For the last night of my Wilton decorating class, we had to bring in a cake pre-frosted and ready to decorate. I chose this seemingly-simple layer cake, originally seen in this gorgeous variation.

I had a bit of a tough time. For one, of my three layers, only two came out. (One was way too thin.) Two, I forgot to color the layers in gradually darker shades of red, like in that gorgeous variation. But it wouldn’t have mattered; I didn’t make enough layers for impact, either. None of these things were the original recipe’s fault (the recipe on the gorgeous variation’s website doesn’t give instructions for the coloring, though), and the cake ended up tasting very good.

I like that it’s called an ‘old-fashioned’ cake; it definitely doesn’t have that out-of-a-box texture that most party cakes of today have. It also held up very well to my frosting and barely created any crumbs at all.

For the frosting, I used Wilton’s standard buttercream frosting recipe (plus meringue powder to get the stiffness needed to decorate). Wilton’s recipe tastes better with all butter (instead of all shortening, or half and half), so feel free to substitute at will. For the top, I added seven ribbon roses. For the border, I piped shells, then rosettes on top of the shells (my new favorite).

Sometime soon I’ll do a post on all the techniques with some of the things I learned along the way that they don’t include in the course (like how on earth to get all the equipment you need to class, and what products you can skimp on). Definitely check out their easy buttercream techniques for more ideas for your own cakes and cupcakes!

Related Posts:

• Mini Zebra Layer Cakes
• Pandan Chiffon Cake

Tags: egg whites