Colorful Drop Flower Cake - With Roses

I thought with Mother’s Day coming up it might be fun to make a colorful flower cake. While I love chocolate and think chocolate roses are pretty, I decided on vanilla for this one so I could use different colors. I made several pink roses and then mostly drop flowers to decorate the cake. I used a Swiss meringue buttercream to make the flowers. It’s one of my favorite buttercream frostings but it is soft. I have found that making the flowers and freezing them for awhile is the easiest way to decorate a cake. While my cake was cooling I made the flowers and put them right in the freezer. More on that later.

The cake is a buttermilk vanilla cake and it is so good!

First, let’s start with that recipe. This recipe will make two 9 inch round cakes. (23 cm)

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake Recipe

Ingredients

6 oz unsalted butter (170 grams)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

Method

Preheat your oven to 325 F / 165 C
Prepare two 9 inch round pans. Butter and flour the inside sides of pans and lay parchment along the bottom. (I do not grease the bottom of the pan. The parchment will keep it from sticking.)
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes until they are light and fluffy.
Add in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl as necessary.
Once the eggs are all incorporated, add in the vanilla.
Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk. You will start and end with the flour mixture. Add in about 1/3 of the flour mixture on low speed. Gradually increase speed to medium. Add in 1/2 of the buttermilk on low and gradually increase the speed. Repeat these steps adding the flour mixture, the rest of the buttermilk and then the rest of the flour mixture. Give the bowl a good scrape at the bottom to make sure everything is evenly mixed together.
Split the batter between your 2 prepared pans. It is thick and you’ll need to use a spatula to spread the batter evenly.
Bake the cakes for 22-26 minutes. The tops will turn golden and once the cake is done a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake will come out clean.
Cool the cakes in the pans on a rack. Once they are cool you can run a thin spatula or knife along the outside edge and flip them over onto a plate or cake board. Peel the parchment from the bottom. I did level the bottom cake layer to make it easier to stack the cakes.

Now for the frosting. I’m going to admit something here. I am not a big fan of American Buttercream frosting. I will say that it makes beautiful drop flowers. The frosting does crust and you can leave the flowers out to air dry and put them on a cake later. It is usually made with powdered sugar and butter but I have also seen it made with shortening. I really don’t like this in my frosting. I don’t like the oily taste it leaves behind and on the whole, it just happens to be much too sweet for my taste. I do like the creamy soft frostings that are lighter and not so sweet. The frosting I chose to use is Swiss meringue buttercream. The first time I tried making it I wasn’t sure what to expect. It is now one of the types that I make most often. I can add all kinds of different flavors and colors and it is delicious. It does not crust like American buttercream. It would be impossible to move the flowers from a piece of parchment or wax paper to a cake while the frosting is at room temperature. If you make the flowers and freeze them though, you can easily transfer them to your cake from right out of the freezer. When you serve any buttercream it needs to be at room temperature so it is creamy. Don’t worry, it won’t take all that long for the flowers to return to their soft state from the freezer. In fact, you may find as you are transferring them that they are getting too soft to transfer. If this happens just pop them back in the freezer to harden for a little while. Once they have hardened again, continue transferring the flowers to your cake.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients

8 large egg whites (about 300 grams, 10.5 oz or 1 1/4 cup)
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar (15.7 oz or 445.5 grams)
12 ounces unsalted butter – softened (340 grams)
pinch of salt
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Method

Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the top of a double boiler. The water should be just simmering. You can also use a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Be sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water.
Whisk the sugar and eggs continuously while the sugar dissolves and the mixture heats. As soon as the mixture reaches 140 F or 60 C, remove it from the heat and transfer the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Using the whisk attachment, beat the mixture on medium high speed. It will take at least 8-10 minutes. It will turn white and smooth and glossy. You want to keep beating it until the sides of the bowl are cool to the touch. If the meringue is still warm when you add the butter it will melt it so be sure to take your time. Trust me, its worth the wait!
Once your meringue is cooled you can now switch to a paddle attachment.
Add the butter a little at a time with the mixer on medium speed. The butter should be softened but not at all melting. Sometimes I take butter out early in the day. I have found that especially in the summer, it gets too soft. If you have this happen, you can put it back in the refrigerator to harden a little for 5-10 minutes at a time. Drop in the butter by spoonfuls. (About a tablespoon or so at a time.) After the spoonful is incorporated drop in the next spoonful. Once all the butter is incorporated add the vanilla and a pinch of salt. Increase the speed to medium high and beat for 2-3 minutes.
If your buttercream becomes lumpy or looks thin, keep beating it on medium high. It will come together into a fluffy and creamy frosting. This can also happen if you put it in the refrigerator to use later. Once it is back to room temperature just whip it again and it should come back together.

I frosted the cake with white buttercream and then used the colors to make drop flowers and roses.

I like to use gel food coloring for frosting. The gels are more concentrated and you don’t have to worry about adding a lot of liquid to the frosting. I kept some frosting white and then used pink, purple, turquoise and a little green for leaves. Use just a little color at a time when you are adding it in. You can always add a little more if it is not dark or vibrant enough. I used a wilton 224 tip for the small drop flowers and a wilton 2D tip for the larger purple drop flowers.

Once your flowers are made, place them in the freezer to harden. I like to use a small offset spatula to lift the frozen drop flowers from the wax paper onto the cake. You can also gently peel the roses away from the parchment paper once they have been frozen. For the border on the cake you can also use drop flowers or you can make a border with the buttercream. I used a small star tip and went around the base of the cake.