Tulips Cake

Today I want to show you how to make an easy cake and decorate it with swiss meringue buttercream tulips.

We’ll make a condensed milk cake, a sour cream filling with juicy pineapples and crunchy walnuts, and we’ll decorate it with buttercream tulips using a Russian piping tip.

Ingredients for the cake batter:

4 eggs
60g sugar
45g melted butter
220g sweetened condensed milk
210g all-purpose flour
35g cornstarch
2½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Ingredients for the cake filling:

500g sour cream
50g powdered sugar
130g sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
70g roasted chopped walnuts
350g canned pineapple chunks

Ingredients for the buttercream (1 batch):

90g egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
120g sugar
170g softened butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Gel food colors

Step 1

Start by mixing the melted butter with the condensed milk and set it aside.

Step 2

In a stand mixer bowl combine the eggs, sugar, salt and whip it until light and fluffy on a high speed for about 5-7 minutes.

Step 3

Sift in the flour, cornstarch and baking powder. Mix all together using a spatula.

Add the mix of butter and condensed milk and mix again.

Step 4

Pour the cake batter on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. I use a half sheet pan which is 18 by 13 inches. Spread the cake batter evenly with a spatula and bake at 350 F degrees for 15 to 18 minutes or until the skewer inserted into the cake comes out dry. Very important not to overbake the cake or it will turn out dry. Transfer the cake onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.

Step 5

In a large mixing bowl combine the sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and mix it using a hand mixer. Add the condensed milk and mix again.  That’s it, our filing is ready.

Step 6

I will assemble the cake in a mixing bowl, which I lined with plastic wrap on the inside. The top diameter of my bowl is 8 inches.

I will also need a plate that is a little bit smaller than the diameter of the bowl.

Step 7

When the cake has cooled down, place the prepared plate in the middle and using a sharp knife cut out the circle. It will be the bottom of our future cake. Cut the rest of the cake into 1-inch cubes.

Step 8

To assemble the cake, spread a little bit of cake filling on the bottom of the bowl. Deep the cake cubes into the cake filling and lay out a single layer on the bottom of the bowl. Next, spread the walnuts and chunks of pineapple. Repeat the process until the bowl is full. I got three layers of cake cubes, walnuts and pineapples.

Step 9

Spread the rest of the filling on top of pineapples and cover with the round cake layer. If you prefer a very moist cake, soak this cake layer with pineapple juice from the cane. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours or overnight.

Step 10

*Before making the buttercream, make sure that the mixing bowl, hand mixer whisks or anything else that will touch the egg whites are very clean and dry, so no residual oil or fat is left behind to disturb or deflate the egg whites.

Step 11

Bring a saucepan with a few inches of water to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium low and place the bowl on top. Combine the egg whites with sugar and using a hand mixer start whisking the mixture on the lowest speed of your mixer until the sugar has dissolved, the mixture has increased in volume and turned slightly white. This should take about 8-10 minutes. You can rub a bit of the meringue between your fingers to make sure there are no undissolved sugar crystals left.

Step 12

Take the bowl off the saucepan and wipe the bottom of the bowl with a towel. Next, we need to bring the meringue to room temperature. I will transfer the meringue to a clean mixing bowl and keep whisking until it cools down. At this point, you can also transfer the meringue into a stand mixer bowl and let the mixer do the work for you.

Step 13

When the meringue gets to room temperature, add room-temperature butter one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla extract or any other flavor, if using, when the buttercream is almost ready. Beat until the butter is combined and the mixture has reached a silky consistency.

*Make sure to take the butter out of the refrigerator at least 2 hours prior to making the buttercream. Cut it into pieces and set aside over the counter. The temperature of butter and meringue needs to be approximately the same.

Step 14

Take the cake out of the refrigerator, take off the plastic wrap and invert the bowl onto a cake board or a serving plate. Carefully remove the mixing bowl and the plastic wrap around the cake.

Step 15

Now we’re ready to decorate the cake. I will decorate my cake with light pink to a dark purple tulip. Using pink gel food coloring, I colored about a cup of the buttercream.  Before transferring the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with an extra-large tulip piping tip, I like to take a brush and apply some pink food coloring inside the pastry bag. It’s a great way to add more visual color without adding to much food coloring into the frosting.

Step 16

To pipe tulips, hold the piping bag just above the surface, squeeze and the buttercream will come down to make contact with the cake. Finish by pulling up without squeezing.

If you’re looking for more Mother’s Day Dessert Ideas, check out my Cookie Decorating Idea with Egg White Powder Royal Icing.

Step 17

Using the same mixing bowl, I colored the next batch of buttercream into a light purple color and filled the same piping bag on top of my pink buttercream. I keep piping the tulips gradually changing to a darker color.

**I want to bring to your attention that you will need more than one batch of buttercream depending on the height of your tulips. I used almost three batches of buttercream. If you’re using a hand mixer like me, I will not recommend doubling or triple the ingredients and making it all at once, because the hand mixer will not handle a big amount of meringue. Pipe the first batch of buttercream, place the cake in the refrigerator and make another one.

Step 18

When all the tulips are piped, using leave piping tip #352 and green buttercream pipe leaves to fill in the blank spaces between the flowers. When all the leaves are piped, I use a small round piping tip #1 and I fill in the little empty spaces.

In my opinion, the cake turned out very beautiful and can be made for Mother’s Day or any Birthday celebration.

Notes:

All the ingredients need to be at room temperature.
To bake the cake, I use a half sheet pan which is 18 by 13 inches (45×33 cm). You can also bake the cake in two 8-inch (20cm) baking pans. Cut each cake in half, save one of the cake circles and cut the rest of the cake into cubes.
Very important not overbake the cake or it will turn out dry.
When making the meringue, make sure that the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.
Make sure to take the butter out of refrigerator at least 2 hours prior to making the buttercream. Cut it into pieces and set aside over the counter.
For piping the flowers, you can use any extra-large tulip piping tip design that you like.

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