Artwork inspired Cake

 A friend at work needed a last minute cake for a baby shower and asked if I could help out. Then she gave me no rules and asked for flavors- my favorite client! So we went with an 4 layer! orange scented cake with ganache filling and an almond buttercream with chocolate details. She said the couple doesn't know the sex of the baby, doesn't have a theme, she's an architect, he's a metal sculptor. So really they're probably way cooler than me! They did have the print above purchased for the baby room by Kyle Martz. I love it, it's so simple and cute but not cutesy and I was instantly inspired. So I created chocolate details that resembled the linework over top of a lined texture on the frosting and topped it with an acrylic flag inside a chocolate detail sprinkled with edible glitter.

It was a super tall cake, probably around 10" high and I love the way it turned out.

 

Orange scented cake:
tweaked from this recipe

18 tbs butter; room temp
2 1/4 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tbs baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup milk
9 egg whites
1 tbs vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 oranges; zested and juiced

1    preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 3-8" cake pans with parchment paper and flour them
you can also make a 2-9" layer cake you'll just have to bake it a little longer.
2    in a large bowl beat butter until light and fluffy, then beat in sugar 1/2 cup at a time
3    in another bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt
4    then in another bowl lightly beat the egg whites, add in milk, vanilla, almond extract, orange zest and 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice and stir
5    with the mixer on low add in 1/3 cup milk mixture and 1/3 cup flour mixture, once all incorporated add in another 1/3 of each & mix, then the last 1/3 and mix only until incorporated.
6    then separate evenly into cake pans and bake 20-25 minutes, a toothpick should come out clean.


Ganache filling:

8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar

1   in a double broiler melt chocolate into the heavy cream on low until all the chocolate is melted, stir frequently.
2   remove from heat and stir in salt. Then pour it into a mixing bowl and let sit until it has cooled to room temperature
3   whip the ganache until it is light and fluffy
4   whip in 1/4 cup powdered sugar to get a less runny texture, add in another 1/4 cup if you'd like it a bit thicker


Almond buttercream frosting:

2 cups butter
8 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp almond extract
4-6 tbs milk

1    in a large bowl beat butter until light and fluffy.
2   owly add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time
2    once all incorporated mix in salt and extracts.
3    add in milk 1 tbs at a time until it is a good spreadable consistency.

 

Assembly:

1   Pipe a large barrier around the edge of each cake that will get the ganache filling. This will keep it from spilling out the edges.
2    spread ganache onto filling layers, and then stack them
3   crumb coat the cake and place in fridge for 30 minutes
4   then pull out cake and frost entire cake and decorate as you like



my secret weapon is using pocky sticks instead of wooden
dowels to hold the cake layers together!
 then they're edible!