Learn how to make and decorate this awesome three layer, pink ombre, heart shaped cake for Valentine’s Day!! This looks much more complicated than it really is. It is time consuming and there are a lot of steps which is why this video is so long but the results are amazing!!
What you’ll need:
-white cake either from scratch or boxed (2 boxes is perfect for this)
-8-10 cups buttercream frosting
-Americolor gell food coloring in Super Red
-pastry or piping bags
-Wilton 2A decorating tip
-offset spatula
-8″ x 2″ heart shaped cake pans
Mix up your cake batter and divide into 3 equal portions in 3 separate bowls. You want about 3 cups of batter for each layer of cake. If using boxed mix, this ends up being about 2-3/4 cups of batter per color/pan if you make up two boxes of mix. Color light pink, medium pink and dark pink. Lightly grease the pans with shortening, line the bottoms with parchment paper and pour the batter into the pans. Bake according to box or recipe if making it from scratch. Let cool in the pans for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
When cool, using a long serrated knife, take off the very tops of each cake to make them level so you have even layers. Next, make up your buttercream frosting or use premade frosting if you so wish. Put a small amount of frosting onto a plate or cake board to hold the cake in place and place the dark pink layer down first after removing the parchment paper. Frost the top of this layer with about a 1/4″ layer of frosting. Top with the medium pink cake, frost with another 1/4″ thick layer of frosting, and finally top with the light pink cake.
Now, put a thin layer of frosting all over the cake. This is known as a crumb coating. This will seal in all the loose crumbs of the cake and give you a nice foundation on which to pipe onto. Let dry for a few hours before continuing.
Take your remaining frosting and divide into 4 equal portions. Leave one white and color the other three with varying shades of pink. A dark, medium and light. Transfer the dark pink frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton 2A decorating tip and begin at the bottom of the cake and pipe out 3/4″ dots of frosting all along the bottom edge. Make sure these are evenly spaced because this is your foundation. Using an offset spatula end of a butter knife or the back of a spoon, create the petals by pressing onto the top of each dot and as you press into it, draw it straight up creating a petal effect. Do this all the way around and then continue the rows with the next lighter and next lighter colors of frosting until you reach the top.
For the top, using the white frosting, pipe out the 3/4″ dots of frosting all around making sure to keep the dots lined up with the previous rows on the side of the cake. Make into petals and then continue with the subsequent rows working towards the center of the cake. Subsequent rows needn’t line up with the previous rows. Continue working until you reach the center and then pipe out a heart using the same piping tip. Refrigerate the cake and then serve however you so choose! Enjoy!!
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