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Thanksgiving Roast Ham Cake

This Cake Is Something To Be Thankful For!

This Thanksgiving, I wanted to make the perfect cake for both dinner AND dessert (just like my Turkey Cake from last year!), because what more is there to be thankful for than a slice of CAKE!? You’ll truly WOW your friends & family when they carve this Roast Ham at the dinner table… and the inside is all CAKE!

To make my Thanksgiving Roast Ham Cake, I baked 9lbs of my Vanilla Cake that I dyed “Ham” PINK, whipped up a batch of Italian Meringue buttercream and covered the entire thing in SWEET fondant details. I even served my Ham Cake with some “sweet potato mash” on the side!

Watch me cake a Thanksgiving Cake in my latest YouTube video here!

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Baking the Cake:

Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake

Icing The Cake:

Decorating The Cake:

Ivory Food Colouring
Brown Food Colouring
Soft Pink Food Colour
Dusty Pink Food Colour
White Fondant

Item Name:	Availability:
3 x 7” Round Cake Pans, lined with parchment paper
1 x 8” Round Cake Pans, lined with parchment paper
Rubber Spatula
Ruler
Serrated Knife
Small Serrated Knife
Small Icing Spatula	Add to Cart -
Small Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Rolling Pin
Paring Knife
Paint Brushes
Fondant Rolling Pin	Add to Cart -
Non-stick Board
Veining Tools

Bake Vanilla Cakes

Prepare 9lbs of Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake recipe dyed a “ham pink.” I used "soft pink" and "dusty pink" food coloring for this.

Pour batter into 3 x 7” and 1 x 8” round pans; 2 1/4lbs per pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes each, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cakes entirely in their pans sitting on a wire rack.

Prepare Buttercream

Prepare your Italian Meringue Buttercream, and dye it “ham pink.” Mix in the same soft pink and dusty pink until you feel the buttercream matches your cake batter. Once your buttercream is prepared, put your bowl aside to set, at room temperature.

Prepare Simple Syrup

Prepare your Simple Syrup and set aside at room temperature.

Level Vanilla Cakes

Once your vanilla cakes are completely cool, remove them from their pans. Remove caramelization from the bottoms. Set aside.

It's Simple!

Coat your cakes with simple syrup.

Stack Cakes

Fill your ham colored cakes with your ham colored buttercream - stack them upright. Chill them to get ready for carving.

Carve Cake Into Ham

To begin carving this cake, slice off one side of the cake, so it is left flat. This cut will become the bottom of the ham. Start to carve around the cake, removing the caramelization on the sides in the process. Flip the cake onto its flat side, and continue shaving until all of the caramelization is removed. Once you’re happy with the shape of the ham, it's time to create the "face."

With a small serrated knife, on the front of the "ham", cut in some indents onto the front.

NOTE: We won’t need to stress too much about carving because hams come in different shapes. It’s a good beginner cake because the carving isn’t that hard. It’s very forgiving like the Candy Corn on the Cob Cake or Baked Potato Cake. For more direction on how to carve YOUR ham, you can watch this week’s video here.

Crumb Coat and Chill

Using our ham coloured buttercream Crumb, Coat and then Chill your cake for approximately 20 minutes.

Icing the Cakes

Ice this cake one more time with your ham coloured buttercream and then place it back in the refrigerator to chill some more.

Cover with Fondant

First, we’re going to cover the "face" of the Ham with some "ham pink" fondant.

Roll out your fondant and apply it to the front of your cake, before trimming away the excess. Next, we’ll use a veining tool to smooth some indents into the ham, to give it some texture!

Meaty Fondant

There will be a bone in the center of the ham. Make some impressions of lines in the fondant, that will run from where that bone will stick out of the cake, using your veining tool. After that, we’ll use a thinner veining tool to create texture all over the Ham. This will help it look “meaty.”

Covering the Rest of the Ham

It's time to cover the rest of thecake. This fondant will be colored to match “ham skin."

Roll out your fondant, draping it over the cake, and trimming the excess where it meets the face of the ham, as well as away from the bottom.

Criss Cross

We’re going to recreate the scouring of a roasted ham's skin using a sharp paring knife and a fabric measuring tape. Lay the measuring tap out over the cake in one direction, and mark the lines it with your knife. Lay the measuring tape the opposite way and repeat.

NOTE: You want more of a triangular shape than a square mark. For more direction on how to scour your ham “Skin,” you can watch this week’s video here.

Paint the Ham’s Skin

Mix together some ivory food coloring, and clear food grade alcohol. We will use the mixture to the "skin". This will make your ham look nice and crispy!

NOTE: For more direction on how to paint your ham “Skin,” you can watch this week’s video here.

Adding the Bone

Now it’s time to add your bone. Take your modeling chocolate ring and add it to the ham. We will be using some leftover pink fondant and placing it inside the bone. Remove the modeling chocolate ring, and add texture to the pink fondant. Use a small grass piping tip. Press that into the inside of the bone. For an example of this watch my Steak Cake video.

Mix some ivory and brown food coloring. Place the modeling chocolate back on the cake, and with a dry brush brush on a little bit of ivory. This will make the bone look cooked.

NOTE:For more direction on how to paint your ham “Skin,” you can watch this week’s video here.

Surface of the Ham

Paint some clear piping gel onto the pink surface of the meat to make it look like it is right out of the oven. To add to that look, we’re also going to add some fat. You’ll do this with a pinch of modeling chocolate. Work in some vegetable shortening. Work the mixture into some of the larger veins on the front of the ham, using a paintbrush to press it in. Finally, use some more clear piping gel and brush it all over the front or “Face of your ham.” Once the cake is completely dry, brush the whole thing with maple syrup!

NOTE: Using vegetable shortening with modeling chocolate, will make the modeling chocolate fall apart, but in this case, that’s a good thing!

Deck the Ham with Cloves

Once you’ve brushed the cake with maple syrup, take some dried cloves and press them into the center of every triangle on the ham's skin.

NOTE: For more direction on how to enhance your ham “Skin,” you can watch this week’s video here.

Pineapples

Hams always sport some yummy pineapples on top. For this cake we'll use dehydrated pineapple rings so that they look like they’ve been baked. Add a line of them across the top! Brush some apricot jam onto the pineapple to make it look like the whole roast was glazed at once.

Brûlée The Skin

Use a brûlée torch to “smoke” some sections of the “skin.” Remove cloves from the areas you intend to torch.

NOTE: For more direction on how to brûlée your ham “Skin,” you can watch this week’s video here.

Mashed Sweet Potato

Take some plain buttercream, and dye it the color of sweet potato. Use some plain vanilla cake scraps and mix it into the buttercream until the mixture resembles a potato consistency.

Note: You may use a hand held mixture to help you achieve the consistency you're looking for.

Cherries on Top

Decorate your cake with more dehydrated pineapple rings and maraschino cherries. Your cake is ready to carve!

NOTE: For more direction on how to decorate your cake, you can watch this week’s video here.