Vase Of Flowers Cake

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Baking the Cake:

4lbs + 6lbs Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake
1 1/2 cups Sprinkles (Jimmies)

Icing The Cake:

Simple Syrup
Italian Meringue Buttercream
Color Right Base Yellow
Color Right Base Pink

Covering The Cake:

¾ lb Teal Fondant
¾ lb Purple Fondant
¾ lb Pink Fondant
¾ lb Black Fondant
Icing Sugar

Decorating The Cake:

Fresh Flowers

Item Name:	Availability:
3 x 6” Round Cake Pans, lined with parchment paper
3 x 7” 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 -
4 1/2” Round Cake Board
6” Round Cake Board
5 x 1/4” Wooden Dowels
Circle Cutters	Add to Cart - $24.99
Rolling Pin
Fondant Smoother
Paring Knife
Plastic Container (I used an empty sprinkle container)
Simple Syrup Squeeze Bottle	Add to Cart -

Bake Cakes

Prepare 4lbs + 6lbs Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake recipe. Fold sprinkles into your Vanilla cake batter with a rubber spatula. Divide your batter according to the following specifications:

6” round cake pan - 1.5 lbs per pan (1 hr, 5 min)
7” round cake pan - 2.5 lb per pan (1 hr, 20 min)

Bake at 350 degrees for the times mentioned above in brackets, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 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 Cakes

Once your cakes are completely cool, remove them from their pans and level with a ruler and serrated knife. Flip your cakes over and cut off all the caramelization from the bottoms of your cakes, as well.

Carve A Hole

Using a ruler to measure the exact center of your cakes, cut a circle from the middle of two 6” round cake layers and one 7” round cake layer using the appropriate circle cutter.

Note: This step all depends on the sprinkle container you’ll be placing in the middle of your cake to hold your floral arrangement! Mine measured just under 2 inches in diameter, but if yours is smaller or larger, make sure to use the appropriate circle cutter so that you have enough room to hold your container.

It’s Simple!

Shower all of your cake layers with simple syrup. Allow the simple syrup to soak in completely before moving on to the next step.

Dye Your Buttercream

Dye 1 cup of your Italian Meringue Buttercream a soft yellow colour using a bit of Color Right Base Yellow and place into a separate bowl. Next, dye 1 cup of your Italian Meringue Buttercream a soft pink shade using a bit of Color Right Base Pink and assign to a separate bowl. Keep the rest of your buttercream plain.

Ice Your Cake Layers - Part 1

To help with the construction, we’ll be creating two separate cakes - one with the hole in the middle, and one without. Starting with the solid cake first, place a 6” round cake on the bottom and ice the top with your soft pink buttercream using a small offset spatula. Next, stack your 7” round cake layer on top and spread an even layer of soft yellow buttercream on top of cake. Finally, lay your last, solid 7” round cake layer over top. Set aside.

Ice Your Cake Layers - Part 2

Moving onto your second cake with the hole in the middle, place a 7” round cake on the bottom and ice the top with your soft pink buttercream using a small offset spatula. Try to keep the buttercream out of the hole. Next, stack your 6” round cake layer on top and spread an even layer of soft yellow buttercream on top of cake, removing any buttercream from inside the hole. Finally, lay your last, 6” round cake layer over top. Chill both cakes until buttercream is firm.

Start Building Your Vase

Once your cakes are completely chilled, begin carving them separately first before putting them together. Your bottom cake should be the one with no holes, while the cake on top will have the holes so that you can place your flowers inside! Lay a 6” round cake pan on top of your bottom cake section first. (Your 7” round cake should be on the top.) Trace around the pan using a serrated knife, going about ½ an inch straight down into the cake. From the side, cut into your cake about ½ an inch down from the top of the cake to remove that excess cake you just cut from the top. Next, remove the 6” round cake pan and place cake board on top so you can flip the cake!

Give It Some Curves

Once your cake is flipped (so that the 6” round cake is now on top), place a 4.5 inch round cake board on what is now the top of your cake so that you can use it as a guide while you give your cake some ‘curves’. Take your serrated knife and carve downward from the cake board, all around your cake. Make sure to taper the top and round out the sides while still maintaining that 6-inch diameter we created at the bottom of your cake! Once you’re happy with the shape of your cake, set aside.

Carve The Top

Moving on to the top half, begin by flipping your cake so that the 7-inch cake is now on top. Lay your 6” round cake pan on top of the cake and, like your first cake, trace around the pan using a serrated knife, going about ½ an inch straight down into the cake. From the side, cut into your cake about ½ an inch down from the top of the cake to remove that excess cake you just cut from the top. Flip your cake once again. (Your 6” round cake should now be on the top.) Lay a 3-inch round circle cutter around the hole as a guide, and carve down from the 3 inches to the 6 inch diameter at the base.

Support With Dowels

Before we assemble, you’ll need to add some dowels to help support the cake’s size. Using a ruler, find the centre of your bottom cake tier. Poke your first dowel down into the center of your cake and make a mark on the dowel that is flush with the top of the cake. Now, remove the dowel and use it to mark the height that all your dowels need to be. Cut nine pieces of your wooden dowels to this height before placing into your cake. The rest of your dowels should be placed in a circular fashion about 1 ½ inches around this center dowel.

Assemble Your Cakes

Using your offset spatula, spread a thin layer of Italian Meringue buttercream on top of your cake. Add a 6” round cake board on top, then spread another thin layer of buttercream on top of that. Next, place your top cake (the one with the holes) on top of your bottom cake - with the widest parts meeting in the middle.

Note: The reason why we carved our cakes with 6” round cake pans is so that both of the cakes should match up evenly when you stack them!

Crumb Coat & Chill

Crumb coat the entire cake with plain Italian Meringue buttercream using your small offset spatula & chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Ice & Chill

Carefully remove cake 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 with a spatula or your fingertips and set aside.

Prepare Your Fondant

Because your mom only deserves the BEST, we’re going to create a fun marbled pattern with the fondant to cover your vase cake. Choose four of your mom’s favourite colours, divide each portion in half and roll each colour into eight tubes of a similar width and length. From those tubes, create 2 braids with all four colours in each braid. Set aside.

Note: Because a braid traditionally only involves three strings, it doesn’t matter which colours you use to double up inside the braid.

Marble Your Fondant

Take both of your braids and create a spiral with each of them. Next, place one spiral on top of the other and press them together, making sure that you start to give your spiral shape some corners as you press. Using a ruler or measuring tape, measure the circumference of the thickest part of your vase and the height of your base so you know how large to roll out your fondant before proceeding. Roll out your fondant into a small rectangle, brush off any excess icing sugar and then fold it onto itself. This will help with the marbling! Finally, roll it out to the size you need to cover your cake. You should be left with a beautiful marbled pattern.

Note: Try not to fold your fondant more than once. The more you fold the fondant the more your colours will start to blend together!

Cover Your Cake

Roll up your marbled fondant up onto a french rolling pin and unravel it around your vase - not over. Where the fondant meets and overlaps, cut a clean seam at both ends by holding a ruler up alongside the vase and cutting along that line with a sharp paring knife. Continue to smooth the fondant with your hands and cut away any excess at the bottom. At the top of your vase, carefully tuck any excess fondant into the centre hole, using a fondant smoother or your fingertips to help. Be sure not to tuck it in too far that the fondant rips, but enough so that it goes in. If you have a lot of excess fondant at the top of you cake, trim some away before tucking it in. The weight of the fondant may be too heavy and cause the tapered top of the cake to collapse. Chill your cake for about 20 minutes.

Clean It Up

Once your cake has been chilled, use the same circle cutter you originally used to create your cake holes to remove any excess fondant inside that hole.

Note: If you experienced any creasing with the fondant, just make sure to really try to smooth it out as best as possible with your hands before you cut the excess fondant away.

Insert Your Floral Container

Carefully insert your empty sprinkle container into the hole. It should be snug so make sure to insert it gently.

Add Your Flowers

Just before you serve your cake, select your mom’s FAVOURITE flowers in her favourite colours and trim them so that they are at a good height. Arrange your flowers inside the vase so that they sit comfortably into your container. You can even wrap a bow around the vase or stick a small card in with the flowers with a message for your mom. Surprise your mom by placing this in the center of your table for a Mother’s Day meal!

Note: It helps to choose flowers that don’t have a very thick stem so that you can fit as many flower bunches as you can to create a nice, full arrangement.