The second time making the cake I was surprised by how quickly everything went. Its amazing how much smoother life is with a plan.
Huh. I gotta remember that.
Anywho… I made two cakes. One red velvet and one white cake. I made them in 8in pans and used these methods for creating a level cake.
Here is an important step… immediately out of the oven, within five minutes at most, I removed the cakes from their pans and cut the top dome of both 8-inch cakes.
I then placed the cut parts together. (It should look like a two layer cake here, except without frosting) Then put it in the freezer for no less than five hours.
The reason I do this is:
1. I want the height of a two layer cake. (four or five inches)
2. I do not want a frosting seam.
3. This helps to meld the layers together so they appear one complete layer.
(If you have a 5-inch deep cake pan you can use that.)
Now! Once the cakes have firmed up nicely (after a good five hours) you can remove them from the freezer.
We will begin to cut out our layers!
I simply used a cardboard cake round as my guide. I traced out three evenly spaced concentric circles.
I am now going to cut off the outside circle.
Place the template back on the cake. Now I need to carve around that circle! It’s important to try and get your knife at a 90-degree angle… you want a very straight up and down cut.
Follow the template as close as you can. A sharp knife here is a great idea!!
You are going to do this with BOTH cakes.
Now I cut off another circle and started the process again.
Do this to both cakes.
Then cut off another circle so you are left with the center portion. (FYI, if you want to do another circle, therefore making your center smaller, you certainly can!)
You are now left with two cakes that have concentric circles cut in each.
The next step might go against everything you know about cake… but just do it anyway.
Wow that was bossy.
Take a nice big sharp knife and cut from the OUTSIDE of the center circle through the cake.
You are going to gently separate the layers into individual sections. This is why it is SO important to have a very chilled if not frozen cake!
Choose which center you want to start with. (I choose the white cake)
Take the next larger layer of the other cake and place it around the center.
Keep doing this… alternating the layers… until you have a complete cake assembled again!
And there you go! Easy right?
Now… were you worried about the layers not staying together? I fixed that with three easy steps.
1. Pour a simple syrup over the re-assembled cakes. (not too much!!)
2. Place a wax paper “belt” around the cake and bind it together with a cord or towel scrap.
3. Place it back in the freezer for a bit!
A couple hours before you are ready to decorate, place the cakes in the fridge so they can “thaw” without sweating.
(I wouldnt recommend decorating a frozen cake.)
Now… please forgive me but I didn’t decorate the outside with the roses.
I just did a smooth layer of frosting then wrote out a romantic quote I found.
It’s nothing fancy, but it was easy.
“When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew.”
And there are the vertical layers!
If you make this cake please let me know, I would love to see! And of course, love to know if you came up with an easier way. 🙂
What a fun take on a traditional layer cake!! Thank you so much for the tutorial! I really appreciate all the pictures. I am actually in the middle of making this cake, and would like to know if you have a trick for getting the second hot/warm/fragile layer onto the first one without it either breaking or being off-kilter?
I make a checkered cake which is made the same way except you alternate layer when restacking them. I use round cookie cutters to do mine. That way I don’t have to worry about getting the angles perfect. Before I used that I used a round glass bowl and a round drinking glass.
I tried this today… The white cake baked well, apart from the fact that it wasn’t white(?). The red velvet… Um… I followed the recipe exactly. When I started to put it in the oven, in looked very drippy… I shoved it in the oven anyway. As I said the white cake baked well. As I took the red velvet out the oven, it looked fine, and had a few, small circular spots(?). I let them cool, then put them in the freezer.
SIX HOURS LATER…
I began cutting the white cake. I cut the red velvet cake… DISASTER! The cake crumbled in half! I kept on cutting the cake, and it turned out wonderfully broken. Each piece had at least 2 cracks in it! I assembled one cake with white butter-cream, and the other one with lemon syrup. My siblings and I ate the cake anyway. My siblings don’t really care what the cake looks like, as long as it’s delicious! The vertical layers looked beautiful anyway…
Thanks for making a great cake idea! My sister was actually asking how I made it! 🙂
I have a great butter-cream recipe.
Here it is 🙂
50g butter
1 cup icing sugar
Milk
Few drops of food coloring (optional)
Method:
1. Make the butter a litter soft by melting it in the microwave.
2. Add the icing sugar to the butter and mix until smooth. It it isn’t smooth, add a few tablespoons of milk.
3. Add icing sugar and milk until it is the right consistancy and the pale, creamy white.
4. Mix in a few drops if food coloring, if you like.
You are extremely talented ! Mad respect for you and your wonderful creations! You have been a big inspiration for me. Thank you. Keep up the beautiful work!
This genius btw (:
This looks amazing, and I have been waiting for a chance to try it out for a long time. I finally have a chance to do it, my boyfriend and I share a birthday next week and I plan to make it with red and blue velvet cakes, and decorate it with Super Mario Bros. frosting art. However, I’ve got a few questions about frozen cake. I am pressed for time this week, and I was hoping to make the cakes ahead of time and freeze them until I am ready to decorate, just before I leave. How long can I freeze cake before it starts to get weird? Are there any structural or flavor implications I should be worried about? Also, I have to travel with the cake, about 240 miles, do you think it will stand up to the drive without the layers separating? is the simple syrup enough to hold it together? Just wondering if anyone has any insight on these things! I can’t wait to try this out, either way! I just love how it looks!
Do you think this would work/ would the layers stick together properly if (instead of the simple syrup on top) there were a teensy bit of frosting between each circular layer?
I’m not sure. When I make this, I assembled one with butter-cream on the layers and then on the rest of the cake. It stuck together well, but when I cut it, it felt. I’m sorry, this didn’t really answer your question. 🙁
I was here at first to find out about the layers. But then I fell in love with the decoration that you made for the cake. will you kindly teach me how. I like it because it’s very simple yet attractive. I’m just a beginner baker he =)
Compliments!!!!!!This cake is amazing and wonderful!!
Compliments!!!! This cake is amazing and wonderful!!!!
lo voy hacer se ve rikisimo gracias por poner como se va haciendo las fotos yo andaba buscando como hacer un pastel diferente luego les aviso como quedo….