This cake combines both my passion for baking AND my artistic talent. I started drawing and painting at a young age, and started my college education as an art major at UCONN College. I’ve never really lost that creative side of me, and love to incorporate it into my baking projects whenever I can.
I saw a “sand art” cake recently, which was literally ROLLED across a pan of colored sugars. This pressed the striped design right onto the frosted cake. It was an amazing idea! I thought a design made out of sprinkles would be even more challenging, and beautiful! I wanted to see “sprinkle flowers” all around my cake – like wallpaper.
My idea came to life as a 3 layer, 6″ chocolate cake, with chocolate fudge filling. See my recipes at the bottom of this post. I used a 6″ cardboard cake circle on the bottom. I crumb coated the cake with my butter cream cheese frosting, then placed it in the freezer for 15 minutes. This is key in making the cake firm enough to roll. I placed a 6″ parchment paper circle on the top of the cake, dabbed with a few spots of frosting on top, then added a 6″ cardboard cake circle over that. The circles should be just a little bigger than the cake – to allow for the final coat of frosting to be smoothed all the way around the cake. Refrigerate for just 15 minutes.
My design was inspired by a bunch of artificial flowers and leaves – pink, white, and green. I roughly drew out my design on parchment paper, taped to my counter. Then I poured out sprinkles to fill my design. You will want to use similar-sized sprinkles. I used a knife to move them around if necessary. You don’t have to be “precise” – as the more random the pattern is – the more interesting it is! The cake will pick up just the right amount of sprinkles to completely cover the cake.
Now it’s time to roll the cake! I couldn’t photograph this moment, since it needs to be done with 2 hands, and in a smooth, constant motion. Roll the cake from 1 end of the design, just until it is covered completely. Stop as soon as the 2 seams meet.
Ta Da! It’s perfect, and beautiful all at the same time!
Refrigerate again for about 15 min. Remove the cardboard and parchment from the top. You can either fill in with more frosting, smooth the top and be done with it – or go bold as I did, and use chocolate ganache to create a lovely drip around the cake, then fill in the top. Use just a light drizzle of ganache, as you don’t want to cover the design.
Refrigerate til set.
I finished this cake with mascarpone whipped topping (since it’s sweet enough already!). You could certainly use more frosting if you like. I lightly colored the whipped topping, then piped it onto the top. The final touch is homemade chocolate truffles, and of course – more sprinkles!
Bake 3 – 6″ layers of my Mom’s no-egg chocolate cake.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
6 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
3 c flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 c vegetable oil
1 1/2 c water
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. (I do tend to combine the dry ingredients first, then add the wet ingredients. I’m a victim of habit I guess!) Mix on med/high using a whisk attachment, until well blended, about 2-3 min. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Prepare 3 – 6″ cake pans with cooking spray, then place parchment circles on the bottom of each pan.
Fill each pan with about 1 – 1 1/2c batter.
Bake on a cookie sheet, for about 30 min. Check for doneness using a toothpick. This should come out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. This recipe is known for the “dent” in the center of the cake, which will disappear when you level the cakes.
Allow to cool completely. You will need to “torte” or cut the cake layers to level them. This is done with a serrated knife.
Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup salted butter (room temp)
8 oz cream cheese (room temp)
4 c powdered sugar
Whip together, adding 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time, til thick and smooth.
For the chocolate fudge filling, I used a jar of HOT FUDGE for icecream topping, as this has a thicker texture than chocolate sauce. Be sure to pipe a ring of frosting around the top of each cake layer, before adding the fudge sauce, to keep it from bleeding through to the outside.
