My little girl Audrey has a December birthday, and I try to make sure her day is all about her . . . no red and green, and lots of pink and gold! When I showed the fabric in this picture to my little girl, her eyes lit up and her smile widened and she jumped and danced and said, “I love it, Mama!” The Stripe Birthday Cake was born, inspired by a simple section of cloth. It made a big impact on a little girl who dreams of twirling dresses and grand castles, and the best part is that the fabric turned into a spectacular robe, fit for a royal princess!
2 recipes White Cake
1 recipe Basic Buttercream
Teal, pink, orange, peach, purple, and yellow gel food coloring
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
6 6-inch round cake pans; cake leveler; small offset spatula; birthday candles
DIFFICULTY: Easy
1. Prepare a single recipe of white cake, which will yield about 4 cups of batter. Divide the batter evenly among 4 bowls.
2. Use teal, pink, orange, and peach food coloring to tint the batter in the 4 bowls.
3. Using 6-inch cake pans, bake the 4 tinted layers. Set them aside to cool.
4. Prepare a second recipe of white cake. Divide the batter in two and tint one bowl with purple food coloring. Pour the tinted batter into two 6-inch cake pans, bake for 30 to 36 minutes, and set them aside to cool. (If you want to make additional layers, feel free to tint the remaining batter whatever colors you like.)
5. You now have 6 cake layers. Find the shortest cake of all the colors and use it as your height guide. Level all the other layers to the same height.
6. Prepare the buttercream and tint half of it yellow.
7. Place a purple layer on a cake stand. Using the offset spatula, cover in about ¼ cup yellow buttercream.
8. Place a green layer on top and cover it in about ¼ cup yellow buttercream.
9. Repeat with the pink, orange, and peach layers, then top with the second purple layer.
10. Clean the offset spatula, and use the remaining yellow buttercream to cover the cake in a crumb coat. Freeze the cake for 30 minutes.
11. Cover the cake in a smooth layer of white buttercream and decorate with fun coordinating candles.
