A Very Wicked, Very Popular Pink and Green Layer Cake Recipe
Prep Time:
3 hours,
45 minutes
Cook Time:
1 hour,
15 minutes
Servings:
10 Slices
Ingredients
6 Vietnamese (rice-based) spring roll wrappers
Pink, green, and black gel food coloring
1 ½ ounces white fondant icing
2 ½ ounces black fondant icing, divided
2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pink and green gel food coloring
2 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 cup rosé Prosecco
⅓ cup Green Chartreuse
2 cups butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ½ cups confectioner's sugar
Pink and green gel food coloring
½ cup white candy melts
½ cup black candy melts
Pink and green sprinkles
Edible glitter
Directions
Start by prepping the rice paper sails: Add approximately ⅓ cup water to a plate, along with a few drops of pink or green food coloring. Place a spring roll wrapper into the colored water and let it soften for 1 minute. Transfer the soft spring roll wrapper to a silicone baking mat, shaping it as desired.
Repeat this process with the remaining spring roll wrappers, dying each a shade of pink and green. Mixing some black into the green will result in darker green rice paper sails.
Once the sails have been formed, slide wooden cocktail sticks or toothpicks into the base of each sail, and then place them in an oven preheated to "warm" or the lowest possible setting for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until the sails have hardened. Keep an eye on them to prevent them from browning.
To form the witches' hats and broom, roll 1 ½ ounces each of the white and black fondants into two separate balls. Using your hands, taper one end of each ball into a cone and pinch out the base to form your hats.
To form the broom, wrap the remaining 1 ounce of black fondant icing around the base of a wooden skewer, and use a knife to draw lines in the broom base. Set hats and broom aside to dry.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease four round 6-inch cake pans. (Alternatively, bake cakes in batches and grease two.)
In a bowl, combine the flour with the baking powder and salt.
In a stand mixer, beat together 1½ cups butter with 1 ½ cups granulated sugar for 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture is pale and creamy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, until smooth. Mix the flour into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients to form a thick cake batter.
Divide the cake batter evenly into two separate bowls. Mix one portion of the cake batter pink and the other green, using the gel food colorings. Be careful to only mix the batter until the food coloring is just combined; you don't want to over mix the cake batter.
Divide the cake batter into the prepared cake tins (2 of each color). Bake them for 25 minutes in the oven, until they are risen and spring back to the touch. Repeat if baking in batches. Set aside cakes to cool while preparing the remaining elements.
To make the pink cake soak, add 1 cup granulated sugar and rosé Prosecco to a small saucepan. Heat the saucepan to a medium-high temperature and allow the mixture to simmer until the sugar has fully dissolved and the liquid has reduced by half. Set the soak to one side to cool completely.
To make the chartreuse cake soak, add 1 cup of sugar, the chartreuse, and ⅔ cup water to a saucepan. Heat the chartreuse mixture over a medium-high temperature and simmer until the sugar has fully dissolved and the liquid is reduced by half. Set the chartreuse soak aside to cool completely.
For the buttercream, beat 2 cups of butter in a stand mixer for 1 minute, or until it has paled in color. Sift in the confectioner's sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing until combined. Add the remaining teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix once more.
Divide the buttercream icing into two bowls, setting one aside. Divide the remaining portion (one half) of buttercream into two more halves (a fourth of your total buttercream). Use gel coloring to dye one pink and the other green.
To begin assembling your layer cake, use a knife or wire cutter to level the tops of the sponges.
Using a pastry brush, brush the green sponges with the chartreuse cake soak and the pink sponges with the Prosecco soak.
Using a cake board or cake stand, place one of the green sponges into the center. Spread a spoonful or two of the neutral-colored buttercream on top of the sponge. Place a pink sponge on top of the first sponge and top with more buttercream.
Repeat the process, alternating the green and pink sponges between the neutral buttercream until all the sponges are used up.
Using the remaining plain buttercream, coat the entire cake in a thin layer and smooth it out to form a crumb coating. Transfer the cake to the fridge for at least 20 minutes for the crumb coating to harden.
Cut a piece of parchment paper to cover half of the cake and carefully wrap it around the outside of the hardened crumb coating.
Pipe the pink buttercream onto the exposed half of the cake, using a cake knife to smooth it out. Place the cake back in the fridge for at least 20 minutes for the pink buttercream to harden.
Remove the cake from the fridge and carefully peel off the baking paper to reveal the other side of the cake. Using a clean piece of baking paper, cover the hardened pink buttercream, leaving the other side of the cake exposed.
Pipe the green buttercream onto the exposed half of the cake, using a cake knife to smooth it out. Place the cake in the fridge for another 20 minutes to allow the green buttercream to harden.
Remove the cake from the fridge and carefully peel off the baking paper to reveal the pink side of the cake.
Add the white candy melts to a bowl, and heat them in the microwave on a medium setting until completely melted.
Transfer the mixture to a squeeze bottle, or alternatively use a spoon, and drip the white mixture down the pink side of the cake.
Repeat this process using the black candy melts, using them to form drips on the green side of the cake.
Finish the cake by topping it with the white and black witches hats, the broomstick, the colored rice paper sails, sprinkles, and edible glitter.