Purple Rose Cake

I made this cake as part of a very special collaboration with a group of fun bakers over on Instagram. It's to celebrate Louise's birthday and her love for the colour purple.

Louise is one of the sweetest people I've meet on Instagram.  She runs two cake inspiration pages, one @euphoric_cakes and also a cute page dedicated to mermaids and rainbows @under_the _rainbow.  Be sure to check out these two pages.

Also, don't forget to head over to Instagram and check out #purplecakescollab to see all the beautiful creations.

This Purple Rose Cake is made with a super moist chocolate cake with delicious Nutella in between the layers.  It is covered in a smooth Swiss meringue buttercream and decorated with cute purple piped roses.

I had lots of fun piping the rose buds for the first time.


Happy Baking xo

Purple Rose Cake

Ingredients

· 1½ cups plain flour
· 1 cup caster sugar
· ¼ cup cocoa powder
· ¾ teaspoon baking powder
· 1½ teaspoons baking soda
· ½ teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 2 eggs
· ¼ cup sour cream
· ½ cup buttermilk
· ¾ cups strong coffee
· ¼ cup vegetable oil

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

· 2 egg whites
· 150 grams caster sugar
· 200 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)
· ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

· Nutella

Decorations

· Food colouring (violet & white – chefmaster & leaf green – americolor )

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Spray four round 4-inch tins with oil and dust some flour around the tins.

3. Place all dry ingredients into a large bowl and using an electric mixer, whisk until all ingredients are well combined.

4. Add all wet ingredients, making sure the coffee has cooled down. Mix until combined and turn beater onto medium and continue mixing for a few minutes.

5. Spoon the mixture into the tins evenly. Make sure to only fill them up a third full and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon or off-set spatula.

6. Bake in oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Place egg whites and caster sugar into a large bowl. Place over a pot of simmering water on low. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved completely. To check if the sugar has dissolved, rub a bit of the mixture between your fingers.

Remove from heat and using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture has completely cooled.

Remove the whisk attachment and replace with the paddle attachment. Slowly add portions of the room temperature butter and beat well before adding next portions.

Once all the butter has been added, beat on high for several minutes and then reduce to low speed and continue to beat for another few minutes to remove air bubbles.

Add a few drops of your desired food colouring gel and mix until all combined.

Frosting is ready for use.

Assembling the cake

* Please note – only two cakes were used to make this cake.

Cut off the tops of the two cakes if needed to make them even and then cut each cake in half. This gives you four layers.

Place one cake layer onto the cake board, securing it with a bit of buttercream at the bottom.

Spread a small amount of buttercream in the centre and then spread some Nutella evenly over the top and stack the next cake and do the same to the remaining cake layers.

Lightly crumb coat the whole cake and place into the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Colour the buttercream in desired colours and create the final coat on the cake. Use a cake comb to achieve the striped texture around the cake. Place cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Remove cake from the fridge and pipe some roses and rose buds on top of the cake and also some rose buds at the bottom of the cake.

Tips

· Batter makes 4 x 4-inch round cakes.
· Or you can bake 3 x 6-inch cakes.
· You can also line the bottoms of the tins with some baking paper.
· Remember to rotate the tins halfway through for a more even bake.
· Allow cakes to cool completely before icing and decorating.

Did you bake this recipe?

Remember to tag @youcanbakeittoo on Instagram & hashtag #youcanbakeittoo 

so I can see your wonderful bakes.