Topsy Turvy Christmas Cake

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Baking the Cake:

16 lbs Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake
3/4 cup red sprinkles
1 1/4 cup green sprinkles

Icing The Cake:

Covering The Cake:

2 lb White Fondant
1 lb Green Fondant
2 lb Red Fondant
1/2 lb Chocolate Fondant
Icing Sugar

Decorating The Cake:

Royal Icing
Marshmallows
Wilton Kelly Green Icing Color
Clear Piping Gel

Item Name:	Availability:
Rubber Spatula
3 x 9” Round cake pans, lined with parchment paper
2 x 7” Round cake pans, lined with parchment paper
3 x 5” Round cake pans, lined with parchment paper
Serrated Knife
Ruler
Sir Squeeze A Lot	Add to Cart -
An 8”, 6" and 4" cake board
Icing Spatula	Add to Cart -
Small Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Rolling Pin
Fondant Smoother
Paring Knife
1” and 1 1/2” Circle Cutter	Add to Cart - $19.99
Strip Cutter No.2
#12 and #805 Round Piping Tip
Clay Extruder	Add to Cart -
8 x 14” Wooden Dowels
Hammer
Garden Shears
Pencil Sharpener

Preparation

Gum Paste Bow Loops

If you’re hoping to have a big white bow on your cake, create a set of gum paste loops the night before like I did in my Box Of Chocolates Cake.

Prepare Cake Batter

Prepare Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake batter in two 8lb portions. Scale out one 6 lb batch, and fold red sprinkles into the batter with a rubber spatula. Then fold your green sprinkles into the remaining 10lb. Be careful not to overmix the sprinkles as the colour will bleed into the batter.

Divide Batter

Divide the batter between your pans as follows:

3 lb red sprinkle batter in 9” pan
2 lb red sprinkle batter in 7” pan
1 lb red sprinkle batter in 5” pan

3 lb green sprinkle batter in remaining two 9” pans
2 lb green sprinkle batter in 7” pan
1 lb green sprinkle batter in remaining two 5” pans

Bake Cakes

Bake your cakes at 350 degrees as follows:

5” pans - 50 minutes
7” pans - 1 hour
9” pans - 1 hour and 15 minutes

Remove cakes from oven after baking for the appropriate time, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in their pans.

Buttercream

Prepare Italian Meringue Buttercream.

Chocolate Buttercream!

Prepare Chocolate Buttercream.

Yes, We Need MORE Chocolate

Prepare Dark Chocolate Ganache.

It’s Simple

Prepare Simple Syrup.

Level & Layer

Remove your cakes from their pans, and level with a ruler and a serrated knife. Continue with your ruler and serrated knife to cut each cake in half horizontally.

Trim

Cut one of your 9” round layers down to 7” so that you have 5 layers in each size. You can use your 7” round cake pan as a guide to help you do this. This should leave you with:

Five 9” round cake layers
Five 7” round cake layers
Six 5” round cake layers (oh no, you’ll have to eat that extra layer :)

Simple Syrup

Simple syrup all of your layers with Sir Squeeze and allow to fully soak in.

Stack & Fill

Stack and fill your cakes so that you end with three cake stacks of each size. Do this on a cake board that is one inch smaller than the cake round. Alternate your cake layers and fillings like so:

Green sprinkle layer → Ganache → Red sprinkle layer → Chocolate buttercream → Green sprinkle batter → Ganache → Red sprinkle layer - Chocolate Buttercream - Green Sprinkle Layer

Chill

Put all three layers in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. This will allow the fillings to firm up, and make them easier to carve.

Trim Turvy

Once chilled, pull your cakes out one at a time and carve diagonally across the top of each cake to create an angle. From the highest point of the cake, carve down with a serrated knife to the top of the next layer (this should be about a one inch incline).

Time For Topsy!

Next, taper each cake around the sides. Start from the top and trim down to meet the smaller cake board at the bottom. The top of each cake should remain the same diameter, but the bottom should be ½” smaller all the way around.

Crumb Coat & Chill

Use your plain Italian meringue buttercream to crumb coat each cake, and move to fridge for a 20 minute chill.

Ice, Ice, Baby

Continuing with your Italian meringue buttercream, give all three cakes a second ice, and return to the fridge for a last 20 minute chill.

Cover In Red Fondant

Pull out your largest cake after it has chilled. Measure, and roll out a circle of red fondant large enough to cover the cake. Move quickly to transfer it to the cake, and instantly smooth it around the top of the edges to avoid tears. Work quickly to smooth down the sides. Trim away excess with a sharp paring knife.

Cover in Green & White Fondant

Use the above method to cover the second largest cake in green fondant and the smallest cake in white fondant.

White Fondant Details

Roll out a thin sheet of white fondant. Cut out different sized circles using circle cutters, and strips that will become the ribbon of your bow.

Green Fondant Details

Roll out a thin sheet of green fondant. Cut thin strips using your strip cutter, and smaller dots using assorted round piping tips.

Red Fondant Details

Roll out a thin sheet of red fondant. Cut stripes with a sharp paring knife on a diagonal. These will go on your smallest cake, so cut them to the height of that cake.

Have Fun!

One of the things I love most about topsy turvy cakes is that you can have fun with the pattern. So the above three steps were specific to the patterns I created, but feel free to design your own and you can’t go wrong!

Get Stripe-y!

Let’s add some stripes to our white tier. Alternate your red stripes (thicker side up, thicker side down, thicker side up, thicker side down), brushing the back with water to stick them onto the cake. Then go back with your thin green stripes. Trim away any excess from the bottom of top with a sharp paring knife.

Begin Assembling

Have your dowels and your royal icing prepped for this step. Mark out where you want your dowels to go on your largest cake, using 4 dowels cut into 8 pieces. Remember that each dowel will be a different height because of the incline. Press them into the cake, in a circle formation, and add a pat of royal icing to the top of your cake. Place your middle tier (with board still affixed) on top of your bottom tier.

Keep Building

Keep this process to stack your small tier onto your middle tier. Be sure to have them angled in different directions, otherwise it will just look like your cake is leaning over.

Hammer It Home

Take one long sharpened dowel, and hammer it down through the center of the entire cake, including the cake boards. This will keep your topsy turvy cake nice and sturdy. Topsy turvy cakes are great as long as they’re not toppling over!

Polka Dots!

Add your white circles to your red tier in a random pattern with a bit of water brushed on the back. Apply the smaller green circles inside of your larger dots.

Ribbon

Criss cross your large white strips to make it look as though it’s the place where a bow would go.

Light It Up!

Roll tubes of white fondant, and use a ruler to mark out even increments. Cut the tube into equal length pieces. Roll each little piece into a ball, and then squeeze them into a point to form a bulb.

Bow On Top!

Add your gum paste bow loops with royal icing, and fanning them out. Add them at slightly different angles to create a lifelike bow. If any big globs of royal icing are exposed, take a wet paint brush to smooth out any excess.

Light Details

Dye some more of your green fondant a bit darker using your Kelly Green gel food colouring. Roll it out and cut circles with a piping tip. These will become the little nub where the lights will screw in. Soften the remaining dark green fondant with a bit of vegetable shortening. Run through a clay extruder with a small round tip. Wrap these fondant wires around the cake at random, getting them to criss cross occasionally. Affix with water.

Let It Glow, Let It Glow, Let It Glow

Glue the nubs to the to the top of each light bulb with a bit of water. Adhere these to the cake along the dark green wires with a little bit of raw spaghetti. I find this a much better alternative to using toothpicks! Dab a little bit of clear piping gel on the cake where you are planning on placing your light before pressing it in.

Hot Chocolate Fondant

Roll out a small slab of chocolate fondant to ⅛ inch thick. Cut out a curving circle, larger than the top of my cake, so that it appears as though there are drips coming off of the hot chocolate mug. Place over your smallest tier and smooth down.

Here Is My Handle

Check out my directions here for making a handle for your top tier. Use a circle cutter to remove holes where the handle will go, and insert handle. Smooth any gaps with royal icing, again removing any excess with a wet paint brush.

Pile It High!

Apply your marshmallows to the top of your hot chocolate mug with a bit of royal icing as glue. Roll some brown fondant out really thin, and out it between your fingers to create little chocolate curls.

Congratulations!

If all went well, you should see something that looks like this...

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