Christie C. As someone obsessed with the ocean, water themed cakes are among my favorite to decorate! I love to create beautiful ocean colors and texturize the buttercream to make it look like sea waves and white caps. For this Teal and Blue Mermaid Cake, I used my White Chocolate Raspberry Cake recipe as the base, and decorated the outside with white chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The finished look uses homemade Fondant Seashells and Fondant Mermaid Tails. You can make your own of purchase premade decorations online. To top off the cake, I added Star White Edible Glitter from Baker Crafts and the Sea Glass Sprinkle Mix from Sprinkle Pop.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
- Rich buttery flavor
- Super delicate white crumb
- Super moist texture
- Bright raspberry flavor
- Light and fluffy buttercream
- White chocolate infused buttercream
- Gorgeous mermaid themed design
- Show stopping look
YOU CAN USE ANY CAKE FLAVOR YOU LIKE!
I made this cake white chocolate raspberry, but you can keep the flavors simple with just cake and buttercream. Best Ever Yellow Cake and Best Ever White Cake are amazing recipes as well. If you’re a chocolate person, double the chocolate cake recipe in my Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake.
I made the decorations using mermaid themed molds. I used the Satin Ice fondant, which is easy to work with and has a pleasantly sweet taste.
HOW TO MAKE FONDANT SEASHELLS
HOW TO MAKE FONDANT MERMAID TAILS
MORE RECIPES LIKE THIS
Cakes of Interest: Neon Sea Shell Cupcakes
Cakes of Interest: Mermaid Tail Pull-A-Part Cupcakes
TAG US! Let us know if you try it! Comment and rate! We love seeing your dishes, so tag your photo with #homestylealchemy on Instagram!
TOOLS
- Two 6″ aluminum cake pans
- Silicone spatula
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
- Large, medium, and small mixing bowls
- Gel food coloring
- Ocean themed sprinkles
- Edible glitter
- Pastry bags
- Ateco #4 open tip
- Ateco #17 star tip
- Ateco #68 leaf tip
- Cake spatula
- Cake smoother
- Offset spatula
- Cake board or flat plate
- Fondant mermaid tail and seashell molds
- White fondant
- Optional: airbrush
- Optional: airbrush pearl shimmer
HOW TO DECORATE THE CAKE
White Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1/2 cup (90g) egg whites
- 2/3 cups (162g) whole milk
- 1 tsp (6g) vanilla extract
- 1 stick (113g) butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (230g) cake flour
- 1 cup (230g) granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp (13g) baking powder
- 1/2 tsp (3g) sea salt
- simple syrup for brushing
For the filling
- 6 tbsp raspberry jam
- 18 raspberries
For the white chocolate buttercream
- 1 cup (200g) egg whites
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 3 cups (600g) unsalted butter (six sticks)
- 1/2 cup (100g) white chocolate chips
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the 6" cake
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Preheat oven to 350ºF/177ºC
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In a medium bowl, gently whisk together the egg whites, milk, and vanilla and set aside.
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In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients until combined. Beat in the butter until it is fully incorporated into the flour. Don’t over mix it; it should be just combined and partially dry.
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A third at a time, slowly beat in the egg mixture until the ingredients begin to incorporate.
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Beat the cake for no more than a minute or until cake batter is slightly fluffy.
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Generously grease two 6” cake pans with butter, vegetable oil, or cooking spray. You may also line the bottoms with circular cut-outs of parchment paper. Divide batter equally between the two tins and bake for 40-45 minutes or until cake is golden and bounces back when touched or a toothpick comes out clean when probed at the center.
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With a spoon or pastry brush, brush the tops of each cake with an even layer of the simple syrup. You do not have to use a lot of the syrup; you just want to use enough to evenly coat the tops of the cakes.
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Let the cakes cool completely before releasing them from the molds and serving and/or frosting.
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For the best frosting results, let cake chill overnight in the freezer before cutting into layers. You're simply slicing each cake horizontally into halves.
Make the white chocolate buttercream
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In a double boiler, heat the egg whites and sugar on medium heat, whisking constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved. This can take 5 to 10 minutes.
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Pour the egg and sugar mixture into a large mixing bowl and whip the mixture on medium-high until a meringue develops. It is ready when the meringue is cool, shiny, and reaches stiff peaks.
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Set your electric mixer to its lowest speed and add the butter a few cubes at a time. As the butter gets incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl and slowly increase the speed to medium.
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Heat the white chocolate in the microwave 20 seconds at a time until it is completely melted. Stir as needed with a spatula.
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Add the vanilla extract and melted white chocolate to the buttercream and whip until the buttercream is glossy and white or ivory in color.
Ice the cake
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Top three of the cake layers with 2 tbsp of raspberry jam and six raspberries. Stack each layer, and place the forth layer on top.
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Completely ice the cake with the white chocolate buttercream using a spatula or knife.
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Decorate as desired with your choice of sprinkles and decorations.
STEP ONE
Set up your cake by slicing your finished baked cakes in half, lengthwise. You should have four layers of cake. Fill three of the four cake layers with a ring of buttercream, and fill the middle with raspberry jam and fresh raspberries.
STEP TWO
Crumb coat the cake with the white chocolate buttercream. Chill it in the refrigerator or freezer for 10 minutes.
STEP THREE
Pipe a ring of royal blue and sky blue buttercream around the base of the cake. Pipe a ring of white buttercream around the middle and top of the cake.
STEP FOUR
Smooth out the buttercream using a cake spatula or a spatula.
STEP FIVE
Create waves along the side of the cake by marbling royal blue, sky blue, teal, and white buttercream. Create a crescent of marbled waves along the top of the cake as well.
STEP SIX
Add the fondant seashells and mermaid tails. Pipe buttercream seaweed with a #68 tip and pearls with a #4 tip over the cake. With the #17 tip, pipe drop stars and shells over the cake.
STEP SEVEN
Finish the cake by airbrushing pearl over the buttercream and dusting with edible glitter sprinkles and ocean themed sprinkles.
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