Ombre Rose Cake

A big 50th birthday party deserves a special cake for

a special person.  

When my friend Rachel who was ready to turn the big

five - oh

saw a picture of a cake my daughter had made

she said, "Make me that for my birthday," so

we decided to deliver!

These beautiful ombre rosette cakes are all over

the internet.  My daughter Jessica had shown me

a picture of one she had made and said it was a lot

easier than she had thought so I asked her to come over

and help out for Rachel's surprise birthday lunch.

I made two batches of cake batter.  I was in a hurry

that morning so I used my favorite cake mix -

Betty Crocker's French Vanilla. 

 I love how moist and how flavorful it is. You

can use your favorite white or vanilla cake recipe but

for a high cake, make two batches.  You need this

cake to be high. 

I scooped out 2 cups of batter into 3 bowls and

left one and colored the other two shades of pink.

(Use remaining batter to make a couple of cupcakes.)

HINT: to make your cakes rise more evenly and

remove from the pan easily, cut parchment paper to

fit in the bottom of your pan and don't grease or flour

anything!  When the cake is baked, let it cool 10 minutes

and then run a sharp knife around the edge to loosen it.

Turn it upside down on a cooling rack.  It will come

out perfectly.  Now let it cool before removing the

parchment paper.  EASY!

I made 3 batches of frosting.  One I left plain to fill and

frost the cake with a crumb coat.

The other two batches were divided between 4 bowls

and using red food coloring, I made each batch just

slightly darker than the last one.  The palest one

took just a dot of gel food coloring.

Place your bag with the tip inserted into it in

a glass.  Fold the top down and fill with frosting.

This makes it much easier to fill your bag.

I love to use Wilton's disposable bags.

Frosting Recipe

(To frost this cake, you will need to triple this recipe.)

3/4 C. soft butter

4 C. powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring

pinch salt

3-4 T. water or milk

(I usually use water, Jessica uses milk.  We

did milk this time.  You can also use cream.)

Place everything in a mixing bowl but the water.

Add 3 T. liquid and begin beating with a wire whip.

Add additional liquid if needed.

Adjust the liquid based on the humidity where

you live.  Here in the west we need more liquid.

The frosting should be stiff enough to pipe 

out but not so soft that it won't hold it's shape.

Fill the layers of cake then use bamboo skewers to hold the 

layers in place.  Cut them off to the right height and insert

3 into the middle of the cake.  This will keep your cake from

sliding.

Cover the outside of the cake with a crumb coat or a thin

layer of frosting.

Place the cake in a fridge to firm up the icing.

Staring with the palest shade and using a 2D tip you will

make your roses by starting in the center and making

a complete circle.  You can also use a 1 M.

Don't worry if each rose doesn't

look perfect, when you finish, the overall effect is

beautiful.  Each row of roses matched the size of the

layers.

I refrigerated my cake in between layers so the 

roses would be firm and not slide.

Finish by making the fourth and final layer of roses

and covering the top.  You can fill in any holes by piping

using this same tip.

Place cake in fridge.  The weight of the frosting can cause

the lowest layer of rosettes to get crushed so you want

to keep the frosting firm.  Keep refrigerated

until time to serve.

The cake was a great success and I agree, it

was easier to frost than I thought.  Thanks Jessica

for the help!

Happy 50th Rachel!

(We met at a restaurant and surprised her with 50 balloons.)

There were 14 of us there and we each wrote down 3 things

we love about Rachel 

and then read them out loud.  Rachel

gets to keep the notecards.  What a lovely way to celebrate

someone's birthday.  It has been a tradition in our home

for years to go around the table and tell three things you love

about that person.  It is a nice addition to write them down.

I will be sharing this on

Foodie Fridays

Wow Us Wednesdays

Pink Saturday