Ombre Rose Cake Recipe

It was my hubby’s birthday a couple of days back and after much planning & discussion with him and our little one I finally decided to try an Ombre Cake with buttercream frosting... then came the part of choosing the color and both had their own views but finally I chose peach :D.... An Ombre cake is a layer cake with graded hues of a single colour, as well as matching, graded frosting. I used the same White Cake recipe from my Black and White Layer Cake and baked the cake in four 6 inch round pans. Rose frosting is inspired from Amanda and you can the detailed tutorial on her blog.... Here is how I made this cake.... 

Peach Ombre Rose Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
16 tbsp / 1 cup / 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups very cold water
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract

Gel Food colouring (I used Wilton Creamy Peach)

Method:

• Butter and flour the edges of four 6-inch round pan, shaking out the excess flour.  Line the bottom with a round of parchment.  
• In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside. 
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy.  Increase speed to medium high and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.  
• Transfer the egg whites to another bowl and set aside.  
• In the bowl of the electric mixer now fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  
• With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  
• Blend in the water, vanilla and almond extracts.  
• Beat in the remaining dry ingredients just until incorporated. 
• With a silicone spatula, stir in about a quarter of the egg whites to lighten the batter.  Gently fold in the remaining egg whites, until the batter is smooth and no streaks remain.
• Divide the batter evenly among four bowls (use a kitchen scale or your measuring cups to ensure accuracy). 
• With the food colouring of your choice begin to tint the cake batter into different shades of peach using a toothpick, mix the colour evenly into the cake batter. I left one bowl without any colouring.
• Preheat the oven to 350˚F/ 180°C. 
• Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.  
• Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 20 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges, then turn the cake out onto the rack and let cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!) Ideal texture should be like ice cream.

3-4 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, sifted

A small pinch of salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Method:

• Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. 
• Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. 
• Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.
• Divide frosting into 4 bowls with the white frosting a little more than the other 3 to fill the cake layers and to frost the top of the cake. Using the cooled cake as a guide; tint the other 3 bowls of frosting with peach colour to match the cake layers.

Assembly ~

• Layer the cakes, darkest on the bottom, frost with a very thin layer of buttercream between each layer. 
• Frost the outside of the cake with a thin layer of frosting. 
•  Prepare a piping bag with Wilton 1 M tip to pipe roses.
•  Fill piping bag with the darkest colour icing and pipe roses along the bottom of the cake. 
• Repeat with remaining colors of icing and frost the top of the cake with the lightest colour.

This picture was clicked by Aaryan and when I told him that it’s a nice click he was very happy and asked me “will you post it on your website and Facebook and tell your friends that it was clicked by your son”??? :) :)