Flamingo Cake: Recipe, Tips And Decorating Ideas

Colorful, tropical, with a nod to retro, is there really something special about flamingos? Pretty majestic and whimsical birds, they carry all the vibrations of hot weather and good humor. They can be found almost everywhere - from wallpaper, for girl's room decor and birthday ornamentation, to children's treats. Macaroons, sweet cookies and themed donuts, you'll want to taste them all. Today, our editorial team invites you to embark on a large-scale project - the preparation of the trendy flamingo cake. We explain everything to you.

Flamingo Cake Recipe and Decorating Tips

After we recently presented you with several trendy treats that the hostesses love like the apple crunch, the olive oil cake and the Galaxy cake, this time, we invite you to cook a masterpiece aimed more at children. It is indeed a white chocolate mud cake in the form of a sandwich which is covered with a pink buttercream frosting. The latter can be flavored according to your preferences. The top of the cake is then covered with edible sprinkles.

The chocolate "feathers" are made from melted white candy melts colored in two different shades of pink. The final item is the glitter cardboard flamingo head.

Make children happy with this cute cake

Photo credit: chewtown.com

Ingredients

• 2 20cm white chocolate mud cakes (find recipe below)
• 3 tablespoons of pink, red, white and yellow edible sprinkles
• 340 g of melted white Candy melts
• pink gel food coloring (chocolate oil product)

Mud cake

• 2 eggs
• 250 g butter
• 200 g white chocolate
• 300g sugar
• 300 g of water
• 2 teaspoons of soluble coffee
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 250 g of flour mixed with 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 40 g of bitter cocoa

Butter cream

• 250 g of softened butter
• 3 cups (450 g) icing sugar
• 1.5 teaspoon of food flavoring
• a few drops of pink gel food coloring

Preparation

Mud cake

First, start with the preparation of the 2 20 cm white chocolate mud cakes. For this purpose, put the butter, chocolate, sugar, water, soluble coffee and vanilla extract in a saucepan and let melt over low heat, stirring constantly. Let cool in a large bowl. During this time, preheat the oven to 150 ° C.

Photo credit: hellosydneykids.com.au

Whisk in the flour in small portions, then the eggs and mix well. Pour the very liquid dough obtained into a buttered and floured 20 cm mold. Bake for 75 to 90 minutes. Let cool well before unmolding. Indeed, you cannot decorate the hot cake because the buttercream will melt once applied. As soon as your sponge cakes are completely cool, you need to cut each of them into two parts to end up with 4 layers of cake.

Photo credit: floursandfrostings.com

Tip: To make your cake easy to decorate, the moment you take the sponge cake out of the oven, place a round plate on each one and press on the top. Weigh on the plate with a glass for the first 10 minutes of cooling time. This means that you will not need to cut the top into a dome shape before decorating and this way you will save time.

Practical tip: Did you know that you can easily freeze sponge cake? Frozen cakes can taste even better! So if you're cooking for a party and want to pre-bake your sponge cake a week in advance, you can. Simply cook, cool, slice into layers and freeze. Remember, however, to wrap each layer of your future preparation in both plastic wrap and aluminum foil before placing it in the freezer. You can then thaw overnight before decorating.

Butter cream

To prepare the buttercream, beat the butter with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes. Add the icing sugar and mix until just incorporated. Once the mixture is homogenized, increase the speed to high and beat for 5 minutes until you obtain a light and fluffy cream. Next, add flavoring and a few drops of pink food coloring and stir well. Transfer the cream to a piping bag.

Photo credit: scrumdiddlyumptious.com

Tip: Gel food colors are a great choice for any preparation because their colors are brighter than liquid colors, and because they do not change the consistency of the item you add them to.

Spread a small amount of buttercream on an 8-inch cake pan and top with a layer of cake. Spread an even amount of cream on top and cover with another layer of cake. Repeat until all four layers are stacked on top of each other.

Spread a thin layer of cream on top and sides of the cake. Since this is the final layer of your flamingo cake, be careful not to press too hard on the cream to prevent crumbs from falling into the frosting. Although this last layer of cream helps you retain the crumbs of the sponge cake, it also helps you fill in the places where your cake is not very even. In addition, it is the best possible base for the second layer of icing and for the decoration to lay. Place the pastry in the refrigerator for 30 minutes for best results.

How to make flamingo feathers?

While the final layer of cream is absorbing, take the time to make the chocolate feathers. This is indeed the "wow" element of the cake and you will get it by using melted Candy melts and a silicone brush, pastry brush or spatula.

So, place the candies in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 1 minute at 50% power. Check if they have completely melted, otherwise heat at short intervals of 10 seconds at 50% power until blended. Transfer half of the mixture to another bowl and pour in a few drops of pink food coloring. In the first bowl, put a little more food coloring. You need to have two different shades of pink to give the cake more dimension.

Photo credit: thecakeblog.com

Once the candy preparation is colored, place baking paper on your work surface and apply 1 to 2 spoons. Using your silicone brush (or your pastry brush or the back of a teaspoon), spread the mixture straight out so that you have a "smear". Repeat with all of the melted candy mixture until you have lots of chocolate "feathers". Set aside to take a little and store in the refrigerator.

Photo credit: thecakeblog.com

Tip: The reason why it is advisable to use Candy melts and not white chocolate is that melted candies are much easier to work with. They are more stable than chocolate once they have achieved a liquid consistency and then have hardened. Of course, you can also use white chocolate, but the feathers could melt when handling them to add them to the cake.

Chocolate Coloring Tip: Whether you are using chocolate or melted candy to create feathers, you should always purchase an oil-based food coloring that is specifically designed for tinting chocolate. Normal gel food coloring cannot be added to chocolate or candy melts because they change the consistency and make it unusable.

Assembly

You are now ready to add the second layer of frosting. Fortunately, the whole cake will be covered with sprinkles and feathers, so it doesn't have to be perfect. You just need to get a nice thick layer on the outside of the cake to taste delicious.

Once the second coating of buttercream has been added, sprinkle the food sprinkles on top. Gently pull each feather from the parchment paper - you will likely have a few that will snap off, but that's okay as you certainly have more than you need.

Photo credit: chewtown.com

To attach the feathers to the cake, apply a small amount of cream to the base of a feather and gently press into the frosting to adhere it to the cake. Arrange the different colored feathers, alternating them as you wish, being careful only to follow straight lines when storing. The video below explains the process very well.

The plumage in two shades of pink

Photo credit: chewtown.com

Finally, you will need to add a flamingo head so that the cake actually looks like the famous bird. In order to make this decorative element you will need pink and light purple glitter cardboard and black and white paper. First, create drawings of all parts of the head on the cardboard and paper using a pencil. Then, cut out with scissors.

You then have to glue the whole thing together using a hot glue gun and secure on a wooden stick for mounted piece to hold it in the cake. The other option is to find an awesome flamingo head image online, print it on heavy cardboard, and cut it out. Then you just have to stick on a wooden pastry dowel and put in the cake. And finally, your flamingo cake is ready!

The final version of the cake

Photo credit: chewtown.com

To conclude, we can say that it is the ideal cake for a little girl or adult birthday, why not!

* Source of inspiration: chewtown.com