Elegant birthday cake for Mom. It took me quite a while to come up with the title for this cake. And finally, I settled with one that truly describes it - an elegant birthday cake for my elegant mom.
I made and decorated this elegant birthday cake for her 65th birthday last weekend. My mom is a vegetarian and so is my dad, but the rest of us siblings are not. And I have not really been into vegetarian cooking and baking. So it’s always a dilemma when it comes to birthdays for my parents. We often find it hard to get a cake that is eggless and homemade. My parents are very strict about home cooking. They are not particularly pleased if my siblings and I were to get the cakes from the store or elsewhere other than baked at home.
Elegant Birthday Cake for an Elegant Lady
Eggless Chocolate Cake Recipe
So last year, for Father’s Day, I decided to try and make an eggless chocolate cake. I have tried making a few before but the results had been inconsistent. So that sort of put me off in making eggless cakes until I tried the egg less chocolate cake for Father’s Day last year and it turned out so well. I tried the recipe again a couple more times after that just to make sure the results were consistent. And they had been. So, I am really proud to say that I have finally found an egg less cake recipe that is super awesome and one that I can count on to make and decorate for vegetarians.
So for my mom’s birthday celebration last week, I decided to use the same recipe and bake her birthday cake. My original egg less chocolate cake recipe is baked in two 7 inches round cake tins. For this birthday cake, I used the same recipe measurement but baked in two 6 inches round cake tins instead. That just meant that I had more cake batter in each tin. This in turn meant I had to cook the cakes slightly longer.
And of course, each of the cakes was taller compared to the ones I baked in 7 inch round pans. And that was the main reason why I wanted to bake in smaller cake tins – to get a taller cake. The truth is, I was worried that the cake might not be as moist as the 7 inches cake due to the longer baking time. But I was totally mistaken. The cake was still as lovely in taste and texture as the ones I bake in the larger 7 inches cake pans.
The Cake Frosting - Crusting Cream Cheese
For the frosting, I chose cream cheese frosting. The first time I made the cake, I frosted it with chocolate buttercream. But as I was eating the cake, I felt that cream cheese frosting would be a good pairing as well. So, for this cake, I used cream cheese frosting.
And since my mom is not a big fan of cake frosting, I choose to use minimal icing on the cake. For the rest of the deco, I used fondant and rose silicone molds to create the elegant roses on the cake. And then I added some green leaves and the word “MOM” to complete the cake. All in all, the cake (minus the cooling time) and all the deco was completed within less than 2 hours. And I was truly happy with how truly elegant the cake turned out in such a short time.
Pretty and Elegant Birthday Cake for Mom
Below are the full details on the supplies I used to make this cake and the assembly steps.
How to Make an Elegant Birthday Cake for Mom
Main Supplies:
- Cake – I used my eggless chocolate cake recipe for this project. It was baked it in two 6 inches round cake tins.
- Cream Cheese frosting – I used this to fill the cake layers as well as to cover the cake.
- Serrated knife – I used this to slice each of the 2 layers of cakes into 2 resulting in a total of 4 cake layers for the project.
- Roses silicone mold
- Fondant – This was used for the roses, leaves, and the letters on the cake. I used Satin Ice in white and tinted it into violet and green.
- Food coloring – Wilton Violet, Wilton Pink, Wilton Juniper Green
- Teardrop plunger cutter – this was used to make the fondant leaves on the cake.
- Cornstarch – I used cornstarch to dust my silicone mold. You can also use icing sugar for dusting.
- Needle scriber tool– This was used to make the veins on the leaves.
- Sugar craft knife
- FMM Block Letters cutter set
- Silver dragees
- Icing scraper (tall)
And this was how I assembled the cake:
Baking and frosting the cake
- I started by baking the cake in 2 separate cake tins. Once baked, I leveled the cakes and then sliced each cake into 2 layers. That means I had 4 layers of cake in total.
- I sandwiched all the four layers with cream cheese frosting and covered the top and sides with the same cream cheese frosting. To achieve the ‘scraped’ icing look on the sides of the cake, I used my tall icing scraper and scraped the icing on the sides of the cake (while turning the cake on a turntable) as close as possible to the cake. And then I leveled the top but did not scrape the icing off.
The flowers
- Once the background was done, I made the flowers. The flowers were made using fondant. The first time I ever used the mold (even though I have had it with me for many years) was just a few weeks ago when I decorated a batch of decorated Easter Cookies. And I so loved the ease with which it could be used and how the roses turned out elegantly that I decided to use it again for my mom’s birthday cake.
A combination of purple and violet for an elegant birthday cake
Dusting the mold
- The key to using the mold is to dust it well with icing sugar or cornstarch. I chose cornstarch. I sprinkled the cornstarch liberally on it and tapped it on the table a couple of times to make sure the flour had a chance to fall into all the tiny nooks and corners of the rose mold. And then, I turned it over, and tapped it on the table to remove all the excess cornstarch, leaving just a layer of the flour in.
- After that, I pinched some of my fondant, rolled it smooth, and then pressed it into the mold. Make sure to press it in firmly as you want the fondant to go it to all the nooks and corners of the rose mold. This is important to ensure you get complete rose petals on your fondant. Once firmly pressed, remove any excess bulges on the top and the sides of the mold before turning it over and carefully pushing the rose out using your fingers from the back of the mold. You may need to twist and bend it to ease the flower out, and since it’s made of silicone, all the twisting and bending is perfectly ok with it.
Completing the flowers
- Once the rose is out, place it on a cake board and allow it to sit for a while before brushing off all the cornstarch that is visible on it. Brushing the flowers immediately after easing them out could leave the brush marks on the flowers as the fondant is still soft. Resting for a few minutes allows the flowers to set a little and helps in avoiding the brush marks.
- I made my roses in 2 tones of violet. Yup, the two tones on the cake are violet although the darker tone looks more like gray than violet. It was a pretty shade of violet in real life but somehow on the camera, it looks gray. To achieve the tone of violet, I used a mix of Wilton Violet and Pink. I started with the darker shade and then for the lighter ones, I simply added some white fondant to it to make it lighter.
The rose leaves
- For the leaves, I used the largest of my teardrop plunger cutter and cut the leaves out in fondant (white tinted with Wilton Juniper Green color). I then used my needle tools to mark the veins on the leaves and then cut the rounded edges off with my sugar craft knife before attaching them to the cake.
Assembling the cake
- In assembling the cake, I started by arranging the flowers in alternate tones and then sprinkled some silver dragees on the inside of the roses circle. And then I added the leaves. The roses and leaves were attached with little dots of cream cheese frosting to held them stick to the cake.
- I also attached 2 roses and a leaf on the front side of the cake, right at the bottom.
Pretty purple roses on my elegant birthday cake
The wording on the cake
- After that, I cut out the word “MOM” using my FMM Block letters alphabet cutters. I would normally use gum paste with these cutters as gum paste can be rolled really thin but since I wanted to use the same shade of violet I used for the flowers and since the amount to be used for the wording is so little, I decided to just do it with fondant.
- I rolled it as thin as possible, and then let it sit for a few minutes to allow it time to set slightly (similar to how I would use with gum paste – see my full post here on how to use these letter cutters) before using cutting the letters out. Letting the fondant dry out a little before cutting helped and I was able to get the letter out perfectly. I attached these right in the middle of the cake.
Elegant Birthday Cake for MOM
And with that, my elegant birthday cake was ready.
Elegant Birthday Cake for My Mom
Like this elegant birthday cake design? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:
- Fondant Rainbow Tutorial
- Lace Work on Cakes
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Gold Lace Square Wedding Cake - Decorating Tutorial
- Cream Cheese Candy - Easy Homemade Mints
Recipe (Printable)
Here is the full printable version of my elegant birthday cake tutorial.
Elegant Birthday Cake (How to Make)
Equipment
- Teardrop plunger cutter (to make the fondant leaves on the cake.)
- Cornstarch (to dust your silicone mold. You can also use icing sugar for dusting.)
- Needle scriber tool (to make the veins on the leaves.)
- Sugar craft knife
- FMM Block Letters cutter set
- Serrated knife (To slice each of the 2 layers of cakes into 2 resulting in a total of 4 cake layers for the project.)
- Roses silicone mold
- Icing scraper (tall)
Ingredients
- 300 g plain flour
- 30 g cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 280 g castor sugar
- 250 ml oil
- 240 ml hot water
- 120 ml milk
- ½ tablespoon vinegar
- 2 tablespoon instant coffee optional
- 2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Frosting and Decoration
- Cream Cheese frosting
- Fondant (Satin Ice white tinted in violet and green)
- Food coloring – (Wilton Violet, Wilton Pink, Wilton Juniper Green)
- Silver dragees
- Cornstarch (for dusting)
Instructions
Cake
- Grease and flour two 6 inches round cake tins or grease and line them with parchment paper.
- Mix instant coffee powder into hot water and leave aside.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Add castor sugar and mix well.
- Make a well in the center and pour in all the wet ingredients (oil, water + coffee, milk, vinegar and vanilla essence).
- Using a hand whisk, mix all ingredients until the batter becomes smooth and free of lumps.
- Divide the mixture into prepared tins and bake at 175 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes until the toothpick entered in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove cakes from oven and let them rest in the pans for 2 minutes before turning them over onto wire racks. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting them.
Frosting the cake
- Once the cake are baked and have cooled down, level and slice each cake into 2 layers.
- Sandwich all the four layers with cream cheese frosting and cover the top and sides with the same cream cheese frosting. To achieve the ‘scraped’ icing look on the sides of the cake, use a tall icing scraper and scrape the icing on the sides of the cake (while turning the cake on a turntable) as close as possible to the cake. And then level the top but do not scrape the icing off.
Flowers
- Next, make the flowers. You will need a rose silicone mold.
- The key to using the mold is to dust it well with icing sugar or cornstarch. Sprinkle the cornstarch liberally on the mold and tap it on the table a couple of times to make sure the flour gets a chance to fall into all the tiny nooks and corners of the rose mold. And then, turn it over, and tap it on the table to remove all the excess cornstarch, leaving just a layer of the flour dust in it.
- After that, pinch some fondant, flatten it and then press it into the mold. Make sure to press it in firmly as you want the fondant to go it to all the nooks and corners of the rose mold. This is important to ensure you get complete rose petals on your fondant. Once firmly pressed, remove any excess bulges on the top and the sides of the mold before turning it over and carefully pushing the rose out using your fingers from the back of the mold. You may need to twist and bend it to ease the flower out, and since it’s made of silicone, all the twisting and bending is perfectly ok with it.
Completing the flowers
- Once the rose is out, place it on a cake board and allow it to sit for a while before brushing off all the cornstarch that is visible on it. Brushing the flowers immediately after easing them out could leave the brush marks on the flowers as the fondant is still soft. Resting for a few minutes allows the flowers to set a little and helps in avoiding the brush marks.
- Make the roses in 2 tones of violet. Start with the darker shade and then for the lighter ones, simply add some white fondant to it to make it lighter.
The rose leaves
- For the leaves, use the teardrop plunger cutter and cut the leaves out in fondant (white tinted with Wilton Juniper Green color). Next, use the needle tools to mark the veins on the leaves and then cut the rounded edges off with a sugar craft knife before attaching them to the cake.
Assembling the cake
- In assembling the cake, start by arranging the flowers in alternate tones and then sprinkle some silver dragees on the inside of the roses circle. And then add the leaves. Attach the roses and leaves with little dots of cream cheese frosting to held them stick to the cake.
- To complete the flowers decoration, attach 2 roses and a leaf on the front side of the cake, right at the bottom.
Wordings on the cake
- Cut out the word “MOM” using the FMM Block letters alphabet cutters in the same shade of violet fondant used for the flowers.
- Roll the fondant as thin as possible, and then let it sit for a few minutes to allow it time to set slightly before using cutting the letters out. Letting the fondant dry out a little before cutting helps to get the letter out perfectly. Attach these right in the middle of the cake. And that completes the cake decoration.
Nutrition
And that's my easy decorating tips for an elegant birthday cake design.
Happy Decorating 🙂
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