Cherry Pie Two-Layer Cake (with notes)
Prepare yourself for massive mess and struggles ahead: let's bake a super awesome cake!
I made the cake completely from scratch for my sister's birthday upon request. Why do you make everything from scratch, you ask? Box cake mix can't hold up under pressure. Fondant from the box is almost impossible to work with. And the frosting from the little plastic containers is definitely not sticky/fluffy enough for me.
Cake recipe: Gretchen's Bakery - White Cake
- No notes on this. Great recipe for some very firm cakes. This made both layers for me and I would make this first before anything else.
Fondant recipe: Marshmallow Fondant Recipe from Craftsy & additional directions here.
- The additional directions make up for the lack of directions on the Craftsy page. I like the lemon add on here though, so I included both. Get prepared with the powdered sugar and gel food coloring - they're important!
Buttercream Frosting recipe: The Creative Bite's Perfect Piping Buttercream
- Makes a tonnnnnnnnn.
How to's:
1. Bake the cakes in well oiled, spring-loaded cake pans. Makes all the difference.
After they're done, wrap them in aluminum foil or cling wrap and put them in fridge overnight. Need to make sure they're nice and solid!
2. The marshmallow fondant is simpler than it looks, but takes time and is very sticky. Use lots of powered sugar (think flour when kneading dough).
- Separate into two sections: Red section for all the little balls. Tan section for the pie crust and top slices.
- I was unsuccessful at getting a true red and used tons of dye! Be prepared for that.
- I rolled each ball from the red fondant with crisco hands, coated a ceramic plate with crisco and laid them all out to be put in the fridge overnight on the plate with cling wrap covering them. You want extra, so roll a ton of them.
- The strips were really hard to do. I rolled my colored fondant (mostly used yellow and brown coloring) nice and flat and then coated a sharp knife in crisco and attempted to cut. Each cut slice I put on some wax paper with crisco on it. I cut way more slices than I needed in all different lengths. I stored all of the slices in the fridge overnight between two pieces of wax paper. This made all the difference! They were awesome to work with the next day once they were nice and cold.
- For the edge of the "pie" I rolled out a bunch of different lengths using my hands and crinkled them together. They also went on crisco'd wax paper and stored overnight.
3. The next day, I made the buttercream frosting.
4. I took the cakes out of the fridge, put them on a cutting board (flat) on some aluminum foil (to be removed after frosting).
5. I flattened out the bottom piece in the middle by shaving it. I then put a bunch of frosting in the middle so they stuck together well.
6. I actually broke a wooden chopstick in half and put it through the center of the two stacked cakes to prevent any sliding. This probably isn't necessary though.
7. I frosted the whole thing to make it nice a sticky for the fondant.
8. From here, I started apply all the little red balls, starting in the center, working my way to the edges. I pushed them in there and made sure they were sticking.
9. Next, lay your good strips across and then turn the cake and repeat for the cross hatch. I also used a knife to trim them and perfect them a bit before I put them on the cake since it's way easier to work with thin fondant that's cold. Make sure you cut the extra edges off of the strip fondant.
10. Apply your pie crust squiggly edges. Make sure they're sticking well to the butter cream frosting and above where the foil will go.
11. The foil edge is actually a long piece of aluminum foil I folded over and made lines on to look somewhat like a pie tin. This was made to fit the cake, so your eyes will come in handy on this and the buttercream frosting will help it stick to the sides well. Your foil should be below the squiggly crust.
And there you have it folks! Store it covered, in the fridge. It tasted pretty great with ice cream too.
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