VANILLA CAKE WITH BEAUTIFUL NATURALLY COLORED ROSETTES AND LEAVES

Is nobody bothered about the amount of color added to the frostings on birthday cakes?.

We, as parents thrive to give the best healthy foods to our kids , buy organic milk just for them .                                      But when it comes to birthday cakes , kids want a theme cake and parents want it even more. I am no exception. I had themed colorful cakes for  my son's birthdays. It is when I started to bake or better yet ,frost the cakes that I started to get mindful of the color added to cakes. Colorful cakes  with added colored frostings are more appealing to kids. When we were kids , cakes were much simpler . With a fondant pink , red roses and green leaves. We went for the beautiful roses . The color added in those times were much more forgiving than it is now.

                        In the themed cakes available now , there is no streak of white , it is slathered with colored metallic frosting.

Is nobody worried , is nobody bothered? . On one side we buy organic , preservative-free food  for our kids and on the other side we want the best, picture-perfect themed cakes for our kids birthday party, which calls for  rich ,bright artificial colors. And after eating the cake , the kids lips and clothes are stained with green , blue and red. 

Then comes the dessert table.Thats the fab now. The colorful birthday cake is surrounded by very attractive cupcakes and candies.It looks really beautiful .The table is surrounded by kids right from the start .Behind them are their mothers trying to avoid them reaching out for the colorful sweets.

This is my attempt to create a naturally frosted cake for  my daughter's birthday.

You will need:

1. 1 Vanilla chiffon cake
2. Lemon Buttercream frosting
3. 3 Tbsp finely grated beetroot cooked in 2 Tbsp of water , sieved and reserve the red color juice obtained from it ( for the pink color)
4. a handful of spinach( I have used baby spinach leaves) , cooked in 2 Tbsp of water. Puree it and strain the green color juice  Keep it aside. (for the Green color leaves).
5. 2 Ziploc bags 
6. A tea cup
7. Wilton leaf tip No. 67
8. Wilton open star tip No. 16
9. a knife to smooth out the frosting.
10. a cup of very hot water
11. a dry towel.

METHOD

• Bake the cake and allow it to cool completely.
•  Cut four long strips of parchment paper and keep it on the four sides of the cake stand. This will trap any frosting falling off the cake while icing.

• Transfer the cake to a cake stand ( any other flat plate in which applying the frosting easy can be used).
  
  
  
  

• Gently take out any crumb on or on the sides of the cake.
• The lemon frosting is made as specified in the recipe along with the lukewarm water .  
• Take about 5 Tbsp of the lemon frosting .Add in the beet juice 1 tsp at a time , lightly whipping it with a spatula. Add the juice until the desired color is achieved. Do the same steps for the green color icing  for about 3 Tbsp.
  

FROSTING THE CAKE

• Apply a layer of the lemon buttercream frosting on the top of the cake. Spread the frosting with the knife smoothing it towards the edges of the cake.
  

• If the knife is not gliding smoothly , dip the knife in the hot water and wipe it with a dry towel. Now continue smoothing the frosting. When you are done with the top , apply the frosting along the edges and continue smoothing the sides , dipping the knife in hot water whenever needed.
  
  
  
  
• My icing was not perfectly smooth and didn't have the finish that you would find in bakery cakes, but that's OK because rosettes and leaves are being piped on top.

           

• Now prepare the piping bag. This time I used a ziploc bag as a piping bag and worked out fine. Was very convenient to use too. Use a cup to fit in the ziploc bag and fill in  the icing into the bag.
  

• Fill one bag with the open star tip with the pink frosting and the other with the leaf tip with green frosting. Pipe 3 rosette at a time with a green leaf in between. Some places I have piped 2 and 1 rosettes too. I found the tutorial for rosette cake  here.
  
  
  
  
• Do the same with sides of the cake. Pipe along the sides are a little bit difficult. You have to tilt the cake without the cake sliding out. 
• When the rosettes are all complete , pipe the leaves in each group of rosettes. I found the tutorial for leaves here.
• Take out the 4 strips of parchment paper from the sides of the cake. Wipe the base of the cake stand with a damp cloth if required.
  
  
  

• Made this as a birthday cake  with a ballerina cake topper.
  
  
  

NOTES

• First practice piping rosettes and leaves on a parchment paper , if you are new to  piping  them.
• I checked out a few videos on leaves because I was doing them for the first time.
• After finishing off the rosettes , sometimes you end up with a little point , simply use a toothpick to attach the little pointer to the rosettes.
• Piping rosettes is easiest of all piping. Just swirls around with your piping tip. And makes a fancy look to the cake too. This was my first cake with rosette piping.