Karla says “This Pink Ruffle Cake was a 60th Birthday Cake for my Mum
The cake is a pink vanilla sponge cake, with white chocolate ganache and pink Swiss meringue butter cream
Credit goes to Made from Scratch , this is where I took the elements from the recipe from a mixture of several cakes and their advice on how to create the ruffle was invaluable.
This was my first ever attempt at a ruffle cake.”
Vanilla Butter Cake
5 cups (365g) plain flour, sifted
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 1/2 cups (385g) caster sugar
500g butter, melted
8 eggs
3 cups (375ml) milk
2 tablespoons vanilla
pink food coloring
Preheat oven to 160°C. Line the base of four 20cm round cake tins and butter and flour the sides.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl, add in the sugar and whisk to combine then make a well. Gently melt the butter in microwave. Add the vanilla to the milk and then pour into the flour mixture. Add the eggs and then the butter. Divide the cake mixture evenly between four bowls. Add 1 teaspoon of pink coloring to the first bowl and mix until combined, 1/2 teaspoon to the second, 1/4 teaspoon to the third and leave the fourth bowl uncolored. Pour into your prepared tins and bake for aprox30min or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10min before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Once all four cakes have been cooked and they are completely cool. Using a bread knife to level.
White Chocolate Ganache Buttercream
350g unsalted butter, softened
200g icing sugar, sifted
250g good white chocolate
dash of cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
In a large mixing bowl combine the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Place the chocolate and cream into either a bowl that fits tightly over a saucepan of simmering water to melt the chocolate mix until smooth then pour into the butter mixture. Add the vanilla and continue to beat the buttercream until smooth and combined.
Swiss Meringue Butter Cream
5 large egg whites (30g each–total 150g)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar
500g butter, cut into cubes to soften
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
Pink food coloring gel – wilton rose pink gel
Wipe the bowl and beater of an electric mixer with paper towel and vinegar, to remove any trace of grease. Add egg whites and sugar, place over a pot of simmer water (not boiling). Whisking constantly, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F, or if you don’t have a thermometer until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot. With a whisk attachment on a electric mixer, begin to whip on a medium speed until the mixture is thick, glossy, and the bowl is cool to touch. Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on continuous medium speed, gradually add softened butter until combined, mix until it is silky smooth. Add the vanilla and pink coloring and mix well.
Assembling the cake
Layer the cake on a cake plate using the buttercream ganache to form a layer between each of the four cakes. Once all of the four cakes are stacked cover the entire cake with a crumb coat of buttercream ganache. Put in the fridge to chill and harden. Using a wilton 104 tip in a piping bag create the ruffles by running in a side to side motion from the bottom to the top of the cake working the whole way around. Them work around in circles on the top of the cake.
