It seems as though there is a sudden outburst of the word "ombre" online. It refers to a set of colors or tones that shades each other. Commonly, it is stacked or set beside each other to see the color tone change slightly. The use of ombre extends from fabric to hair color and now pastries. I found my best new unexplored baking territory to conquer.
The Inspiration
I got my inspiration from two different cake ideas. On the left is a small ombre cake cut with a round cookie cutter. The other is a strawberry lemonade cake.
Here's what I came up with:
Unfortunately, the lack of the right equipment concealed the ombre appearance. Since I did not exactly plan this out, I could not find a cookie cutter wide enough for my ideal cake size. By accident, the cake looked rustic instead of elegant.
I was hoping that when sliced, the ombre will finally become obvious. Hint of ombre is present but not quite obvious in the pictures. The frosting smudges obstructed the ombre effect. Also, I can still improve on the color palette for better effect.
I think using just the color purple is a better approach instead of pink. What I could've done is stick to purple and varied the amount I added in each batch.
Though not quite visually stunning, it was delicious nonetheless. Butter creams are mostly really sweet. The beauty of this fronting is you have more control of the amount of sugar without sacrificing the consistency of the frosting. It is an explosion of flavor in your mouth with the combination of strawberry cake plus vanilla white cake. Also, lemon and strawberry works together,who would've known?! : )
This is another one of my lazy-woman/busy-woman's recipe. Of all the cakes I've baked in the last year, this is by far the fastest. Its a combination of easy recipe and a now more-experienced baker - moi! Believe it or not, it only took me an hour on the dot to come up with this confection.
Ingredients: The Cakes
Box of Strawberry Cake Mix
Box of Classic White Cake Mix
Eggs, Water, Oil (the usual ingredients needed as instructed in the box)
Red, Purple Food Coloring
Box of Fresh Strawberries (thinly sliced vertically)
4 9-inch pans or smaller
(I highly recommend the use of square of rectangular pans instead, explained later)
Desired-size cookie cutter
Cooling rack
Cardboard for the bottom of the cake
Pre-heat the open to 350 degrees.
Spray all four pans with oil.
The How-to's: Ombre Effect
Start with the strawberry cake mix by preparing it as instructed in the box. Most store-bought strawberry cake mix is already colored pink however if not, add 3-5 drops of red food coloring. Pour 1/2 of the batter into the pan and set aside. This will become the base pink color.
Add 6-8 drops of red coloring into the remaining strawberry batter and mix. This will yield a much darker pink. Pour into the pan.
To save time, bake both pans together in the middle rack as instructed in the box. Once finished, take out of the oven set aside for 3-5 minutes then transfer to the cooling rack.
While the first 2 batches are baking, mix together the classic white cake and its ingredients. Like earlier, divide the batter in half for coloring. I've decided to color one with light purple and the other very light pink. You want this pink lighter than our base pink so add only 1-2 drops of red food color.
Bake as instructed and cooled in the rack. Once completely cooled, level the top surface of the cake using either a serrated knife or a leveler to at least an inch thick.
The Frosting: Ingredients
2 Box Instant Jelo Pudding Mix -Lemon Flavor
4 Cups Whipping Cream
1/4 Cup Graduated Sugar
Pastry Bag with Copplers and Desired Pipe to Decorate
The How-to's: Whipped Lemonade Frosting
Whip together instant pudding and heavy cream until soft peaks form. This time add the desired amount of sugar. I added 1 tbsp at a time until my preferred sweetness. For reference, mine isn't that sweet. I added 2 tbsp only to give a little hint of sweet. After all, lemons are supposed to be tangy.
One thing I didn't do that would make a huge difference is adding lemon zest into the frosting. It will give it a more tangy taste.
Keep whisking until the desired frosting consistency is achieved. Mine took about 10 minutes with a hand mixer. It was a tad bit softer than a buttercream.
The Assembly: Ombre Strawberry Lemonade Cake
To fully create the ombre effect, use a cookie cutter big enough for your desired cake size to trim the sides. This will take out the brownish sides of the cake and exposes the actual color. Unfortunately, I didn't have an 8-inch cookie cutter.
I highly recommend the use of either square or rectangular pan. This way, even without the cookie cutter, the sides of the cake can be carved out.
Set the prepared pastry bag on a tall glass. Pour half the frosting into the pastry bag.
Set the lightest pink cake into the cardboard by adding some frosting in between to serve as an adhesive. Spread out frosting on top with a spatula using the remaining frosting in the bowl. Top with strawberries slices.
Add the base pink next then the dark pink and lastly the purple adding the frosting and strawberries in each step. You can reverse the color arrangement.
Lastly, using the piping bag, decorate the top layer of your cake. You may or may not add strawberis on top.
Viola!
The cake was not only delicious, it was also gorgeous.
For the more elegant look after slicing the cake, skip the strawberry slices in between layers. It is clear in the picture below how messy-looking it can be once sliced. In doing so, I must note that you may be sacrificing taste with looks.
