Fall Leaves & Vertical Stripes Cake
Steps involved
Make cake layers
Make buttercream (no color)
Set aside buttercream for fall colors
Assemble and ice cake
Color remaining buttercream
Color chocolate and make leaves
Add leaves to decorate cake
READ BEFORE CONTINUING: The following recipes are scaled to make the cake pictured above -- a 4 layer cake made with 6-inch round cake layers. If you wish to make a smaller cake, please scale down these recipes.
recipes used
1 carrot cake recipe (recipe below)
1 - 1.5 batches Italian meringue buttercream
I made this buttercream vanilla flavored by adding 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of cream cheese flavor to my 1.5x batch (can add less or more to taste)*
I always like to have extra buttercream rather than not enough, so if you're not sure how much to use, I would recommend 1.5
Cream cheese icing (recipe below)
*I have the scale I use, along with other cake making products, linked here*
Super Moist Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
250 grams flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
312 grams unsweetened applesauce
4 eggs, room temperature
300 grams light brown sugar
100 grams sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
300 grams grated carrots
Preheat oven to 350° F and prepare 4, 6-inch round cake pans. Set aside.
Grate carrots and set aside.
Measure out dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt). Mix to combine, then set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the applesauce, eggs, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla extract until combined.
Add the grated carrots to the wet mixture and mix until combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Try not to over mix - once the ingredients come together, you can stop mixing.
Divide your cake batter evenly among your pans.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until done. When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the cake is done.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
Once removed, allow to cool completely before decorating.
*Adapted from https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/the-best-carrot-cake-recipe/comment-page-3/
Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tsp. vanilla extract
milk, if needed to thin icing
Mix butter and cream cheese together.
Add vanilla, mix.
Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until all incorporated.
If icing is too stiff you can add a splash of milk until it's the consistency you like.
Colors used
To get these colors, I used Wilton's Color Right Food Coloring System.*
For the cake layers:
No food coloring used
For the icing:
The colors may differ depending on how much icing you're coloring and the starting color of your buttercream (certain butter brands are more white or yellow which can make the buttercream whiter or more yellow). These are the amounts I used and should get you close.
I used about a 1/4-1/2 cup of icing for each of these colors:
Red Icing:
Red: 10 drops
Crimson: 25 drops
Brown: 2 drops
Burnt Orange Icing:
Orange: 20 drops
Crimson: 1 drop
Red: 1 drop
Brown: 1 drop
Brown Icing:
Yellow: 2 drops
Brown: 1 drop
Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder: Add until you get a rich brown *can replace this with more brown food coloring if desired
Golden Yellow Icing:
Yellow: 4 drops
Orange: 1 drop
Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder: I used a pinch
For the leaves:
I used white chocolate as the base and then dark chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli chips* which are slightly bigger than standard chocolate chips, but you can use any kind you like) and Wilton's Color Right System to color the leaves. You can also use oil-based chocolate food coloring such as these*, to prevent the chocolate from seizing. In this case, I didn't mind the seizing, because it gave the leaves a rougher edge, which I enjoyed.
*For instructions on how to color the chocolate, go to the decorating the cake section below.*
I used about 2-4 tbsp. of white chocolate for each color along with some shortening.
Red Leaves:
2 dark chocolate chips
Red: 1 drop
Crimson: 2 drops
Burnt Orange Leaves:
3-4 dark chocolate chips
Orange: 2 drops
Brown Leaves:
1-2 tbsp. dark chocolate chips
Golden Yellow Leaves:
1 dark chocolate chip
Yellow: 1 drop
Supplies/tools
To find the tools I use for almost every cake I make and decorate (including pans, cake boards, icing smoothers, etc.), click here.
The supplies/tools below are specifically for decorating this cake, which I used in addition to the ones in the link above.*
*Some of these links may be affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I earn a small amount from some purchases, however, this does not affect my recommendations.
Decorating the cake
After the cake has been assembled and iced:
I like to do this step when the icing is still at room temperature: Using a loop tool or an icing comb, carve out 4 vertical stripes in the cake.
Chill the cake in the fridge until the icing is firm to the touch.
Using the color amounts above, color your leftover buttercream and put each color into its own piping bag with a small hole cut in the bottom.
Using the piping bag, fill each stripe with a colored buttercream.
You can either chill the cake again before continuing, or do this step right after piping the colored buttercream. I prefer to do it right away, without chilling the cake again. - Using an icing smoother or a bench scraper, smooth the cake vertically along one stripe at a time, wiping the smoother clean between each pass. This will remove excess icing and make the stripes level with the rest of the cake. *If it helps, you can watch this step in the video below for a visual*
Once all the stripes are filled and smoothed, refrigerate cake until icing is firm to the touch.
To make the leaves: Melt 2-4 tbsp. of white chocolate (and any dark chocolate as needed - as mentioned in the color section) with 1/4-1/2 tsp. of shortening. Add color as needed to create the desired look (refer to color section above) and mix until combined.
Using a brush, brush the chocolate onto the backside of the leaf silicone mold. I like to work in thin layers, and build upon it once the layer underneath has dried.
Let chocolate set. Once set, gently remove leaves from mold and repeat for the next 3 colors.
Carefully press leaves onto cake. You may want to add some buttercream to the back of the leaf to help it adhere to the cake.
Slice and enjoy :)
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