just a smidgen

Pas de Deux Blush Pink Ruffled Ombre Layer Cake

Ruffles Pink Cake

Sometimes an off-hand remark feels portentous and resonates, like this one…

“Can you see how the gentle curve of the road is designed so that you can only see so far ahead… it makes the view easier on the eyes.”

(he was referring to the architectural design of a community in Los Angeles)

I began to think that life, too, only ever gives us the next bend in our road…

what comes after is, of course, a mystery

I wondered… is it really any “easier on the eyes”

or would we rather have a glimpse of what lies ahead?

I tried to imagine a road that follows a linear path,
where we can see back to where we’ve been and forward to what’s next.

There’d be instant clarity, but also the loss of mystery, spontaneity…

perhaps even a loss of joy?

I think I prefer to envision that what lies ahead has an even more resplendent architecture…

Perhaps it will be filled with the crash of waves that bend and curve along a sandy shoreline…

Or the curving smile and gaze of love from an endearing face…
 Perhaps there will be a “beach house”, something like this one…
 Filled with soft ruffling linen curves, refurbished furniture and a gentle light.

By now you know I love vintage…

♥ Pom Pom Interiors ♥ 

in Santa Monica didn’t disappoint.

I also love pink…

and I love ruffles…

and I love pink ruffled meringue icing…

My birthday is this week, so I celebrated by undertaking a baking project full of ruffles and ballet pink blush tones…

I had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make a pink rainbow layer cake.

I knew if I made it early enough… I could eat it all myself serve it at Book Club.

It really was the perfect girly cake, reminiscent of vintage, pearls, rainbows, and all the meandering curves of life…

I decided to try two different recipes.
mostly because the first one didn’t work out, I hate when that happens.

The first cake was snowy white and looked prettier,
but quickly deflated when the food coloring was folded in.

It did look so pretty that I decided to frost it anyway.

And the second one…

well, let’s just say it was well worth the time and effort it took to ruffle it’s meringue.

The second cake was so yummy… but both were pretty all sliced up…

Here’s the first…

This was the first “go round”.

Here’s the second…

The was the better tasting/rising cake.

And here they are all together…

Pas de Deux Blush Pink Ruffled Ombre Layer Cake
 
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Ingredients
  • Angel Feather Icing:
  • 2 egg whites
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup corn syrup
  • 2 tablespoons of water
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla (I used almond flavoring)
Instructions
Icing
  1. Put everything except the vanilla into the top of a double boiler (or in a large metal wide-mouthed mixing bowl) with boiling water beneath. Start beating immediately with a rotary beater or electric mixer until the mixture stands in stiff peaks. Remove from heat, add flavoring, and keep on beating until it is thick enough to spread easily. Allow to cool slightly.
Assembly
  1. ** If you made the Simple White cake, you may wish to slice off the rounded “tops” of each layer of cake. It removes some of the “brown crumb” color in the cake and helps the layers to stack flat. I didn’t have this problem with the Snow White Vanilla Birthday Cake recipe.
  2. Dollop a small bit of icing on the bottom of your cake plate to hold the first layer in place. Lay down the darkest pink layer first. Spread with icing and add the next darker shade layer. Repeat until all layers are stacked. Cover the enter cake with a coating of icing on top and all around the sides.
  3. I've included a link below this for a Video demonstrating the ruffling technique.
  4. Using a Wilton petal tip (mine was quite small, #104 or #123) fill the pastry bag with icing and ruffle, beginning at the bottom of each layer. Pipe up the sides until reaching the top. Repeat as desired.
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Watch this simple demonstration on the ruffling technique on YouTube: Ruffled Icing

I will now give you both cake recipes… we’ll start with the first one, well.. first, shall we?

First off, I used five 6-inch cake pans, five to be exact.. because I couldn’t figure out how to keep the rest of the batter happily risen while the first batch was baking for half an hour.

It is the recipe I found on Sweetapolita… even she wasn’t too keen on the taste, but it did bake up the prettiest. It was just so difficult to figure out how to add the dang food coloring to each layer without destroying the loft of the egg whites.

Snow White Vanilla Birthday Cake

Snow White Vanilla Birthday Cake
 
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Cook time
Total time
 
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups ice water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 4 egg whites beaten stiff
Instructions
  1. Add sugar to the butter and beat until light. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with ice water and flavorings, beating thoroughly after each addition. Fold in the beaten egg whites. Separate equally into five bowls. Leave the first pan white, then add a touch of food coloring to each bowl, adding a bit more as you go along. Fold in the coloring carefully.
  2. Pour into five 6-inch greased layer pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes
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When I had slightly underwhelming results, I searched up this recipe from Allrecipes. It was touted to be “a buttery white cake that comes together in minutes but tastes like you spent all day making it.” And, oh boy, were they were right!

 Simple White Cake

Simple White Cake
 
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Cook time
Total time
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 5 6-inch cake pans.Cream sugar and butter together in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.Combine the flour and baking powder and add gradually to the creamed mixture and blend well.Finally, mix in the milk until the batter is smooth. Divide five equal portions of batter into mixing bowls. Add food coloring to each, gradually increasing the amount for each layer.Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes until cake springs back and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
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You’ve got to know, I had the most fun making this frosting from Sweetapolita. It was a bit unusual in that it was made in a large metal pan over a pot of simmering water. It was great fun watching it rise up and stiffen into glossy peaks. I doubled this recipe because I wanted to ice both cakes. One batch would work for either one of these layer cakes.

This is definitely a recipe I’d use again and again…

Enjoy! 

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