Giant Yo-Yo Cake

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Baking the Cake:

2 x 8lb recipes of Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake
1 tsp Wilton Colour Right Pink
1 tsp Wilton Colour Right Yellow
¼ tsp Americolor Turquoise

Icing The Cake:

Decorating The Cake:

5 lbs of White Fondant
Americolor Turquoise (dyed 4 lbs white fondant teal)
½ oz of Black Fondant
½ oz of Pink Fondant
Vegetable Shortening
Clear Piping Gel
Icing Sugar

Item Name:	Availability:
4 x 10” Round Cake Pans, lined with parchment paper
1 x 8” Round Cake Pan, lined with parchment paper
Rubber Spatula
3 x Mixing Bowls
Ruler
Serrated Knife
Small Serrated Knife
Small Icing Spatula	Add to Cart -
Small Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Rolling Pin
Fondant Rolling Pin	Add to Cart -
Non-Stick Board
Fondant Smoother
Paring Knife
Paint Brushes
Clay Extruder	Add to Cart -
Letter Cutters
Heart Shaped Cutter
Straight Sharp Pin
Simple Syrup Squeeze Bottle	Add to Cart -

Prepare Vanilla Cakes

Prepare two 8lb recipes of Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake (yes - that’s 16 pounds in total!). Separate your batter into three bowls according to the following specifications:

7 lbs batter, mixed with 1 tsp Wilton Colour Right Pink
7 lbs batter, mixed with 1 tsp Wilton Colour Right Yellow
2 lbs batter, mixed with ¼ tsp Americolor Turquoise

Mix thoroughly until the colour is completely blended and the batter is smooth. Set aside.

Marble Your Cake Batter

We’re going to create a ‘marble’ pattern with your yellow and pink cake batter. To do this, scoop some of your yellow cake batter into your first 10” round cake pan. Next, scoop a portion of your pink cake batter over top. Allow the batter to settle naturally in the cake pan without smoothing or mixing the colours together. Continue switching between your yellow and pink cake batter until you’ve evenly filled all four 10” round cake pans. Set aside.

Bake Vanilla Cakes

Pour your turquoise cake batter into your 8” round cake pan. Bake your 8” round cake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, and your 10” round cakes for 1 hr 10 mins, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool all cakes completely in their pans sitting on a wire rack.

Prepare Buttercream

Prepare your Italian Meringue Buttercream. Set aside.

Prepare Simple Syrup

Prepare your simple syrup and set aside at room temperature.

Level Your Turquoise Cake

Once your cakes are completely cool, gently remove them from their pans. Level your turquoise cake using a ruler and a serrated knife. Flip your cake over and cut off all the caramelization from the bottom. Next, remove all the caramelization from the sides by flipping over a 7-inch round cake pan and placing it centered onto your cake. Then, using a small serrated knife, carve around the cake pan so that all of the caramelization is cut off.

Level Your Marbled Cakes

For two of the four 10” round cakes, repeat the same process as above so that the cake layers are flat and even on both sides. Remove the caramelization from the sides by laying an upside-down 9” round cake pan in the center of your two 10” round cakes and carefully carving around the cake pan with a small serrated knife. For the other two cake layers, level them as high as possible with a serrated knife, making sure not to remove those cake humps. (Don’t worry if you’ve left some caramelization on the top. We’ll be getting rid of that in the next step!) Flip your cakes over and cut off all the caramelization from the bottoms. Finally, remove the caramelization from the sides using an upside-down 9” round cake pan once again. Set aside.

Shape Your Cakes

Place each of the 10” round cake layers that maintained most of their cake humps, on top the other 10” round cakes that you leveled flat. Use the extra height of those cakes to round out the top of your cakes so that it looks like a ‘dome’ shape. These cakes will act as the rounded tops and bottoms of your yo-yo. Set aside.

Create An Indent

In order to add a cute ‘sticker’ to the top of our yo-yo, we’re going to need to create a little inlet for the sticker to rest. In one of the 10” round cakes that you just carved, press a 6” round circle cutter into the center of the surface of the cake, about ½ of an inch down. Next, cut into the side of your cake about ½ of an inch down and across the whole top of your cake, making sure that it is completely level and even at all sides. Carefully lift out the middle cake circle that you cut out so that you are left with a small hole or inlet in the middle of your cake.

Note: Leave the outer ring of cake where it is. We’ll address how to re-attach this when we ice it!

It’s Simple!

When you’re happy with the way both of your yo-yo halves look, separate all of your cake layers onto a flat surface. Next, shower your cakes with a layer of simple syrup. Allow the simple syrup to soak in completely before moving on to the next step.

Stack & Fill Cakes

Lay your first 10” round flat cake on a cake board. Spread a layer of Italian Meringue buttercream on top with a small offset spatula, then layer your rounded 10” cake (without the inlet) on top. Repeat this process with your second 10” round flat cake, spreading a layer of Italian Meringue buttercream on top. Then, carefully layer your rounded 10” cake (with the inlet) on top. Gently lift the “cake ring” we created in Step #9 off of your cake using a bottomless cake pan bottom or any large, flat surface - making sure that it doesn’t break. Lightly ice the top of that 10” round cake and gently lay that cake ring back on top so that it sticks back together. At this point, you should be left with two iced and filled 10” round cakes, and one 8” round cake.

Crumb Coat & Chill

Crumb coat all three cakes with plain Italian Meringue buttercream using your small offset spatula. Chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Ice & Chill

Remove your cakes from the fridge and ice again, making sure that the buttercream is completely smooth and even on all sides. Chill for another 20 minutes. Once the buttercream is chilled and firm, smooth out any ridges and set aside.

Cover Your Yo-Yo’s Flat Sides

Sandwich both 10” yo-yo cake halves between two cake boards. Gently flip them both over so that the rounded part is now on the bottom. Because we’ll also be seeing the flat sides of these cakes once the yo-yo is assembled, lightly ice the flat part of both cakes using a small offset spatula. Roll out some turquoise fondant larger than the diameter of your cakes and thinner than ⅛ of an inch. Drape the fondant over your first yo-yo half and smooth to your cake with your fingertips. Flip the cake back over so that the rounded part is now on top before trimming away any excess with your sharp paring knife. Repeat with the second half.

Cover Your Yo-Yo’s Rounded Sides

Roll out some more of your turquoise fondant so that it’s about ⅛ of an inch thick and larger in diameter than the size of your cake. Gently drape the fondant over your first cake half (the one without the indent) using a French Rolling Pin to help pick the fondant up, and smooth it to the sides of your cake with a Fondant Smoother or your fingertips. Trim away any excess using a sharp paring knife. Repeat this process with the second half. This time, when you’re trying to smooth the fondant into the indent, some air will naturally be trapped in the indent. To fix this, have a straightpin on hand and poke a few little holes at the edges of the indent so that the air can escape. Then, continue gently easing the fondant into the crease, either with your fingertips or with the rounded edge of your Fondant Smoother.

Note: If some of the icing came off when we flipped the cakes back over, feel free to touch up a bit of the icing before starting this step.

Cover Your Yo-Yo’s Middle Layer

Start by measuring the circumference of your turquoise cake. Roll out a band of white fondant so that it is ¼ of an inch thick, a bit wider than the height of your cake, and as long as the circumference of your cake. Cut one side of the band in a straight line using a ruler and a sharp paring knife. Next, wrap the band of fondant around the side of your turquoise cake with the straight edge on the bottom. Trim away any excess fondant at the top so that it’s flush with the height of the cake and blend the seams together where the fondant sides meet with your fingertips.

Create Lots, And Lots, And LOTS Of String

To make the string that will be wound around your yo-yo, start by softening some of your white fondant with a bit of vegetable shortening. Roll your softened fondant into small tubes and feed it into the biggest round faceplate in your Clay Extruder. Keep pushing the fondant out in one long, connected band. (You may need to do this at least six times.) Brush a bit of clear piping gel onto the side of your turquoise cake and, starting from the bottom, wrap three fondant cords all the way around in one connected band. Secure two more cords in between with some more clear piping gel so that it looks like the string is wrapped more than one time around.

Note: Try your best to hide the seams of your fondant cords with other strands of fondant so that it all looks continuously wrapped.

Stick It On!

No yo-yo is complete without some fun stickers on the sides! To make your sticker, roll out more of your white fondant extremely thin. Measure your ‘inlet’ on top of your yo-yo and use a similar-sized bowl, circle cutter or cake pan to cut out a piece of fondant with the same circumference as your inlet. Next, roll out your black, pink, or whichever fondant colours you choose as thin as possible and use your letter or heart cutters to create your own unique message. Brush some clear piping gel onto the backs of your letters and glue them onto your white fondant circle, using a ruler to make sure your lettering is straight. Once you’re happy with your design, place the sticker into the inlet by brushing on some clear piping gel (or water) and carefully lowering it into place.

Begin Assembling

It’s time to assemble the cake! Flip your yo-yo cake half (the one without the inlet) upside down onto a cake board so that the rounded half is at the bottom. Next, lay your middle “string” layer on top - making sure it’s completely centered. At this point, you may notice that the seam on your bottom cake tier is visible. To hide this, simply extrude some more white fondant with your clay extruder and continue adding it to the continuous line you created overtop of that seam, attaching with some clear piping gel. (This will also make your yo-yo look like the string is coming loose and unwinding a little.) Finally, gently place your final yo-yo half over top. To make sure both halves line up, take your fondant smoother and hold it up against the sides of your cake at multiple points to make sure it is completely even

Let’s Get Loopy!

Use your clay extruder to push out a final band of white fondant and create a ‘loop’ where your finger would go at the end of your yo-yo’s string. Make sure to hide the seam around where the end of your fondant meets the rest of your ‘string’ by wrapping a small bit of fondant around the seam so that it looks like it’s ‘knotted’. Gently add your final ‘looped’ string to the cake board. Feel free to get creative with the way you lay your string on the cake board, making sure to attach the end of the fondant to wherever the end of the string remains on your middle layer with some clear piping gel.