in slowly until it is completely incorporated.
  14. Continue whipping until stiff peaks have formed.
  15. Add the vanilla and lemon juice and beat for an additional 20 seconds.
  16. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and top with fresh berries.
https://cakemerchant.com/2014/06/27/lemon-berry-angel-food-cupcakes/

Cupcakes adapted from MyRecipes.com
Frosting adapted from Allrecipes.com

Vegan Key Lime Pie Bars

Key Lime Pie Bars

I’ve never been much of a pie person. I rarely eat it and I make it even less often, mostly because of how I feel after I eat a slice. I’m not saying that cake is light or healthy, but even with a strong tolerance for rich desserts, a slice of pie (especially cream pie) can put me down like nothing else. Case in point: a few weeks ago, I ate a slice of coconut cream pie and immediately wanted to take off my pants and lay down on the floor for the rest of the afternoon. Totally not worth it, especially for mediocre pie.

My outlook on pie changed a few weeks ago when I went to Oregon. I had heard about these raw vegan pies that were sold at the Portland Farmer’s Market on Saturday, but I was in Portland for only a couple of hours on a Friday night (you can read about the road trip debacle here). After some research, I was able to locate a key lime pie at a Whole Foods, and have been completely infatuated with recreating them ever since. The texture was so creamy, and not at all what I expected from a raw vegan dessert.  Did I mention that they are mini? Even better.

Read The Post