Tropical Sea Cake

5 from 2 votes

This sea cake is decorated with lovely colors of the sea and tropical flowers for a tropical beach feel. Here's how to make the cake.

Prep Time30

Cook Time45

Decorating time5

Total Time6 15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: Three tier cake

Calories: 3480kcal

If you are making the plumeria and hibiscus on your own, it is best that they are made in advance. Click here for step by step tutorial on how to make the gum paste plumerias and here on how to make the gum paste hibiscus.

Bake two layers of 6 inch round cakes and two layers of 9 inch round cakes. Each layer should be approximately 2 inches high.
Let the cakes cool completely before decorating. In the meantime, make the buttercream.

Start with the styrofoam bottom tier. Rince the block with water and cover it with fondant (see Note 1). The water will help the fondant stick to the styrofoam. Roll white fondant and cover the dummy.
For the real cake layers, level them. Stack the 6 inch layers together with buttercream filling. Do the same for the 9 inch cake layers. Crumb coat each tier with buttercream and cover them with white fondant (see Note 2).
To stack the cake, place the dummy tier on a large cake board (at least 16 inches in diameter). Top it with the 9 inch cake tier.
Insert bubble tea straws into the 9 inch cake layer (within 6 inches diameter from the center of the cake) and place the 6 inch cake tier on top (see Note 3). Make sure all the cake tiers are well centered.

You will need a total of 6 colors for the sea waves (including white). Tint the fondant into 5 shades of sea water colors with each shade transitioning from light blue to turquoise to deep green.

Start with the white waves. Roll white fondant into ⅛ of an inch thickness and cut out medium-sized strips (approximately 15cm long).
Apply shortening on each strip and attach to the cake, starting from the top. Curve the top corners lightly (on both ends of each strip).
Adjust the top of the strips so that they don't lay too flat on the cake, instead form light frills to resemble sea waves. Make 4 layers of white before moving on to the second color (light blue). Use this color to cover the remaining of the top tier cake.
Next, roll a long piece of fondant in the same shade of blue into a curved shape. Brush a light coat of shortening to the top of the second cake tier and attach the fondant to it. Continue with the first layer of waves on the second tier using the same blue fondant.
Repeat adding the sea waves with 6 layers of darker blue fondant followed by 3 layers of turquoise until the entire second cake tier is covered.
Use the same turquoise to cover the top of the third cake tier (similar to the second cake tier earlier).
Continue with the first two layers of waves on the third tier in the same turquoise fondant.
Change the color to a deeper shade of turquoise and add 5 layers of the fondant sea waves before changing the color again to a deep green. Continue with the sea waves in this deep green color until the entire cake tier is covered to the bottom.

Roll the same shade of deep green fondant into 3 long strips. Brush the cake board with shortening and attach the strips to it. Curl the joints of each strip to repeat the waves pattern on the cake board.
Trim excess fondant off the cake board and attach a gold ribbon around it with hot glue

Glue 2 small lumps of fondant on the top cake tier. Attach one plumeria flower to each of the lumps with shortening.
Repeat with 2 more plumerias on the opposite and one each on the sides.
Insert the "Mr & Mrs" topper in the center.
For the sides of the cake, add one hibiscus flanked with two plumerias. Do this at the base of first and second tiers (see Note 4).
And that completes the wedding cake.

If using 2 blocks of 3 inch high pieces, stick them together with hot glue and patch the joints with royal icing. Refer to my post on dummy cakes for details).
Each cake tier should be placed on a separate cake board that is of the exact size of the cake diameter. It should not show underneath the cake.
Bubble tea straws help support the weight of cakes placed on top of the cakes they are poked into and prevent the cakes from being compressed. Dummy cake layers can fully support the weight of the top tier cakes hence you need not poke bubble tea straws into it.
When poking wired flowers into real cake, make sure the wires that get poked into the cake are wrapped with plastic wrap or foil. See my post on how to attach flowers to cakes for more details.