Blog

June 15, 2019 Paid Video

Teddy Bear Cake

Skill level: Intermediate

The last of our cake structure basics series, the teddy bear cake is a great example of how to use PVC materials to make a standing figure cake. This cute teddy bear has a furry texture created with buttercream, cake and rice cereal inside along with fondant accents to make an adorable show-stopper for a birthday party, special occasion or baby shower!

1:21:58 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to create a textured teddy bear cake out of buttercream
How to make a standing animal cake structure
Learn how to make a buttercream fur texture
Scaling and sculpting

Tutorial Chapters

June 11, 2019 Free Tutorials

Strawberry Fault Line Cake Tutorial

How to make a trendy fault line cake with fresh strawberries and buttercream frosting

Fault line cakes are all the rate right now on social media. There have already been so many creative interpretations of this theme from sprinkles to flowers! One of the best things about this cake trend is that it does allow for so much creativity but the basic steps for creating a fault line cake are the same.

As far as I can tell, this is the earliest version of the fault line cake, created by Milk Moon Kitchen on Instagram. She's been making these beauties since March of 2018.

Now, this trend is really taking off and we're seeing all kinds of super creative versions like this amazing tiger sprinkles cake from Susie Makes. She hand-placed each of those sprinkles onto wafer paper brush with piping gel to make the tiger pattern! Then wrapped the paper around the cake before applying the final coat of buttercream. Amazing work!

Or this stunning rose fault like cake from Cutely Made. The creator states that this cake was made by placing a 4" styrofoam cake dummy between two 6" cakes. The roses were then pushed into the styrofoam and the buttercream frosted over the top to create the fault line cake. Don't worry, roses are edible and were prepared in a food-safe way.

The possibilities really are endless if you think about it!

Today I'm going to show you how to make my version of the fault line cake using fresh strawberries! A total no-brainer for a delicious and beautiful cake for summer.

How to keep berries fresh

Whenever you are using fresh fruit in a cake, you have to take some precautions to make sure that your fruit doesn't mold quickly. I think we've all experienced purchasing a box of fresh fruit from the store that looks great one day and the next it's all moldy.

To prevent your fruit from molding in the cake, you're going to give it a little bath. Combine 4 cups of cool water and ½ cup of white vinegar in a large bowl. Add in your fresh fruit and let soak for about 5 minutes. Rinse your berries under cool water in a colander and then lay on a paper towel to dry.

The vinegar bath does not make your berries taste like vinegar so don't worry about that. It will, however, extend the life of your berries and kill off any mold that is lurking around the corner.

How to stack and fill your fault line cake

The first step to making the fault line cake is to prep the cake. I am using my fresh strawberry cake but you could use any cake that you like. I have two 6" cake layers and one 4" cake layer. Each cake layer is 2" tall. My cakes have already been chilled and I have trimmed off the brown edges on the top, sides and bottom. If you want to know more about preparing a cake for decorating, check out my video on how to make your first cake.

Start by stacking your first 6" cake on a cake board. Add a layer of strawberry puree (if you prefer) then cover with a layer of easy buttercream. I decided to slice my 4" cake layer in half to make it a bit taller. I filled it with buttercream and strawberry puree as well.

Now let's do a quick crumb coat of buttercream before we move onto the next layer of cake. You can decide to chill the cake at this point if you feel like your cake is too soft and moving around a lot but I went ahead and pushed on to the next step.

Stack the last 6" cake layer on top of the 4" cake layer and crumb coat. Place the whole cake in the freezer for 20 minutes to let the cake firm up.

While the cake is chilling, slice up some medium sized strawberries. You can also use other types of fruits!

Let's also prepare our fruit glaze. I'm using apricot jam and have watered it down a bit to make it thinner. This is a technique I learned in pastry school to glaze all sliced fruits to keep them from drying out and keep them looking shiny and beautiful!

How to create the fault line look with buttercream

Once the cake is chilled, add another thin layer of buttercream to the center of the cake so you can push in the strawberries easily. Press your strawberries into the soft buttercream. Alternating them so that they fit snugly next to each other.

Now let's start adding our buttercream. Add some to your top layer and smooth it out nice and flat. Then add some buttercream to the sides of the cake but don't cover your strawberries. You want to keep the buttercream nice and thick so you don't scrape into your strawberries.

Start smoothing down the sides of the cake with your bench scraper. Fill in any gaps or holes and continue to scrape until nice and smooth.

Paint the edges of the buttercream with some gold paint if desired. The one I used was the Truly Made Plastics super gold mixed with a little Everclear alcohol. You want the mixture to be a thick liquid for best coverage. One teaspoon of gold dust mixed with a few drops of alcohol until it's just become liquid is good.

I transferred my chilled cake to a cake stand and then stacked some more fresh berries and leaves on top of the cake along with some blackberry leaves and edible flowers.

That's it! You can use these same techniques with other types of berries, sprinkles, candy, whatever you like! The possibilities are endless!

Watch the full tutorial below on how to make this strawberry fault line cake. If you have any questions just leave them in the comments.

Fault Line Cake Ingredients & Tools

Two 6"x2" strawberry cakes, chilled and trimmed
One 4"x2" strawberry cake, chilled and trimmed
One batch easy buttercream frosting
6" cake board
2 cups fresh strawberries
Few sprigs blackberry leaves and flowers for garnish (optional)
Truly Mad Plastics super gold dust
Everclear (lemon extract or other grain alcohol will also work)
Apricot jam for glazing the berries
Offset spatula
Bench scraper
Turn table

Recipe

Print Recipe

4.88 from 8 votes

Strawberry Fault Line Cake Recipe

Have you tried a fault line cake yet? Learn how to make this trending cake with my fresh strawberry cake, strawberry puree and fresh cut strawberries for the fault line! The coolest thing about this cake trend is that it's so unique and you can really do a lot of different things with the design from sprinkles to cookies! Check out #faultlinecakes on Instagram for even more inspiration!

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 603kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Equipment

Stand mixer or hand mixer
Bench scraper
Offset Spatula
Two 6-inch cake pans and one 4-inch cake pan
6 inch cake board
Turn table

Ingredients

Strawberry Cake Ingredients

14 ounces AP flour
10 ounces granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon extract
1 ½ teaspoons strawberry extract
zest one lemon
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
6 ounces egg whites room temperature
4 ounces strawberry puree
6 ounces milk room temperature
½ teaspoon electric pink food color

Strawberry Puree

32 ounces fresh or frozen strawberries do not thaw
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 pinch salt
4 ounces sugar (optional)

Easy Buttercream Frosting

8 ounces pasteurized egg whites
32 ounces unsalted butter
32 ounces powdered sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Cake Instructions

NOTE: It is SUPER IMPORTANT that all the room temperature ingredients listed above are room temperature and not cold or hot.
If your ingredients just came out of the refrigerator or the strawberry puree is too hot, your mixture could curdle during the process of making the cake batter and become ruined.
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 350ºF/176ºC.
Grease two 6" cake pans and one 4" cake pan with cake goop or other preferred pan release.
Add butter to stand mixer and beat at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes. Add the egg whites approximately two at a time, beating 30 seconds between.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in a medium bowl.
Combine the strawberry reduction, milk, vanilla extract, lemon extract, strawberry extract and food coloring in a separate medium bowl.
With the mixer at the lowest speed, add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the milk mixture, mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter. Repeat the process 2 more times. When the batter appears blended, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake cakes until they feel firm in the center and a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it, about 35-40 minutes.
Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto the rack and pop cakes out of pans. Cool completely before frosting.

Strawberry Puree Instructions

Defrost strawberries if frozen or cut up strawberries if whole
Blend strawberries if you prefer a smoother texture of strawberry puree
Place into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over med heat. Add in sugar if desired.
Once bubbling, reduce heat to low and let slowly reduce until berries begin to break up and liquid is almost gone.
Occasionally stir the mixture to prevent burning. Add in lemon zest and salt. Transfer to another container and let cool before use.
Store extra in the freezer for up to 6 months

Buttercream Instructions

Place egg whites and powdered sugar in a stand mixer bowl. Attach the whisk and combine ingredients on low and then whip on high for 5 minutes
Add in your butter in chunks and whip with the whisk attachment to combine. It will look curdled at first. This is normal. It will also look pretty yellow. Keep whipping.
Let whip on high for 8-10 minutes until it's very white, light and shiny.
Switch to a paddle attachment and mix on low for 15-20 minutes to make the buttercream very smooth and remove air bubbles. This isn't required but if you want really creamy frosting, you don't want to skip it.

Video

Nutrition

June 3, 2019 Candy

Chocolate Caramel Candy

Shiny homemade chocolate caramel candy with sea salt and toasted hazelnuts

Making your own chocolate caramel candy at home is something I have always wanted to do! Now that I have learned how to temper chocolate in the microwave, making molded chocolates and hot chocolate bombs has never been easier! And so impressive looking!

this post contains affiliate links which means I may get a couple of pennies if you purchase from my link but it doesn't cost you anything extra*

The first time I made molded chocolates was in pastry school. That was also the first time I learned about polycarbonate molds. These are hard acrylic molds that are SUPER shiny on the inside. It's what the professional chocolatiers use to get those gorgeous shiny molded chocolates.

I decided to go with the 50mm molds because they were gifts but I think in hindsight, they were too big and I should have gone with the 30mm.

How to make the filling

I used my salted caramel filling for this chocolate caramel candy recipe but you could fill these chocolates with SO many different things. Ganache infused with tea or herbs, fruit purees or even peanut butter filling! The possibilities are really endless.

Bring the sugar and water to a boil on medium high. Cover with a lid for 5 minutes
Remove lid and continue cooking the sugar until thermometer reads 350º (hard crack stage) or it's a deep golden brown color. No need to stir.
Remove from heat. Start adding your butter in small pieces (it will bubble so be careful) then carefully mix in the cream.
Add in your sea salt and let sit at room temperature overnight or put in the refrigerator to cool. Store leftover caramel in the refrigerator.

How to make molded chocolate shells

After you have tempered your chocolate, you can now make your chocolate shells. This process is fairly simple but I've broken it down into some simple steps to help clarify everything. You can also watch the video below on how to make these molded chocolate caramel candies below.

Make sure molds are super clean and dry. Wipe the insides of each mold thoroughly with a paper towel to remove any residue that might make your chocolates stick.
Warm your mold slightly with a hair dryer or heat gun so it's not super cold (optional). Should not be hot, about body temperature.
Pour your tempered chocolate into your mold and tap the edge with a bench scraper to remove any air bubbles.

Scrape off the excess chocolate back into the bowl. Let the mold sit for 30-60 seconds.
Turn your mold upside down over the bowl and pour out the excess chocolate. Tap the edge with your bench scraper to remove the majority of the chocolate. You don't want the shells to be too thick.
Scrape the back of the mold ONE time to make the edges nice and clean.
Place the chocolate upside down on a piece of parchment paper and press flat. Leave for 5-10 minutes or until the chocolate is half-set (not liquid but still soft).
Scrape the back one more time to remove any excess chocolate.

Place the mold into the fridge for 10 minutes to set the chocolate.
At this point, you can check to see that the chocolates are releasing from the mold. If you haven't tempered your chocolate correctly they will have spots that are stuck (see photo below) and they will not release. So if that is the case, you're better off re-tempering your chocolate and trying again so you don't waste your filling.

How to fill your chocolate candy shells

Full disclosure, I did not roast these hazelnuts myself although you totally could. Typically when I roast nuts, I place them on a baking sheet and put them into the oven at 350ºF until they are fragrant. Usually for about 5 minutes. Let them cool before you use them.

I chopped my hazelnuts roughly and then filled my shell up to about halfway.

Then I put my cooled caramel into a piping bag and piped the caramel over the nuts. Don't fill the chocolates all the way up or you won't have any room to put the chocolate on the back.

Tap your molds to make sure the caramel settles down in between the nuts and there aren't any air bubbles trapped in there.

Put some of your tempered chocolate into a piping bag and pipe around the outside edge of the chocolate shells, slowly working your way to the center.

After all your chocolates are covered on the back, give your mold another little tap to get rid of air bubbles and get the chocolate to smooth out. Scrape the back edge one time with your bench scraper to get off the excess chocolate.

Place back into the fridge for 10 minutes to set the back of the chocolates.

How to decorate your chocolate caramel candy

Once your chocolates are set, you can flip them out onto a silicone mat or you can push on the edge and turn them over one by one. I decided to add a pretty gold splatter to my chocolate caramels.

To make the gold splatter, mix 1 teaspoon of gold powder with a couple of drops of alcohol until you get a paint consistency. Use a new toothbrush to splatter the tops of your chocolates with the gold.

Now your chocolates are ready to be packaged up and given as gifts or to just enjoy with a big scoop of ice cream or a cold glass of milk! Soo good!

Recipe

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Chocolate Caramel Candy

These shiny chocolate caramel candies filled with crunchy toasted hazelnuts and a touch of sea salt are outrageously decadent and beautiful!

Prep Time20

Cook Time15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 72kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

12 oz chocolate must contain cocoa butter

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Tempering Chocolate Instructions

Place your chocolate in a plastic or silicone bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 30 seconds. Then stir
Heat again for another 30 seconds, stir, then 15 seconds, stir, then 10 seconds, stir. Make sure your temperature never goes above 90ºF for dark chocolate. 86F for milk chocolate and 84F for white chocolate. DO NOT RUSH THIS
If your chocolate is not fully melted then only do another 5 seconds until it is melted
Now your chocolate is in temper and ready to use!

Caramel Filling

Bring sugar and water to a boil on medium high in a medium sized sauce pan. Cover with a lid for 5 minutes
Remove lid and continue cooking sugar until thermometer reads 350º (hard crack stage) or it's a deep golden brown color. No need to stir.
Remove from heat and add in your butter in small pieces. Be careful, it will bubble up. Slowly whisk in your cream until combined.
Add in your sea salt and let set at room temperature overnight or cool in the refrigerator.

Video

Nutrition

June 1, 2019 Course Preview

Indian Elephant Showpiece Tutorial

Skill level: Advanced

I created this showpiece for the Incredible India Cake Collaboration and I'm so excited to share the process that went into creating this piece with you today.

While this piece isn't made out of cake, you will learn what it takes to create a piece like this, how to plan out the cake structure, carving the shapes, adding the Ganesh cake topper, creating the umbrella and details on the elephant, and the anatomy of the elephant itself.

2:13:12 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to create a realistic elephant out of edible materials
How to scale a model from a figure and check your work
Learn how create Ganesh as a cake topper
Liz Marek's tips to getting any model right when using reference
Learn how add fringe details, hand-painted designs and details
How to create the unique umbrella shape

Tutorial Chapters

Scaling the elephant 0:32
Making the structure 4:38
Covering in rice cereal 14:41
Conditioning the Gumpaste 20:20
Rolling out the Gumpaste 20:47
Trimming the legs 22:19
Rolling out fondant 23:25
Applying gold leaf 26:13
Covering board in fondant 27:53
Pouring the isomalt 30:13
Shaping the rice cereal 37:31
Covering in modeling chocolate 47:20
Sculpting the body 53:07
Sculpting the head 1:00:43
Sculpting the eyes 1:05:43
Creating lines and wrinkles 1:06:48
Making the toe nails 1:16:00
Making the eyelids 1:17:32
Making the tusks 1:19:18
Making the tail 1:20:57
Painting the elephant 1:24:09
Detailing the head 1:28:24
Fondant decorations 1:30:03
Painting the fondant 1:33:31
Painting the umbrella 1:35:10
Making the bling 1:36:46
Making the fringe 1:43:33
Making extra decorations 1:45:27
Making Ganesh body 1:48:52
Making the arms 1:55:00
Making the jewelry 1:57:41
Making the trunk 2:01:10
Making the eyes 2:02:33
Painting flowers 2:07:22
Making anklets 2:07:49
Making accents 2:09:17
Adding the Ganesh 2:11:53

May 31, 2019 Paid Video

Indian Elephant Showpiece

Skill level: Advanced

I created this showpiece for the Incredible India Cake Collaboration and I'm so excited to share the process that went into creating this piece with you today.

2:13:12 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to create a realistic elephant out of edible materials
How to scale a model from a figure and check your work
Learn how create Ganesh as a cake topper
Liz Marek's tips to getting any model right when using reference
Learn how add fringe details, hand-painted designs and details
How to create the unique umbrella shape

Tutorial Chapters

May 27, 2019 Free Video

How To Temper Chocolate

Tempering chocolate in the microwave is so easy and results in a glossy, shiny tempered chocolate!

Tempering chocolate doesn't have to be hard! I used to temper my chocolate by the seeding method but once I learned how to do it in the microwave, I'll never do it another way again!

What does tempering chocolate mean?

When you temper chocolate, you are heating and cooling the chocolate in a specific way. When you correctly temper, the crystals in the cocoa butter arrange themselves in a specific order when they chocolate cools. Properly tempered chocolate is shiny, set's firm at room temperature and has a sharp SNAP when you bite into it.

What happens if I don't temper my chocolate?

When you melt chocolate and the temperature goes above 95ºF, your chocolate will be out of temper. If you try to use this chocolate it will be dull, soft in your hands and will not set.

If you're baking, you don't need to worry about tempering chocolate but if you're making candies or dipping strawberries, the chocolate must be tempered. Same thing with making molded chocolates. Chocolate has to be tempered otherwise it will not release from a chocolate mold.

What tools do I need for tempering chocolate in the microwave?

The great thing about tempering in the microwave is it's extremely simple. You only need a few tools to successfully temper chocolate in the microwave. *this list contains affiliate links*

Silicone or plastic bowl for melting chocolate in the microwave.
Glass or metal bowl for the seeding method
Pot for simmering water for seeding method
Thermometer spatula
Bench scraper
Parchment paper

What kind of chocolate should I use for tempering?

There are two kinds of chocolate. Real chocolate and fake (compound) chocolate. The only way to tell the difference is to read the ingredients. If the ingredients say cocoa butter, then it's real chocolate. You need real chocolate if you're going to temper.

You can use compound chocolate for flexible silicone or plastic molds or for dipping chocolates but it doesn't have that SNAP that real chocolate has. It also won't release from a polycarbonate mold.

Compound chocolate also melts at a much higher temperature than real chocolate. Real chocolate melts at body temperature so it dissolves on the tongue when you bite into it. Compound chocolate has to be chewed.

I like to use Callebaut semi-sweet callets. It's pretty standard chocolate and not too expensive. This is a 54% cocoa solids and 36% cocoa butter. The higher the cocoa solids %, the thicker the chocolate will be. Milk chocolate and white chocolate will also contain sugar and dairy.

Ok let's get to tempering our chocolate! Choose the method that works best for you but I highly recommend you give tempering chocolate in the microwave a try!

How to temper chocolate in the microwave

To keep your chocolate in temper you MUST pay attention to the temperature of the chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate should never go above 88F-90F. Milk chocolate should never go above 84F-86F. White or colored chocolate should never go above 82F-84F. The chocolate must contain cocoa butter for this to work.

Place 12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate into your plastic or silicone bowl and microwave for 30 seconds on high, then stir.
Microwave one more time for 30 seconds, then 15 seconds, then 10 seconds. Stirring in between each heating. DO NOT RUSH THIS!
Always check your thermometer to make sure your temperature is not going above 90ºF.
Once your chocolate is melted, it's ready to use!

The secret to this way of tempering chocolate is controlling the temperature. As long as it doesn't go above the proper temperature then the crystals inside the cocoa butter remain intact and the chocolate stays in temper. This is a great way to temper small amounts of chocolate.

If you're melting a big chocolate bar, make sure you chop it into small bits before melting to avoid over-heating and accidentally getting your chocolate out of temper.

What happens if my chocolate gets too hot?

If you do happen to get your chocolate too hot don't worry, you can still temper it using the seeding method. Transfer your chocolate to another bowl and add a little unmelted chocolate to the melted chocolate and stir until it cools to 97ºF.

How to temper chocolate using the seeding method

Melt ⅔ of the chocolate that you need over a double boiler until it reaches 115ºF. Stir constantly to prevent hot spots. Make sure the bowl fits firmly over your simmering water to prevent steam or drops of water from getting in your chocolate
Remove chocolate from the heat. Add ½ of your remaining un-melted chocolate back into the bowl. Stir to melt. This cools down the chocolate. Transfer melted chocolate to another bowl to speed up the cooling process. Continue stirring until the chocolate reaches 100ºF
Finely chop your remaining chocolate. At 96-98ºF, add in your chopped tempered chocolate and stir it into your warm chocolate. 95ºF is were the crystals in the cocoa butter start blooming so adding tempered chocolate in right before you reach this temperature ensures the proper crystals will grow and temper the rest of the untempered chocolate.
Continue stirring the chocolate every 5 minutes until it cools to 79ºF
Warm chocolate VERY carefully over the double boiler for 5 seconds until chocolate reaches 86ºF-90ºF which is a good working temperature for using in molds or making candies.

How to temper chocolate using cocoa butter beta crystals

Another way to temper chocolate is to use tempered cocoa butter crystals called beta crystals. This is a little bit more expensive but pretty much full-proof when it comes to tempering.

Melt ⅔ of your chocolate until it reaches 115ºF
Add your remaining ⅓ of chocolate back into the melted chocolate to cool it down
At 96ºF, add in 1% beta crystals (45g per 16oz of chocolate) Stir well
Cool chocolate to 79ºF then warm to 86-90ºF for workability

How to use tempered chocolate

Now that your chocolate is tempered you can use it to make chocolate spheres using a chocolate sphere mold, piped chocolate decorations and lots of other fun things! Tempering chocolate is a great skill to have and once you know how you'll be surprised how much more you'll use chocolate in your decorating.

Recipe

close up of a chocolate butterfly decoration on a red velvet cupcake

Print Recipe

4.94 from 76 votes

How To Temper Chocolate

Easily temper chocolate in the microwave! The easiest way to temper small amounts of chocolate.

Prep Time5

Cook Time5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: oz

Calories: 144kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Equipment

1 Thermometer

Ingredients

12 oz chocolate

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Tempering Chocolate Instructions

Place your chocolate in a plastic or silicone bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 30 seconds. Then stir
Heat again for another 30 seconds, stir, then 15 seconds, stir, then 10 seconds, stir. Make sure your temperature never goes above 90ºF for dark chocolate. 86F for milk chocolate and 84F for white chocolate. DO NOT RUSH THIS
If your chocolate is not fully melted then only do another 5 seconds until it is melted
Now your chocolate is in temper and ready to use!
Check out the video or blog post for ideas on decorating

Video

Notes

To learn more about tempering chocolate, check out Chef Christophe's tutorial on tempering chocolate with cocoa butter and an easy tempering machine.

Nutrition

May 21, 2019 Culinary Techniques

Tempering Chocolate The Easy Way

Tempering chocolate in the microwave is so easy and results in a glossy, shiny tempered chocolate!

Tempering chocolate doesn't have to be hard! I used to temper my chocolate by the seeding method but once I learned how to do it in the microwave, I'll never do it another way again! This is a great way to temper your chocolate for hot chocolate bombs.

What does tempering chocolate mean?

What happens if I don't temper my chocolate?

When you melt chocolate and the temperature goes above 95ºF, your chocolate will be out of temper. If you try to use this chocolate it will be dull, soft in your hands and will not set.

What tools do I need for tempering chocolate in the microwave?

The great thing about tempering in the microwave is it's extremely simple. You only need a few tools to successfully temper chocolate in the microwave. *this list contains affiliate links*

Silicone or plastic bowl for melting chocolate in the microwave.
Glass or metal bowl for the seeding method
Pot for simmering water for seeding method
Thermometer spatula
Bench scraper
Parchment paper

What kind of chocolate should I use for tempering?

You can use compound chocolate for flexible silicone or plastic molds or for dipping chocolates but it doesn't have that SNAP that real chocolate has. It also won't release from a polycarbonate mold.

Ok let's get to tempering our chocolate! Choose the method that works best for you but I highly recommend you give tempering chocolate in the microwave a try!

How to temper chocolate in the microwave

Place 12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate into your plastic or silicone bowl and microwave for 30 seconds on high, then stir.
Microwave one more time for 30 seconds, then 15 seconds, then 10 seconds. Stirring in between each heating. DO NOT RUSH THIS!
Always check your thermometer to make sure your temperature is not going above 90ºF.
Once your chocolate is melted, it's ready to use!

If you're melting a big chocolate bar, make sure you chop it into small bits before melting to avoid over-heating and accidentally getting your chocolate out of temper.

What happens if my chocolate gets too hot?

How to temper chocolate using the seeding method

Melt ⅔ of the chocolate that you need over a double boiler until it reaches 115ºF. Stir constantly to prevent hot spots. Make sure the bowl fits firmly over your simmering water to prevent steam or drops of water from getting in your chocolate
Remove chocolate from the heat. Add ½ of your remaining un-melted chocolate back into the bowl. Stir to melt. This cools down the chocolate. Transfer melted chocolate to another bowl to speed up the cooling process. Continue stirring until the chocolate reaches 100ºF
Finely chop your remaining chocolate. At 96-98ºF, add in your chopped tempered chocolate and stir it into your warm chocolate. 95ºF is were the crystals in the cocoa butter start blooming so adding tempered chocolate in right before you reach this temperature ensures the proper crystals will grow and temper the rest of the untempered chocolate.
Continue stirring the chocolate every 5 minutes until it cools to 79ºF
Warm chocolate VERY carefully over the double boiler for 5 seconds until chocolate reaches 86ºF-90ºF which is a good working temperature for using in molds or making candies.

How to temper chocolate using cocoa butter beta crystals

Another way to temper chocolate is to use tempered cocoa butter crystals called beta crystals. This is a little bit more expensive but pretty much full-proof when it comes to tempering.

Melt ⅔ of your chocolate until it reaches 115ºF
Add your remaining ⅓ of chocolate back into the melted chocolate to cool it down
At 96ºF, add in 1% beta crystals (1 teaspoon per 7 ounces of chocolate) Stir well
Cool chocolate to 79ºF then warm to 86-90ºF for workability

How to use tempered chocolate

Recipe

Print Recipe

4.94 from 76 votes

How To Temper Chocolate

Easily temper chocolate in the microwave! The easiest way to temper small amounts of chocolate.

Prep Time5

Cook Time5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: oz

Calories: 144kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Equipment

1 Thermometer

Ingredients

12 oz chocolate

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Tempering Chocolate Instructions

Place your chocolate in a plastic or silicone bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 30 seconds. Then stir
Heat again for another 30 seconds, stir, then 15 seconds, stir, then 10 seconds, stir. Make sure your temperature never goes above 90ºF for dark chocolate. 86F for milk chocolate and 84F for white chocolate. DO NOT RUSH THIS
If your chocolate is not fully melted then only do another 5 seconds until it is melted
Now your chocolate is in temper and ready to use!
Check out the video or blog post for ideas on decorating

Video

Notes

To learn more about tempering chocolate, check out Chef Christophe's tutorial on tempering chocolate with cocoa butter and an easy tempering machine.

Nutrition

May 15, 2019 Paid Video

Gravity-Defying Floating Bowls Cake

Skill level: Intermediate

Have you ever wondered how to make a cake that looks like it's floating in air? This tutorial teaches you how to build the structure, incorporate supports and fun effects that complete this gravity-defying floating bowls cake.

This cake is perfect for the little artist's birthday, and artsy party-goers will be wowed by this incredible creation!

43:04 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

How to make a gravity-defying cake structure
Learn how to make bowl-shaped cakes
How to create a dripping colorful design of bowls that pour into each other
Learn the tips and tricks to covering tricky designs and shapes in fondant

Tutorial Chapters

May 15, 2019 Course Preview

Gravity-Defying Floating Bowls Cake Tutorial

Skill level: Intermediate

This cake is perfect for the little artist's birthday, and artsy party-goers will be wowed by this incredible creation!

43:04 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

How to make a gravity-defying cake structure
Learn how to make bowl-shaped cakes
How to create a dripping colorful design of bowls that pour into each other
Learn the tips and tricks to covering tricky designs and shapes in fondant

Tutorial Chapters

Pouring chocolate spheres 0:55
Putting together the structure 4:15
Carving the cake 6:36
Attaching the bottom bowl 7:55
Trimming the chocolate 16:04
Assembling the middle bowl 16:26
Trimming the middle bowl 18:01
Frosting the cake 19:15
Making the bowl topper 21:35
Creating the handle 22:19
Covering the bowls in fondant 23:54
Creating the borders 28:10
Covering the topper 30:40
Covering the bottom bowl 31:08
Painting the bowls 34:15
Creating fondant drips 36:50
Creating water ganache 38:09
Attaching the topper 40:15

May 13, 2019 Blog

Meringue Pop Flower Pot Cake Tutorial

Crispy, crunchy flower meringue pops and an adorable flower pot cake with buttercream that looks like concrete!

Making these adorable flower meringue pops using my meringue cookie recipe could not be easier and they taste just like a toasted marshmallow! Triple chocolate cake combined with a simple rustic easy buttercream texture that looks like concrete, this flower pot cake is a real winner!

Tips for making meringue pop flowers

Honestly, the hardest part about this cake is that the flowers take a while to fully bake. We're using my meringue cookie recipe but flowers are a bit larger than a tiny meringue cookie. So you have to leave them in the oven for 2 hours instead of 1 to avoid cracks and a gooey center.

After the initial baking, turn off the oven and leave them in there for at least another two hours or better yet, overnight. So if you make them the day ahead (or even two) this cake goes a lot faster.

I also baked my triple chocolate cakes, cooled them and crumb coated them the day before decorating so that all I had to do was add the "concrete" frosting and the meringue flower pops and the cake was done!

Easy meringue pop recipe

Meringue Cookie Ingredients

3 fresh egg whites (3oz)
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
5 oz sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

Meringue pop instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 225ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in a pot. Place a clean stainless steel mixing bowl over the water. It shouldn't touch the water.
Combine your egg whites and sugar and whisk to combine. Occasionally whisk as it's heating to distribute the heat and dissolve the sugar.
Once your egg whites are at 110ºF (or when you don't feel any grains of sugar between your fingers) you're ready to whip
Place the bowl on your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on med for one minute, add in cream of tartar, salt and flavoring.
Bump up to high and let whip until you reach STIFF peaks.
Now you are ready to pipe your meringue flowers!

How to make a rose meringue pop

For the rose, I use a 2F piping tip which also happens to be my favorite piping tip. I colored my meringue with a drop of electric pink food coloring. Place a dollop of the meringue onto the parchment paper to hold down the cake pop stick. Then starting from the center, create a swirl.

I finished the rose meringue pop with a couple of leaves using my leaf piping tip and some meringue colored with yellow and leaf green food coloring. I thought my leaves were actually a little too big so I recommend using a smaller leaf tip like an Ateco 66.

How to make hydrangea meringue pops

For the hydrangea meringue pop, I use a small closed star tip. Ateco 846 but any small-medium star tip would work for this. To make the colored meringue I used electric purple for half and royal purple for the other half of the meringue.

I placed the meringue into a piping bag with the star tip. Glued down the cake pop stick with a dab of meringue. Then started piping little dollops in a small bunch. The two colors kind of combine as you pipe and make a pretty hydrangea bunch. Finish with a couple of leaves.

How to make daisy meringue pops

Lastly, I wanted to try my hand at some daisies. I started with a medium round piping tip (Wilton 10) and some white meringue. Glue down your cake pop stick as before with some meringue.

Then starting about 2" away from the cake pop stick, start piping towards the cake pop stick. Continue until you have created all your petals and then finish with a dollop of yellow meringue for the center.

I also had a little leftover pink and yellow so I marbled them together to make some more rose pops and really like how they turned out! They reminded me of some beautiful painted roses my dad had in his yard.

How to bake meringue pops

Because these cookies are larger than a typical meringue cookie, you want to bake them longer and at a lower temperature than typical meringue cookies. I pre-heat my oven to 200ºF then put my meringue pops in the oven to bake for 2 hours. Then turn off the oven and leave them in there overnight to fully dehydrate.

A finished meringue pop should be totally crisp inside and not wet or sticky. If they then just increase your baking time for next time.

Store finished meringue pops in an airtight container at room temperature until you need to use them. After a few hours at room temperature, they may become sticky which is normal.

How to make a concrete buttercream texture

Time to make our concrete buttercream flower pot! I colored (almost) ⅔ of my buttercream a light grey using a drop of Americolor super black food coloring. It was a tad purple so to balance that out, I added a drop of yellow.

Save a little of the white for finishing touches. 2-3 tablespoon is plenty.

Then I colored the ⅓ a dark black. I added about 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder and then two drops of black food coloring. The color was kind of green looking so I added a drop of red to balance out the green.

Then I added in a few cake crumbles to give the buttercream texture. This is totally optional but I thought the cake crumbs gave the buttercream a more realistic concrete texture.

Pipe a border of grey on the top of your chilled cake and smooth out the top. Then a layer of gray around the outside and smooth it with a bench scraper.

Now add a few dollops of the dark buttercream here and there and smooth over ONCE with your bench scraper. Don't be afraid to leave some bumps and pocks.

Then add a few dollops of your white and scrape again in the opposite direction. I learned this trick from my friends Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes. Scraping in the opposite direction keeps the colors from blending too much into each other and looking muddy.

Now all you have to do is add some of your leftover cake crumbs to the top of the cake for the dirt. If you didn't use a chocolate cake, you can use crushed up oreo cookies!

Then arrange your cake meringue pop flowers how you like! I love how this fun cake turned out. It made a great Mother's day cake!

Recipe

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5 from 3 votes

Meringue Pop Flower Pot Cake Recipes

How to make a cake that looks like a rustic flower pot topped with tasty flower meringue pops!

Prep Time1

Cook Time1 30

cooling1 30

Total Time1 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 505kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Meringue Cookie Ingredients

3 egg whites fresh
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
5 oz sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring
1 pinch salt

Triple Chocolate Cake Recipe

2.25 oz Dutched cocoa powder
8 oz water
3 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz mayonaise
14 oz cake flour
15 oz granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 oz unsalted butter room temperature
8 oz mini chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate

Easy Buttercream Frosting

4 oz pasteurized egg whites
16 oz powdered sugar
16 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 teaspoon vanilla
.5 teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Flower Meringue Pop Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 220ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in a pot. Place a clean stainless steel mixing bowl over the water. It shouldn't touch the water.
Combine your egg whites and sugar and whisk to combine. Occasionally whisk as it's heating to distribute the heat and dissolve the sugar.
Once your egg whites are at 110ºF (or when you don't feel any grains of sugar between your fingers) you're read to whip
Place the bowl on your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on med for one minute, add in cream of tartar, salt and flavoring.
Bump up to high and let whip until you reach STIFF peaks.
Now you are ready to pipe your meringue onto the baking sheet into flowers! (see video for more details on piping)
Bake for 2 hours, then turn off the oven but do not take out the cookies. Let them sit in the oven until they are completely cold. I leave mine in overnight.
Cookies can be stored in a ziplock bag unrefrigerated for up to two weeks.

Triple Chocolate Cake Instructions

Note: all ingredients are by weight for accuracy.
Bring the water to a boil. Add in cocoa powder. Whisk until smooth then add in cold mayonnaise, vanilla and eggs. Whisk to break up the eggs.
Place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a stand mixer bowl and attach the paddle attachment.
Turn mixer on low (setting 1 on Kitchen Aid mixers). Add in your room temperature butter in small chunks. Combine on low until you achieve a sandy mixture.
Add ½ of your liquid ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix on medium (setting 4 on my kitchenaid) for 2 minutes. If you do not do this step, your cake could collapse.
Turn your mixer back down to low and add in the rest of your liquids slowly. Stop once or twice to scrape the bowl as needed.
Once they are all combined, turn back up to medium for another 30 seconds.
Fold in your chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
Lightly grease two 8" round cake pans prepared with your choice of pan release. I prefer cake goop.
Divide batter into Three 6" pans or two 8" round pans (2" tall). Bake for 30 minutes at 350ºF depending on how big your pans are. The bigger the pan, the longer it will take for them to bake.
When a toothpick comes out of the center with a few sticky crumbs on it, the cake is done.
After the cakes have cooled for about 10 minutes, or the pans have cooled to the point they can be touched, flip the cakes over and remove from the pans onto a cooling rack to cool completely. I cover mine in plastic wrap to keep them from drying out why they cool.
Once the cakes are completely cool you can trim them and frost them.

Easy Buttercream Frosting

Place egg whites and powdered sugar in a stand mixer bowl. Attach the whisk and combine ingredients on low and then whip on high for 5 minutes
Add in your butter in chunks and whip with the whisk attachment to combine. It will look curdled at first. This is normal. It will also look pretty yellow. Keep whipping.
Let whip on high for 8-10 minutes until it's very white, light and shiny.
Switch to a paddle attachment and mix on low for 15-20 minutes to make the buttercream very smooth and remove air bubbles. This isn't required but if you want really creamy frosting, you don't want to skip it.
Now you can add your coloring if desired

Nutrition

May 7, 2019 Frosting and Icing

Chocolate Drip

A chocolate drip is one of the easiest ways to make a cake look polished, elegant, and professionally decorated. If you've ever wondered how to get those smooth chocolate drips down the side of a cake without them running to the bottom or looking too thick, this post will show you exactly how to do it.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make chocolate drip with dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate, how to adjust the cream ratio for each one, and how to apply it so it looks clean and intentional. This is a beginner-friendly technique, and once you understand the consistency and temperature, it becomes one of the easiest cake decorating tricks to master.

My easy chocolate cake recipe is the perfect base - two layers of fudgy chocolate cake topped with a glossy chocolate drip is hard to beat.

Quick Glance at the Recipe

Recipe Name: Chocolate Drip
Why You'll Love It: A simple ganache-based drip that works with dark, milk, or white chocolate and makes any cake look instantly more professional.
Time and Difficulty: About 10 minutes, beginner-friendly
Main Ingredients: Chocolate, heavy cream, optional gel food coloring
Method: Heat the cream, pour it over the chocolate, whisk until smooth, then let it cool slightly before dripping onto a chilled cake
Texture and Flavor: Smooth, glossy, rich, and soft enough to slice cleanly
Quick Tip: Always test one drip first before decorating the whole cake

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When drip cakes first started getting really popular, I noticed a lot of beginner decorators were running into the exact same issue. Their chocolate drip was either way too thin and sliding all the way down the cake, or it was too thick and just sitting on top like a blob. It felt like one of those decorating techniques that looked easy until you actually tried it.

I started teaching this method a lot more because once you understand what makes a chocolate drip work, it becomes incredibly predictable. It's really just about the ratio of chocolate to cream, the temperature of the ganache, and making sure your cake is properly chilled before you start.

I still use this technique all the time when I want a cake to look a little extra special without spending a ton of time decorating. A good chocolate drip can make even a very simple buttercream cake look finished and elegant.

Ingredients For Chocolate Drip

The great thing about chocolate drip is that it only needs a few ingredients, but each one matters. The exact amount of cream you use will depend on the type of chocolate, which is why understanding the role of each ingredient makes a big difference.

Chocolate - Chocolate is the base of the drip and provides the flavor, structure, and shine. You can use dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate depending on the look and flavor you want. Mini chocolate chips melt easily, but chopped chocolate bars can give you an even smoother finish. You can substitute one kind of chocolate for another, but you'll need to adjust the amount of cream.
Heavy cream - Heavy cream loosens the chocolate and turns it into ganache so it can drip smoothly over the edge of the cake. This is what gives the drip its silky texture. Do not substitute milk unless you're prepared for a thinner and less stable result. If you don't have heavy cream, water ganache is another option, especially for white chocolate drips.
Gel food coloring - Gel food coloring is optional, but it's great for tinting white chocolate drip. It helps you create colorful drips without changing the consistency too much. I recommend using gel coloring instead of liquid coloring. If you want a brighter white drip, you can also add a small drop of white food coloring.

Chocolate Drip Ratios

Different chocolates need different amounts of cream because they all melt differently.

Chocolate Type	Chocolate	Heavy Cream
Dark or Semi-Sweet Chocolate	6 oz	4 oz
Milk Chocolate	6 oz	3 oz
White Chocolate	6 oz	2 oz

Dark Or Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Use 6 ounces of dark or semi-sweet chocolate with 4 ounces of heavy cream. This gives you a rich, shiny drip that works beautifully on most cakes.

Milk Chocolate

Use 6 ounces of milk chocolate with 3 ounces of heavy cream. Milk chocolate is softer and sweeter, so it needs a little less cream.

White Chocolate

Use 6 ounces of white chocolate with 2 ounces of heavy cream. White chocolate is much softer than dark chocolate, so using too much cream will make the drip too thin very quickly.

How to Make a Chocolate Drip Step-By-Step

Start by choosing your chocolate type and measuring the correct amount of cream based on the ratio chart above. This part is really important because even a small change in ratio can affect how the drip behaves.

If you're making a white chocolate drip, this is also a good time to have your gel food coloring ready.

Heat the heavy cream in the microwave for about 1 minute, or until you see steam rising off the top. It should be hot, but not boiling.

If the cream gets too hot, it can make the ganache separate or become grainy.

BONUS TIP: If you're heating the cream on the stovetop, remove it as soon as it starts to steam. Don't let it boil.

Warm the chocolate for about 30 to 60 seconds in the microwave just until it's slightly warm. You're not trying to melt it all the way. This just helps the cream melt the chocolate more evenly.

This is especially helpful when using chocolate chips because they tend to hold their shape longer than chopped chocolate bars.

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 2 to 3 minutes without stirring. This gives the chocolate time to soften before you mix it.

Be patient here. Letting it sit first will give you a much smoother ganache.

Whisk the chocolate and cream together gently until the ganache is smooth, shiny, and fully combined. If you still see unmelted lumps, microwave the ganache for 20 to 30 seconds and whisk again.

If you're using white chocolate drip and want to color it, add a small amount of gel food coloring after the ganache is smooth and stir until evenly tinted.

If the drip looks a little transparent, add a tiny bit of white food coloring to make it more opaque.

PRO TIP: Allow your chocolate drip to cool to about 90ºF before applying it to the cake so that the drips don't run all the way down the cake.

How To Create The Perfect Drip Cake

So now we have our ganache made but we're not ready to drip quite yet! If you put the hot ganache on your cake your drips will run all the way to the bottom of the cake or melt your buttercream.

Before you drip anything, make sure your cake is chilled in the fridge for about 20 minutes. A cold cake helps the ganache set and keeps the drip from sliding too far down the sides.

Transfer the ganache to a piping bag, squeeze bottle, or use a spoon, then do one test drip on the side of the cake. Watch how far it runs.

If it runs too far, let the ganache cool a little longer. If it barely moves, warm it slightly or add a tiny bit more cream.

Pipe or spoon the ganache around the outside edge of the cake, alternating longer and shorter drips for a natural look. Then spread the remaining ganache across the top of the cake with an offset spatula.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

Using ganache that is too hot - This is one of the biggest reasons chocolate drip runs all the way to the bottom of the cake.
Skipping the test drip - Testing one drip first can save you from covering the entire cake with the wrong consistency.
Not chilling the cake first - A cold cake helps the ganache set quickly and keeps the buttercream from melting.
Using the wrong ratio for the type of chocolate - White chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate all need different amounts of cream.
Overmixing the ganache - Too much whisking can add air bubbles and make the ganache less smooth.
Boiling the cream - Overheated cream can cause the ganache to become grainy or separate.

Final Thoughts

Chocolate drip is one of those cake decorating techniques that looks fancy but is actually very simple once you understand the basics. If you can measure your ingredients, warm your cream, and test your consistency, you can absolutely make a beautiful drip cake.

The biggest thing to remember is that a perfect chocolate drip comes down to ratio, temperature, and patience. Chill your cake, let the ganache cool slightly, and always test one drip before you commit. Once you do it a couple of times, it becomes second nature.

Chocolate Drip FAQ

Why is my chocolate drip too runny?

Your ganache is probably too warm or has too much cream in it. Let it cool slightly before using it, and make sure you're using the right ratio for the type of chocolate.

Why is my chocolate drip too thick?

It may need a tiny bit more warm cream, or it may have cooled too much before you used it. Add a little warm cream and stir until smooth.

Can I use chocolate chips for chocolate drip?

Yes, chocolate chips work well for chocolate drip, especially mini chocolate chips. Chopped chocolate bars can melt a little more smoothly, but either one works.

Can I color a chocolate drip?

Yes. White chocolate drip is perfect for coloring with gel food coloring. If it looks slightly translucent, add a tiny drop of white food coloring.

Can I make chocolate drip ahead of time?

Yes. You can make ganache ahead and store it in the fridge. Rewarm it gently before using, just until it becomes fluid again.

Why did my ganache turn grainy?

This usually happens when the cream is too hot. Heat it only until steaming and avoid boiling.

More Ways To Get Your Drip On

If you made this recipe or any recipe on Sugar Geek Show, I'd love to hear how it turned out! Leave a rating and comment below - it helps other bakers and it truly makes my day. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Recipe

chocolate drip being piped onto a white cake with rainbow sprinkles

Print Recipe

4.89 from 34 votes

Chocolate Drip Recipe

How to make perfect chocolate drips whether it's dark, milk or white chocolate. It's all about the right ratio and temperatures.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: oz

Calories: 388kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Chocolate Drip

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate or dark chocolate
4 ounces heavy whipping cream

For Milk Chocolate Drip

6 ounces milk chocolate
3 ounces heavy whipping cream

White Chocolate Drip

7 ounces white chocolate
3 ounces heavy whipping cream

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Chocolate drip recipe

Add your cream to a medium sized saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to steam. Do not boil.
Place your chocolate into a heat proof bowl
Pour the hot cream over chocolate. Make sure the cream is completely covering the chocolate.
Let sit 5 minutes then whisk until smooth.
Let the chocolate drip cool until slightly warm to the touch before piping onto your CHILLED cake.

Video

Notes

1. Let the ganache cool before dripping

If the ganache is too hot, the chocolate drip will run all the way down the cake or melt your buttercream. Let it cool until it feels slightly warm but not hot before applying it.

2. Always drip onto a chilled cake

Place your frosted cake in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before applying the drip. A cold cake helps the chocolate set quickly and keeps the drips from running too far.

3. Test one drip first

Before decorating the entire cake, pipe one test drip on the side. If it runs too far, let the ganache cool longer. If it barely moves, warm it slightly or add a tiny bit more cream.

4. Use the correct chocolate ratio

Different chocolates require different amounts of cream.

Dark or semi-sweet chocolate: 6 oz chocolate + 4 oz cream
Milk chocolate: 6 oz chocolate + 3 oz cream
White chocolate: 6 oz chocolate + 2 oz cream

5. Fixing ganache consistency

If your chocolate drip is too thick, add a teaspoon of warm cream and stir until smooth.
If it is too thin, allow it to cool longer before using.

6. Best chocolate to use

Mini chocolate chips melt easily and work well for chocolate drip. Chopped chocolate bars will produce the smoothest and glossiest ganache.

7. Coloring white chocolate drip

White chocolate drip can be colored with gel food coloring. If the drip looks slightly transparent, add a tiny drop of white food coloring to make it more opaque.

Nutrition

May 1, 2019 Course Preview

Modern Geometric Cake Tutorial

Skill level: Intermediate

Our latest tutorial is designed by none other than Jessica Phan and is a sure-win modern cake design.

Learn how to create a geometric cake with clean buttercream and ganache stripes, a wild geometric frill pattern and an adorable stained-glass bear face cake topper. This cake is perfect for the modern design lover and offers several tips and techniques to achieve different geometric looks.

32:03 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

How to make an intricate modern geometric cake design
Learn how to create a stained-glass bear cake topper
How to get geometric patterns and shapes on a tier
Learn how to get perfect stripes on a cake tier without fondant

Tutorial Chapters

Making the gumpaste triangles 1:01
Prepping the bear topper gumpaste 6:54
Adding triangles to cake 8:12
Coloring the ganache 13:00
Adding stripes to buttercream 13:50
Preparing the ganache tier 16:49
Making the bear cake topper 17:21
Adding the isomalt 23:44
Making the cake topper base 25:46
Measuring & placing supports 28:05
Finishing geometric texture 28:42
Finishing touches 30:41

May 1, 2019 Paid Video

Modern Geometric Cake

Skill level: Intermediate

Our latest tutorial is designed by none other than Jessica Phan and is a sure-win modern cake design.

32:03 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

How to make an intricate modern geometric cake design
Learn how to create a stained-glass bear cake topper
How to get geometric patterns and shapes on a tier
Learn how to get perfect stripes on a cake tier without fondant

Tutorial Chapters

April 25, 2019 Blog

Ermine Frosting

Ermine frosting (also called roux frosting or boiled milk frosting) is made by cooking flour and sugar with milk to make a sweet paste. This paste is then whipped into softened butter until light and fluffy. Vanilla and salt is added for flavoring. It's especially good on my easy chocolate cake recipe or red velvet cake.

Quick Glance: Ermine Frosting

Recipe Name: Ermine Frosting
Why You'll Love It: Lighter and less sweet than any buttercream you've ever had, with a silky whipped-cream texture that's completely egg-free
Time and Difficulty: 40 minutes, including cooling time / Easy
Main Ingredients: Flour, granulated sugar, whole milk, unsalted butter, vanilla
Method: Cook flour and milk into a thick roux, cool completely, then whip into butter
Texture and Flavor: Silky smooth and cloud-like with a delicate vanilla sweetness and absolutely no flour taste
Quick Tip: The flour mixture must be completely cold before it goes into the butter. Even slightly warm will melt the butter and the whole frosting will collapse

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This might sound like a bizarre process (it did to me at first) but it's actually a delicious frosting! Ermine frosting reminds me a lot of that frosting that you find in a ding dong or twinkie. Very light and almost like whipped cream.

This frosting does not have eggs in it so it's a fantastic alternative to Swiss Meringue Buttercream if you want a light frosting but can't have eggs.

Why This Recipe Works So Well

Ermine frosting is structurally different from every other buttercream, and understanding why helps you make it successfully every time.

Most frostings get their body from powdered sugar, cooked egg whites, or egg yolks. Ermine frosting uses a cooked starch gel instead. When flour and sugar are heated with milk, the starch granules in the flour absorb the liquid and swell through a process called gelatinization, forming a thick, stable paste. When that paste is whipped into softened butter, the starch gel acts as an emulsifier, binding the fat and liquid together into a smooth, cohesive frosting without any powdered sugar at all.

Toasting the flour dry in the pan for a couple of minutes before adding the milk does two things: it removes the raw flour taste that would otherwise come through in the finished frosting, and it partially breaks down the starch so the roux thickens evenly rather than clumping.

Because there are no eggs in this recipe, there is no risk of curdling, no food safety concerns around raw whites, and no need for a candy thermometer. The only thing that can go wrong is adding the roux to the butter before it's fully cooled, which melts the fat and breaks the frosting. Get that one step right, and the rest takes care of itself.

Ermine frosting actually tastes really good! I admit making the roux did not seem very appetizing but after I gave it a taste, I could see why ermine frosting is the traditional frosting used with red velvet cake. It's so good!

Ermine Frosting Ingredients

The frosting is super smooth and creamy. A nice light vanilla flavor and no hint of a flour taste. I promise.

Granulated sugar provides sweetness and also helps thicken the roux when cooked with the flour and milk. Because the sugar is cooked into a paste rather than added as powdered sugar, the finished frosting is significantly less sweet than American buttercream. Do not substitute powdered sugar here.

All-purpose flour is the thickening agent that makes ermine frosting unique. The starch in the flour gelatinizes when cooked with the milk, creating the paste that gives this frosting its structure. Measure by weight for the most consistent results.

Whole milk hydrates the flour and sugar into a smooth roux. Whole milk is recommended because the higher fat content produces a richer, creamier finished frosting. You can substitute 2% milk but the texture will be slightly less silky. Do not use non-dairy milk alternatives as they behave differently when heated with starch.

Unsalted butter is whipped into the cooled roux to create the final frosting. It must be fully softened to room temperature so it whips up light and fluffy before the roux goes in. Unsalted butter is used so the salt level can be controlled. For a slightly richer flavor, European-style butter with a higher fat content works beautifully here.

Vanilla extract is the primary flavor in this frosting. Use a high-quality pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste for the best result. You can also substitute almond extract, lemon emulsion, or any other flavoring in the same amount.

Salt balances the sweetness and deepens the overall flavor. It should not be detectable as saltiness, only as a rounding out of the vanilla and butter.

How do you make ermine frosting?

Making ermine frosting is actually pretty simple.

Add the flour and sugar to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk together and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture smells slightly nutty and looks dry and sandy. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn - you want lightly toasted, not browned.

Pouring milk into a metal saucepan with flour and sugar and a whisk.

Reduce the heat to medium and slowly pour in the milk in a thin, steady stream while whisking constantly. The mixture will look thin at first. Keep whisking and it will begin to thicken.

Ermine frosting mixture with a gold whisk inside a metal saucepan.

Increase to medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, whisking continuously. Continue cooking for one more minute after it reaches a simmer. The finished roux should be very thick and pudding-like - it should hold a shape when you drag the whisk through it and fall off the whisk in slow, heavy ribbons.

Ermine frosting roux being strained through a strainer with a white spatula.

If your roux has any lumps, strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a heatproof bowl now, pressing it through with a spatula.

Ermine frosting roux in a clear bowl with plastic wrap on top.

Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the roux so no air touches it. This prevents a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely cold, at least 2 hours or overnight. You can also spread it onto a sheet pan, cover with plastic, and freeze for 30 minutes if you're short on time. The roux must be fully cold - not cool, not slightly warm, but cold all the way through.

Add the softened butter to the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip on high for 2 to 3 minutes until the butter is very pale, light, and fluffy. It should look almost white and increase noticeably in volume.

Transfer the cold roux into a piping bag. With the mixer running on medium, slowly pipe the roux into the whipped butter a little at a time, waiting a few seconds between additions. Adding it slowly ensures the roux and butter emulsify smoothly rather than curdling.

Once all the roux is incorporated, add the vanilla and salt. Increase to high speed and whip for 1 to 2 more minutes until the frosting is very light, smooth, and fluffy. It should look like thick whipped cream and hold a soft peak.

EXPERT TIP: Ermine frosting is best used right after it's made. It sets as it sits and loses its light, creamy texture if left too long before using.

Batter & Frosting Calculator

Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator

Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.

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Cups of Batter Needed

8 cups

Cups of Frosting Needed

5 cups

Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.

This recipe makes 6 cups of frosting, enough to frost and fill a two-layer 8-inch cake or frost about 24 cupcakes. Ermine frosting is best used immediately after making. The roux can be made up to 1 week ahead and stored in the fridge. Whip fresh into butter the day you need it.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Adding the roux before it's completely cold. This is the single most common reason ermine frosting fails. Even slightly warm roux will melt the butter and turn everything soupy. Be patient and let it chill fully in the refrigerator. If you're in a hurry, spread it thin on a sheet pan and freeze it.

Skipping the flour toasting step. Untoasted flour has a starchy, raw taste that will come through in the finished frosting. Two minutes of dry toasting in the pan completely eliminates this and is worth the extra step.

Adding the roux too fast. Dumping all the roux into the butter at once instead of adding it slowly almost always causes the frosting to break or look curdled. Pipe it in gradually with the mixer running for the smoothest result.

Trying to use ermine frosting under fondant. Ermine frosting is too soft to support the weight of fondant. It will compress and bulge under the fondant as it sits. Use it as a filling between cake layers or as a finish frosting, and choose a stiffer buttercream for any fondant-covered cakes.

Making it ahead and expecting it to keep. Ermine frosting does not hold well once made. The starch gel continues to firm up, and the texture becomes dense and less creamy within a few hours. Make the roux ahead of time and refrigerate it for up to a week, but whip the frosting fresh right before you need it.

Ermine Frosting FAQs

What does ermine frosting taste like?

Ermine frosting tastes like a lighter, less sweet version of buttercream - closer to whipped cream than traditional frosting. There is no detectable flour taste when the roux is made correctly. The vanilla comes through cleanly and the overall flavor is delicate, creamy, and just barely sweet. It's the frosting that people who say they "don't like frosting" actually enjoy.

What is the difference between ermine frosting and Swiss meringue buttercream?

Both are lighter and less sweet than American buttercream, but they use completely different structures. Swiss meringue buttercream is built on cooked egg whites whipped into a stable foam, then finished with butter. Ermine frosting uses no eggs at all and gets its structure from a cooked flour and milk roux. Ermine frosting is simpler to make and has a slightly lighter, airier texture, while Swiss meringue buttercream is more stable and better suited for warm environments.

Does ermine frosting need to be refrigerated?

Yes. Because ermine frosting contains milk, it should not be left at room temperature for more than a couple of hours. Refrigerate any leftover frosting in an airtight container for up to one week, or freeze for up to three months. The roux base on its own can also be made ahead and refrigerated for up to a week - just whip it fresh into the butter when you're ready to use it. Bring a frosted cake out of the refrigerator one to two hours before serving so the frosting softens back to its best texture.

Can you make ermine frosting ahead of time?

You can make the roux component up to a week ahead and store it refrigerated. However, the finished frosting is best used immediately after whipping. Once the roux and butter are combined, the frosting begins to firm up and lose its light, creamy consistency within a few hours. For the best results, make the roux in advance and whip the frosting fresh on the day you need it.

Why is my ermine frosting grainy?

Graininess is usually caused by the sugar not fully dissolving during cooking. Make sure you whisk constantly while the roux cooks and allow it to reach a full simmer before removing from the heat. If graininess is still an issue, strain the roux through a fine mesh sieve before chilling. Graininess can also happen if the butter is too cold when the roux is added - always make sure the butter is fully softened to room temperature first.

Can you color ermine frosting?

Yes. Add gel food coloring in the final step after all the roux is incorporated. Use gel or paste colors rather than liquid since liquid can thin the frosting. Add a small amount at a time and mix on low until you reach the desired shade. Because the frosting is so light in color, it takes color easily and produces bright, clean shades.

Can you make chocolate ermine frosting?

Yes. Once the frosting is fully whipped, add a quarter cup of sifted unsweetened cocoa powder and mix on low until fully incorporated. The cocoa will deepen the color and add a light chocolate flavor without significantly changing the texture.

Can you pipe ermine frosting?

Yes, ermine frosting pipes well when used immediately after making. It holds swirls and rosettes cleanly with a piping bag and tip. Because it softens quickly at room temperature and doesn't hold up well over time, pipe decorations right before serving rather than hours in advance.

More Frosting Recipes To Try

Watch: How To Decorate A Cake Step-by-Step

Before you start decorating, watch the video below where I show you every step of decorating a cake from start to finish. Seeing the process in action makes it much easier to follow along

- Liz Marek.

Start Learning Now

smiling woman holding a decorated cake in her hands

Recipe

Slice of cake with ermine frosting laying on a cake plate.

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4.87 from 348 votes

Ermine Frosting

Ermine frosting is light, creamy and made with cooked flour as a thickening agent. Often referred to as flour frosting or boiled milk frosting.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cups

Calories: 921kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Ermine Frosting Ingredients

14 ounces granulated sugar
3 ounces flour
16 ounces whole milk
16 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
2 ounces vanilla extract
¼ ounces salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Ermine Frosting Instructions

Whisk together your flour and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook for about 2 minutes to toast the flour. Be careful not to burn it!
Slowly add in your milk, whisk to combine, and bring your heat to medium-high. Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisk continuously until it is thick and pudding-like. Once it's simmering, cook for one minute more.
(Optional) If your mixture has any lumps, place a colander on top of a heat-proof bowl and push your mixture through and into the bowl.
Transfer the mixture into a heat-proof bowl. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap so that it is touching the surface without any air bubbles in between, this will prevent a skin from forming on the top of the mixture. Let cool in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.
You can also transfer the mixture to a sheet pan, spread it out, cover it with plastic, and put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes to cool faster.
Make sure the mixture is completely cool or it will melt your butter.
Add your softened butter to the bowl of your stand mixer and whisk on high until very light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Once the butter is fluffy, place the cooled flour mixture into a piping bag and slowly pipe it into your butter as your whip. Incorporating slowly ensures a smooth buttercream.
Add in your vanilla and salt, then mix until everything is creamy. Use it to frost your cooled cake. This buttercream will set quickly, so it's best used immediately.

Video

Notes

Toast the flour and sugar dry in the pan for 2 minutes before adding the milk. This removes the raw flour taste from the finished frosting.
Whisk the milk in slowly and stir constantly to prevent lumps. If lumps form, strain the roux through a fine mesh sieve before chilling.
Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the roux before refrigerating. This prevents a skin from forming on top.
The roux must be completely cold before adding it to the butter. Even slightly warm will melt the butter and break the frosting.
Make sure your butter is fully softened to room temperature before whipping. Cold butter will not whip up light and fluffy.
Add the roux to the butter slowly using a piping bag with the mixer running. Adding it all at once can cause the frosting to curdle.
Use ermine frosting immediately after making it. It sets as it sits and loses its light, creamy texture within a few hours.
Do not use ermine frosting under fondant. It is too soft to support the weight and will compress and bulge.
To make chocolate ermine frosting, whip in ¼ cup of sifted cocoa powder at the end.
The roux can be made up to one week ahead and stored refrigerated. Whip fresh into butter the day you need it.

Nutrition

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April 15, 2019 Course Preview

Splatter Portrait Cake Tutorial

Skill level: Intermediate

The theme of this birthday party was "Little Artists" for Arya, who is turning 4. We discussed a few options and settled on a 4-sided cake with a portrait of Arya at 1, 2, 3 and 4 years of age.

It was such a fun project and turned out so well, I'm very excited to share this technique with you. I think this technique can be applied in a number of ways and I look forward to seeing how you will apply this cool look.

47:51 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to make an enormous square double-barrel buttercream cake
How to get super sharp buttercream edges
Learn how to use Photoshop to make your own portrait templates
How to make a realistic edible portrait on a cake with cool splatter effects

Tutorial Chapters

Making giant double-barrel cake 1:08
Getting super sharp corners 7:46
Stacking the cake 9:00
Finishing top tier 18:38
Making the portrait templates 23:10
Preparing the portrait templates 28:20
Paneling the cake 29:17
Prepping splatter colors 34:23
Making the portraits 38:13
Finishing touches 45:25

April 15, 2019 Paid Video

Splatter Portrait Cake

Skill level: Intermediate

The theme of this birthday party was "Little Artists" for Arya, who is turning 4. We discussed a few options and settled on a 4-sided cake with a portrait of Arya at 1, 2, 3 and 4 years of age.

47:51 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to make an enormous square double-barrel buttercream cake
How to get super sharp buttercream edges
Learn how to use Photoshop to make your own portrait templates
How to make a realistic edible portrait on a cake with cool splatter effects

Tutorial Chapters

April 15, 2019 Blog

Banana Split Drip Cake

A banana split cake made from decadent strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate cake and topped with chocolate drip and cherries!

I am in love with this banana split cake! It's so festive! Totally takes me back to those yummy banana splits I had when I was a kid with heaps of creamy ice cream and of course toppings like maraschino cherries, sprinkles, and nuts!.

Whenever I have leftover cake batter, I always bake it up in a 6" round and freeze it. When I was still making cakes for clients I would use these cakes for the cake tastings.

Now that it's up to me to eat all that leftover cake, I decided to take some of my leftover chocolate cake, strawberry cake, and banana cake and make a banana split drip cake!

If you don't have any leftover cake in your freezer then go ahead and follow the recipe below. This will make one 8" layer of each flavor of cake. The perfect amount for a fun birthday or celebration!

How to make a banana split cake

After you bake up your layers, let them cool fully. I put mine in the freezer (unwrapped) for about an hour to speed up the process.

Level off your cakes by cutting off the domes and trim off the brown from the bottom and sides (optional).

I decided to fill my cakes with my fresh strawberry buttercream because it's more stable for traveling but you can definitely use stabilized whipped cream with fresh strawberries layered on top. Whipped cream is softer but tastes more like a traditional banana split cake.

I finished my cake with a smooth layer of easy buttercream on the outside of the cake and then popped it back into the freezer to chill for 15 minutes while I made my chocolate drip.

If you need more detailed info on how to make a cake then you can watch my free tutorial for beginners.

I added some rainbow sprinkles to the base of the cake too, which really gives it the festive banana split look!

How to make a chocolate drip

To make the chocolate drip, I decided to go with a ganache drip but you can also make a water ganache drip if you prefer.

To make the drip I combined heated 4 oz of cream on the stove in a small pan just until it started to steam. Do not let the cream boil or it will cause your ganache to be grainy.

I poured this cream over 6 oz of finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate. Press down the chocolate so that it's fully submerged in the cream. Let sit for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes you can whisk the chocolate until it's smooth. Sometimes you see some small lumps of unmelted chocolate. You can get rid of them with an immersion blender or pop everything into the microwave for 30 seconds to melt further.

If your ganache is too thin, you can add in another ounce of melted chocolate to the mixture. If your ganache is too thick, add in another ounce of hot cream (can be warmed in the microwave).

The chocolate you use will GREATLY affect the consistency of the ganache but no matter what, you can always fix your ganache.

Once your ganache has cooled a bit, I pour mine into a piping bag so I can have more control of the drip. You can use a squeeze bottle too but a spoon will make your drips too globby and messy.

finish the drip by filling in the center with the excess ganache and smooth out any gaps.

Finishing the banana split cake

Next, I added some chopped peanuts to the top of my cake. Traditionally, a banana split also has crushed pineapple and strawberries on top. I thought that would look too messy so I left it off.

I used a 1M piping tip to make some swirls of buttercream on the top of my cake which looked SUPER cute when I added the maraschino cherries. You better believe I emptied my whole jar searching for the perfect cherries with intact stems.

You could definitely use fresh cherries too. They just don't have that classic bright red look that you usually see on a banana split.

Add a few more rainbow sprinkles and the banana split drip cake is complete! I LOVED how this cake looked! The best part? My husband said this was one of the most delicious cakes he has had! He loved how all the flavors worked together.

He is my biggest flavor critic so if he says it's good, it's really good!

Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator

Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.

Choose a pan type

Choose a cake pan size
(based on 2" tall cake pan)

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Cups of Batter Needed

8 cups

Cups of Frosting Needed

5 cups

Recipe

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4.75 from 8 votes

Banana Split Cake Recipe

How to make a banana split cake with yummy banana, strawberry and vanilla cake layers. Filled with strawberry buttercream and topped with a decadent chocolate drip, sprinkles, nuts and maraschino cherries! The perfect celebration cake! (Makes one 8"x2" cake per flavor)

Prep Time35

Cook Time35

Total Time10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 496kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Banana Cake Ingredients

6 oz cake flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs room temperature
4 oz sugar
1 oz brown sugar
4 oz very ripe banana puree (about 2 bananas)
2 oz vegetable oil
1 oz buttermilk room temperature
4 oz softened butter

Vanilla Cake Recipe

6 oz cake flour
6 oz granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt
4 oz unsalted butter room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs room temperature
5 oz milk room temperature
1 oz vegetable oil

Chocolate Cake Ingredients

1.5 oz dutched cocoa powder
4 oz boiling water
2 large eggs room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oz mayonaise
7 oz cake flour
6 oz granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 oz unsalted butter room temperature

Chocolate Drip

4 oz hot cream
7 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate

Buttercream

8 oz pasteurized egg whites
16 oz unsalted butter softened
16 oz powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
¼ cup strawberry puree For filling

Instructions

Banana Cake Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF and prepare one 8" cake pans with cake goop or other cake release. Make sure all cold ingredients are room temp or slightly warmed.
Combine together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
Combine together buttermilk, banana, oil and vanilla. Whisk and set aside.
Place softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream until smooth. Sprinkle in brown and white sugar and whip on medium until light and fluffy.
Add in your eggs one at a time, waiting for them to be combined before adding the next.
Add in ⅓ of your flour mixture and then ⅓ of your liquid. Alternate two more times and mix until just combined.
Pour into your prepared cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out cleanly. Let cool fully before frosting.

Vanilla Cake Instructions

NOTE: It is SUPER IMPORTANT that all the room temperature ingredients listed above are room temperature and not cold or hot.
Place 2oz of the milk and oil in a separate bowl or cup and set aside
Combine remaining milk, vanilla and room temp eggs in a separate measuring cup and set aside
Measure out dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and place them into the stand mixer bowl.
Attach the paddle to the mixer, and turn on the slowest speed (setting 1 on Kitchen Aid mixers). Slowly add chunks of your softened butter until it is all added. Let mix until batter resembles coarse sand.
Add milk/oil mixture into the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed (speed 4 on my KitchenAid) and mix for 2 full minutes. Do not skip this step or your cake will not rise.
Add in ⅓ of your milk/egg mixture. Repeat 2 more times until batter is just combined. Don't forget to scrape your bowl.
I always start by baking for 30 minutes for 8" then checking for doneness. If the cakes are still really jiggly, I add another 5 minutes. I check every 3 minutes after that until I'm close and then it's every 2 minutes. Cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.
Remove the cake pan from the oven and "tap" it lightly on the counter once to remove air from the cake and keep it from shrinking un-evenly.
Place cakes on a cooling rack and press down the dome immediately with an oven mitt covered hand. After cakes have cooled for 10 minutes or the pans are cool enough to touch, flip the cakes over and remove from the pans onto the cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.
Once the cakes are chilled in the refrigerator (about an hour for this size, longer for larger cakes), tort, fill and crumb coat all at once. If you do not plan on crumb coating the same day, you can leave the wrapped cakes on the countertop. Chilling can dry out your cakes before they are iced, so avoid keeping them in the refrigerator longer than necessary. Cakes can be frozen in freezer bags for later use as well.

Chocolate Cake Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF and prepare two 8" cake pans with cake goop or other cake release. Make sure all cold ingredients are room temp or slightly warmed.
Bring the water to a boil. Add in cocoa powder.
Whisk until smooth then add in cold mayonnaise, vanilla and eggs. Whisk to break up the eggs.
Weigh out all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt) and place into a stand mixer bowl and attach the paddle attachment.
Turn mixer on low (setting 1 on Kitchen Aid mixers). Add in your room temperature butter in small chunks. Combine on low until you achieve a sandy mixture.
Add ½ of your liquid ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix on medium for 2 minutes. If you do not do this step, your cake could collapse.
Turn your mixer back down to low and add in the rest of your liquids slowly. Stop once or twice to scrape the bowl as needed.
Once they are all combined, turn back up to medium for another 30 seconds.
Lightly grease one 8" round cake pans prepared with your choice of pan release. I prefer cake goop.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350ºF depending on how big your pans are. The bigger the pan, the longer it will take for them to bake.
When a toothpick comes out of the center with a few sticky crumbs on it, the cake is done.
After the cakes have cooled for about 10 minutes, or the pans have cooled to the point they can be touched, flip the cakes over and remove from the pans onto a cooling rack to cool completely. I cover mine in plastic wrap to keep them from drying out why they cool.
Once the cakes are completely cool you can trim them and frost them.

Chocolate drip

Chop chocolate finely and place in heat proof bowl.
Heat cream until just starting to steam, do not boil.
Pour hot cream over chocolate and let set 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth

Buttercream Instructions

Combine egg whites and powdered sugar in the stand of your mixer with whisk attachment. Mix on low to combine then bump up to high for 5 minutes.
Add in your softened butter in small chunks.
Add in vanilla and salt.
Whip on high until white, fluffy and creamy.
Switch to paddle attachment and mix on low for 15 minutes to remove air bubbles.
Add ¼ cup strawberry puree to 1 cup buttercream and mix together until combined to use as your cake filling
Save the rest of the buttercream for frosting the cake

Video

Nutrition

April 1, 2019 Free Video

Lollipop Cake Tutorial

A lollipop recipe perfect for making custom lollipop cakes

This lollipop recipe is easy to make and perfectly customizable. Change up the colors, flavorings and decoration to suit your theme. I love making this lollipop recipe because it makes a big impact and doesn't take a lot of work. Perfect for those trendy lollipop cakes!

What ingredients are in a lollipop recipe?

8 oz sugar
5 oz corn syrup
2 oz distilled or bottled water
½ teaspoon candy flavoring
food coloring (optional)

The great thing about this simple homemade lollipop recipe is that the ingredients are easy to come by. Anyone can make them. You probably have these ingredients in your house already if you do any amount of baking. All you need is granulated sugar (not powdered), corn syrup, distilled (or bottled) water, candy flavoring and food coloring if desired. I also added some sprinkles to my lollipops for decoration.

Candy flavoring might be the odd ingredient in there but it's easy to find. You can get candy flavoring at stores like Michaels or Jo-Anns craft stores or in your local cake decorating supply store. Candy flavoring is specially formulated to withstand the high temperatures of hot sugar without losing it's flavor. You can't use juice or extracts in place of candy flavoring and get the same results, unfortunately.

What equipment and tools do you need to make a lollipop recipe?

To cook sugar you're going to need some equipment to make your life easier. I don't use any lollipop molds for this lollipop recipe but you can definitely use molds if you need a specific shape or size. Just make sure you are using molds made for hard candy, otherwise, they could melt from the hot sugar.

Stainless steel pot with a heavy bottom to evenly distribute heat
Candy thermometer
Lollipop sticks
Silicone mat
Culinary torch
Silicone gloves for protecting your hands

How do you make homemade lollipops?

Making the lollipop recipe is actually pretty simple when it comes down to it. Combine your sugar, corn syrup and water in your saucepan and bring it to a boil. Reduce to medium heat to a steady simmer. No need to stir. Cover your mixture with the lid for 5 minutes. This causes condensation to form on the lid which will drip down the sides of the pan and wash away and stray crystals of sugar which can cause crystallization if not melted.

Alternatively, you can also use a clean pastry brush and fresh water to brush around the sides of the saucepan to wash down the sugar crystals. Just make sure it's a new pastry brush and doesn't have any grease or food debris in the brush that might ruin your candy.

Once the mixture is bubbling away, insert your candy thermometer and remove the lid. This is the part where we have to wait for the water to evaporate out of the mixture. That might take a few minutes. You will notice that your temperature will stay around 225ºF for a while until all the steam disappears. Do not stir the mixture at all.

Watch your candy thermometer carefully, as soon as all the steam disappears and your water is gone, the temperature will rise quickly and you don't want to burn it. Let your mixture bubble until it reaches 300ºF which is called the hard crack stage.

Once you reach the hard crack stage, remove the mixture from the heat. Stir in your flavors and colors now if you prefer. Now you can pour your candy into your molds or onto your silicone mat to make your lollipops.

How to make lollipops without a mold

To make your homemade lollipops, wait for your mixture to cool down a bit so it gets a little thicker. If you pour 300ºF sugar onto your mat it's going to run all over the place.

You can also pour your candy into a smaller silicone measuring cup to have more control over the shape of your lollipop. If you need a lollipop template you can print out my lollipop template to place under the silicone. Make sure you wear some protective silicone gloves to prevent sugar burns.

Do a little test pour if you need to to make sure that the sugar is keeping it's shape. Make sure your surface is level or you're going to have a hard time getting round lollipops without a mold.

Place your silicone mat over the template and pour your sugar until it's slightly smaller than the circle. Place one of your lollipop sticks in the bottom ⅓ of the hot sugar then turn it over so that the stick is totally covered (see video).

If you're adding sprinkles, you can put a few on top now. For the gold leaf lollipops, I placed the leaf on the lollipop right after pouring.

To make my marbled lollipops, I colored my candy with a drop of white food coloring and another bit with a drop of black food coloring. Swirl together and pour. If you want your lollipops clear, only add food coloring. If you want them to be opaque, add a drop of white food coloring along with your color.

Let your lollipops cool for 10-15 minutes before lifting them off the silicone mat.

Once your pops are cool you can lightly torch the back side to make them crystal clear (optional).

How long do homemade lollipops last?

Lollipops don't really have an expiration date since they are made of sugar and sugar is naturally self-preserving. Don't tell me you've never eaten year old Halloween candy. I know I have.

I did a little test and left my lollipops at room temperature for a few weeks just to see what would happen. It's February so we got all kinds of weather. Snow, sun, rain, hail. The only thing that happened was they got a little sticky. They probably wouldn't have gotten sticky if I kept them covered but I wanted to know if the air would affect them. If you're in a very humid area you should def keep them covered or individually wrapped with cellophane to keep the lollipops from turning into a sticky mess.

What can you do with leftovers?

You can pour leftover lollipop sugar onto a silicone mat and let it cool completely. Crush it into pieces an store in a plastic ziplock bag. Then you can re-melt it whenever you need some hard candy. No need to bring it back up to 300ºF, just melt in the microwave in a heat proof container.

Can you make this lollipop recipe without corn syrup?

This lollipop recipe contains corn syrup because corn syrup prevents crystallization. In some places of the world, it can be hard to get corn syrup. No worries, you can still make homemade lollipops without the use of corn syrup.

Simply leave out the corn syrup from this recipe but be very careful to wash down the sides of your pan to prevent sugar crystals from growing. If your sugar does crystallize, there isn't a way to save it.

How do you make a lollipop cake?

You may have seen some trendy lollipop cakes on Instagram lately and wondered how they make them! I decided to make one of my own with my lollipop recipe and I love how it turned out! I made three different types of lollipops. Clear with gold leaf, clear with gold dragees and white marble. I made three of each kind and arranged them on top of my cake.

I decorated my marbled fondant cake with some gold leaf to match the lollipops and love how it turned out. The key is to arrange the lollipops and varying height and mix and match them so they look balanced.

Want to learn how to make your own lollipop cake? Watch this video on how I created some beautiful gold and marble lollipops and used them to decorate my marble cake to create a trendy lollipop cake design!

For a sugar-free lollipop option, use Simi-Cakes ready to melt isomalt.

Recipe

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4.95 from 17 votes

lollipop recipe

Homemade lollipops are fun and easy to make. The flavors and colors can be easily customized. The perfect homemade treat!

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

cooling15

Total Time35

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 159kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Lollipop Recipe

8 oz granulated sugar
5 oz corn syrup
2 oz distilled water (or bottled)
½ teaspoon candy flavoring
food coloring (optional)

Instructions

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a heavy-bottomed, stainless steel pot over med-high heat. Bring to a boil
Cover the mixture with the lid and let condensation build for 5 minutes (this helps to wash the sugar off the sides of the pan). Remove lid and reduce heat to medium.
Insert candy thermometer and let mixture cook (do not stir) until it reaches 300ºF.
Remove mixture from heat and stir in flavoring and colors
Let mixture cool a bit until it's thick enough to hold it's shape when poured and then pour into circles on your silicone mat (or into your candy molds). Insert your lollipop sticks and let cool completely before removing them from the mat.
Torch the back sides of the lollipops (optional) to make them super clear. Store in air-tight containers at room temperature or wrap individually to prevent them from getting sticky.

Video

Nutrition

April 1, 2019 Course Preview

Paint Palette Cookies Tutorial

Skill level: Intermediate

Edible art taken to a whole other level! This sugar cookie tutorials teaches you how to make paint palette cookies that you can actually paint with.

How to cut out your cookies, do royal icing transfers, trace images using your phone and how to make food coloring paint!

A super fun tutorial that's great for an art party theme!

26:43 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how create cookies that can be painted on with food color paint palettes
How to create royal icing transfers for delicate details
Learn how to trace designs onto cookies for consistent results

Tutorial Chapters

April 1, 2019 Paid Video

Paint Palette Cookies

Skill level: Intermediate

Edible art taken to a whole other level! This sugar cookie tutorials teaches you how to make paint palette cookies that you can actually paint with.

How to cut out your cookies, do royal icing transfers, trace images using your phone and how to make food coloring paint!

A super fun tutorial that's great for an art party theme!

26:43 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how create cookies that can be painted on with food color paint palettes
How to create royal icing transfers for delicate details
Learn how to trace designs onto cookies for consistent results

Tutorial Chapters

March 25, 2019 Blog

Banana Cake

This banana cake is insanely moist, flavorful and delicious!

My mouth is watering thinking about this banana cake again. The first time I tasted it, I actually gasped it was so good! I actually only had to test this recipe twice before I was super happy with the recipe.

Top this amazing banana cake with my cream cheese frosting and I swear you will be eating slices all week like like I was.

I stored the leftover cake in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. I would cut a slice and let it warm for about 30 minutes before eating and omg, so good! It's not often you find a cake recipe that is just as good the next day as it was fresh.

Can you make this banana cake recipe into cupcakes?

This banana cake can also be made into cupcakes very easily. The batter is pretty loose so I just poured it into my grease-proof cupcake liners to about ¾ full. They baked up in about 20 minutes and where delicious!

How to choose the right bananas for banana cake

I don't know about you but we always have bananas in our house. Between my pregnancy nausea and my four-year-old, quick snacks are a must. But we never seem to eat ALL of the bananas. There is always one or two left in the bunch that gets too ripe.

Rather than toss them, I let them continue to ripen. Until they almost start to turn black. Brown spots on bananas equal a sweeter flavor. Do not be tempted to use new bananas or you'll be sorely disappointed in the flavor.

Then I put them in the freezer. Yea you heard me, the freezer.

Freezing super ripe bananas actually brings out the sugar in the banana and makes them more flavorful. Plus it's a great way to store those extra ripe bananas until you need them.

Preparing your banana cake ingredients

This recipe takes three bananas but if your bananas are really small, you might need four. Thaw your bananas in a bowl before you need them. They will drain a sugary liquid, don't worry, this is normal. I just drained off any extra liquid and tossed it. Then just mash it all together with a fork or in your blender to get it smooth.

I often talk about ingredients needing to be at the same temperature for successfully baking from scratch. In this recipe you definitely want to make sure the bananas and eggs are room temp, the buttermilk is slightly warm and the butter is softened.

You can warm eggs by placing them in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes before cracking. Buttermilk and butter can be warmed in the microwave.

If you don't have buttermilk you can replace the buttermilk with regular buttermilk plus 1 teaspoon of white vinegar. Let it sit for about 10 minutes then it will be ready to use.

This banana cake recipe combines white sugar and brown sugar. The brown sugar adds some amazing flavor to the banana cake! Just make sure you sift the brown sugar because it tends to get some hard lumps in it and no one likes lumps in their cake.

The first time I made this cake I didn't add any spices and it definitely lacked that punch I was looking for. The second time around I added in some cinnamon and it definitely adds some much-needed flavor.

How to make the best banana cake

Preheat your oven to 35oºF and prepare two 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or another pan release.
Combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and set aside.

Combine your banana puree, oil, vanilla and buttermilk in a separate bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add your softened butter (not melted like mine was but if it is, it will be ok, mine was). Cream until smooth then sprinkle in your brown and white sugar. Mix on medium until lightened and fluffy.
Add in your eggs one at a time, letting them combine before adding the next.
Add in ⅓ of your dry ingredients while mixing on low. Then ⅓ of your liquid. Continue alternating dry/liquid two more times until just combined. Do not over-mix.

Pour the batter into your prepared cake pans and bake 35-40 minutes until the center of the cake is baked and a toothpick comes out clean.

Making the cream cheese frosting

This cream cheese frosting is soooo delicious with this banana cake. The frosting is firm enough to frost the cake and do some basic piping but still super soft and creamy. If you prefer a more stable cream cheese frosting you can add extra powdered sugar or try my crusting cream cheese frosting recipe.

Cream your softened butter in the bowl of the stand mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth. Then add in your softened cream cheese and blend together until combined. Add in your powdered sugar one cup at a time. Lastly, add in the extract and salt. Don't over-mix or your frosting could separate.

Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is combined well.

How to caramelize bananas

Ok this part is TOTALLY unnecessary but I have always wanted to try to make caramelized bananas lol. I sliced up a fresh banana about ¼" thick and lightly coated them in white sugar.

I heated my pan to med/high and sauteed my bananas until they started to turn brown. Then gave them a flip. They were very sticky and hard to flip, probably because I had no idea what I was doing. I let the bananas cool on a silicone mat.

The caramelized bananas tasted great on the cake though!

How to make your banana cake

Once your cakes are baked, let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes then flip them out onto the cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. I keep mine covered with a tea towel to keep them from drying out.

This banana cake is actually really easy to hand and pick up but feels soft. Don't be worried.

I like a good amount of cream cheese frosting on my cake so I decided to tort my cakes (slice in half lengthwise). Slather on a good portion of cream cheese frosting between each layer. I decided to keep the outside of my banana cake frosted very roughly.

I used a star tip to pipe on some simple dollops on top of the cake and placed my sad caramelized bananas in the middle. Sure does look pretty!!

That first bite was OMG good. I couldn't believe how tasty it was! So super moist, tons of banana flavor and that cream cheese frosting just brought it all together.

Watch my full video on making the most amazing banana cake ever!

Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator

Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.

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(based on 2" tall cake pan)

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Cups of Batter Needed

8 cups

Cups of Frosting Needed

5 cups

Recipe

Print Recipe

4.97 from 30 votes

Banana Cake

The most amazing banana cake recipe with tangy cream cheese frosting. The secret is frozen bananas! Makes two 8"x2" cake rounds or three 6"x2" rounds.

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

Total Time10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 390kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Banana Cake Ingredients

11 oz cake flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs room temperature
8 oz sugar
3 oz brown sugar
9 oz very ripe banana puree (about 3 bananas)
4 oz vegetable oil
3 oz buttermilk room temperature
8 oz softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

16 oz softened cream cheese
8 oz softened butter unsalted
1 teaspoon orange extract or vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
36 oz sifted powdered sugar 8 cups

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Banana Cake Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF and prepare two 8" cake pans with cake goop or other cake release.
Combine together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
Combine together buttermilk, thawed banana (drain off the excess liquid), oil and vanilla. Whisk and set aside.
Place softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream until smooth. Sprinkle in brown and white sugar and whip on medium until light and fluffy.
Add in your eggs one at a time, waiting for them to be combined before adding the next.
Add in ⅓ of your flour mixture and then ⅓ of your liquid. Alternate two more times and mix until just combined.
Pour into your prepared cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out cleanly. Let cool fully before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting Instructions

Place softened butter in the bowl of your stand mixer with paddle attachment and cream on low until smooth
Place softened cream cheese in the bowl with butter in small chunks and cream on low until smooth and combined
Add in sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time until combined
Add your orange extract and salt. Combine until smooth and creamy.

Nutrition

March 25, 2019 Blog

Spring Meringue And Lollipop Cake

This spring pop cake is so fun! Made with meringue pops and homemade lollipops, the design options are endless

I loved making this spring pop cake using my meringue cookie recipe and my homemade lollipop recipe. This design is trending on Instagram but I had no idea what to call it! I was totally inspired by the work of Instagram.com/annabel_bakery for this cake design.

What do you need to meringue pops?

To make your rose meringue pops you'll need to whip up a batch of my meringue cookie recipe.

I used electric pink and avocado green food coloring to color my meringue pop roses.
Lollipop sticks
Ateco 852 star tip (or whatever star tip you have)
Parchment paper
Large leaf piping tip
Piping bags
Sheet pan

Place your lollipop sticks on the parchment paper and pipe your rosettes over the top of the sticks. Add a couple of leaves to the outside. Pipe the extra meringue into small rosettes in between the lollipops.

Bake your meringue pops at 225ºF for 90 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR. Just turn off the oven and leave them in the oven until the oven is completely cool. I just leave mine in the oven to cool overnight. Be careful not to turn the oven on the next day and burn them!

What do you need to make lollipops?

To make the lollipops, start with my homemade lollipop recipe.

Silicone baking mat
Lollipop sticks
Pearl dragees
Non-peril sprinkles
Kitchen torch
nitrile gloves

Pour your prepared lollipop mixture into 3" circles on top of your silicone baking mat and add your lollipop sticks. Then add your sprinkles. Let cool completely before removing from the silicone.

Torch the back sides of the lollipops to make them crystal clear before adding them to your cake.

How to make the cake

To make the cake, start with a frosted and chilled 6" cake. If you need more info on how to make a cake, check out my how to make a cake tutorial.

Combine ½ cup of easy buttercream with about 3 Tablespoons of strawberry puree. Mix the two together but not all the way.

Spread the puree on the top ¼ of the cake roughly. Then use your spatula to swipe in a downward motion to drag the buttercream in a painterly effect.

How to decorate your spring pop cake

Now the fun part! Adding the meringue pops and lollipops! I started with the meringue pops and alternated with the lollipops. Add the leftover meringue pops on the cake to fill out the empty space.

That's it! I love how this fun and festive cake turned out. I think it's the perfect cake to make for spring!

March 15, 2019 Course Preview

Horse & Rider Cake Topper Tutorial

Skill level: Intermediate

Everything you need to know about making cake toppers!

From advanced armatures and modeling chocolate, measuring scale and creating a realistic figure. This tutorials covers all the basics with tons of tips and tricks.

1:44:01 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Liz Marek addresses common problems when working with armature wire
How to use a face mold to quickly get a basic face shape and then customize it to sculpt unique features
Liz Marek offers tips and tricks to help with blending modeling chocolate seams
Learn how to make fondant clothing for the rider figure
How to create a velvet grass texture for the green hill cake

Tutorial Chapters

Scale & horse measurements 1:31
Building the armature 5:34
Bulking up structure 13:49
Coloring modeling chocolate 17:11
Girl topper measurements 19:28
Coloring girl fondant 22:25
Making the girl's face 23:51
Roughing out the horse body 34:27
Making horse back legs 36:52
Horse's front legs 41:52
Horse neck & head 44:59
Making the hill cake 53:45
Checking horse head measurements 58:05
Horse head details 1:03:47
Painting the horse 1:07:45
Painting the girl's face 1:11:32
Making horse's mane 1:15:46
Making girl legs 1:18:49
Placing girl on horse 1:21:47
Adding the shirt 1:24:50
Making the arms 1:27:09
Adding girl's hair 1:31:42
Covering the cake 1:34:57
Velvet texture grass 1:37:16
Placing topper 1:42:11

March 15, 2019 Paid Video

Horse & Rider Cake Topper

Skill level: Intermediate

Everything you need to know about making cake toppers!

From advanced armatures and modeling chocolate, measuring scale and creating a realistic figure. This tutorials covers all the basics with tons of tips and tricks.

1:44:01 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Liz Marek addresses common problems when working with armature wire
How to use a face mold to quickly get a basic face shape and then customize it to sculpt unique features
Liz Marek offers tips and tricks to help with blending modeling chocolate seams
Learn how to make fondant clothing for the rider figure
How to create a velvet grass texture for the green hill cake

Tutorial Chapters

March 11, 2019 Blog

lollipop recipe

A lollipop recipe perfect for making custom lollipop cakes

What ingredients are in a lollipop recipe?

8 oz sugar
5 oz corn syrup
2 oz distilled or bottled water
½ teaspoon candy flavoring
food coloring (optional)

Lorann oils candy oils for flavoring homemade lollipop recipe

What equipment and tools do you need to make a lollipop recipe?

Stainless steel pot with a heavy bottom to evenly distribute heat
Candy thermometer
Lollipop sticks
Silicone mat
Culinary torch
Silicone gloves for protecting your hands

candy thermometer in pot making hard candy

How do you make homemade lollipops?

cooking sugar to make homemade lollipops

How to make lollipops without a mold

To make your homemade lollipops, wait for your mixture to cool down a bit so it gets a little thicker. If you pour 300ºF sugar onto your mat it's going to run all over the place.

Do a little test pour if you need to to make sure that the sugar is keeping it's shape. Make sure your surface is level or you're going to have a hard time getting round lollipops without a mold.

If you're adding sprinkles, you can put a few on top now. For the gold leaf lollipops, I placed the leaf on the lollipop right after pouring.

Let your lollipops cool for 10-15 minutes before lifting them off the silicone mat.

Once your pops are cool you can lightly torch the back side to make them crystal clear (optional).

How long do homemade lollipops last?

Lollipops don't really have an expiration date since they are made of sugar and sugar is naturally self-preserving. Don't tell me you've never eaten year old Halloween candy. I know I have.

What can you do with leftovers?

Can you make this lollipop recipe without corn syrup?

How do you make a lollipop cake?

For a sugar-free lollipop option, use Simi-Cakes ready to melt isomalt.

Another showstopping homemade candy to try is kohakutou, a Japanese crystal gummy candy that looks like colorful gemstones.

Recipe

Print Recipe

4.95 from 17 votes

lollipop recipe

Homemade lollipops are fun and easy to make. The flavors and colors can be easily customized. The perfect homemade treat!

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

cooling15

Total Time35

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 159kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Lollipop Recipe

8 oz granulated sugar
5 oz corn syrup
2 oz distilled water (or bottled)
½ teaspoon candy flavoring
food coloring (optional)

Instructions

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a heavy-bottomed, stainless steel pot over med-high heat. Bring to a boil
Cover the mixture with the lid and let condensation build for 5 minutes (this helps to wash the sugar off the sides of the pan). Remove lid and reduce heat to medium.
Insert candy thermometer and let mixture cook (do not stir) until it reaches 300ºF.
Remove mixture from heat and stir in flavoring and colors
Let mixture cool a bit until it's thick enough to hold it's shape when poured and then pour into circles on your silicone mat (or into your candy molds). Insert your lollipop sticks and let cool completely before removing them from the mat.
Torch the back sides of the lollipops (optional) to make them super clear. Store in air-tight containers at room temperature or wrap individually to prevent them from getting sticky.

Video

Nutrition

how to make homemade lollipop recipe that tastes amazing! Flavors and colors are easily customized and it's perfect for making those trendy lollipop cakes!

March 5, 2019 Cake

Pot Of Gold Cake

I love this pot of gold cake with its beautiful rainbow drip made from water ganache! The cake is a yummy green velvet cake and filled with a beautiful rainbow buttercream. Topped with a giant pot of gold cake pop, this St. Patrick's day cake is the cutest!

My Saint Patrick's Day cake from last year was so fun to make, I decided to make another this year with my daughter Avalon's help. Ok so she basically took over. I'm fine with it. I'd rather be behind the camera anyway lol.

For the pot of gold cake, we're using the same delicious green velvet cake recipe for the base but you could use any flavor of cake like my Guinness cake. The recipe is actually the same as my red velvet cake but I switched out the red for green. You can do this with pretty much any of the darker colors like blue or purple and get some really nice colors and great flavor.

How to make the rainbow cake

Ok let's get to the cake making part. I made a batch of my green velvet cake and baked in three 6" round cake pans. Let them cool fully before frosting. I popped mine into the freezer for about an hour to get them cooling even faster.

Then I whipped up some of my easy buttercream. I reserved about three cups for frosting my cake. The rest I divided into 5 bowls and colored. Red, orange, yellow, lime green, light blue and purple/pink. I placed this buttercream into five bags and snipped off the tip.

Trim the dome off your cooled cakes (don't throw away the cake scraps, we'll use those later). Place your cakes onto a cake cardboard to start frosting and filling.

I started filling my cake layers with the rainbow buttercream. Starting with the blue in the center, then working my way to red, going in the order of blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, then starting over with the blue again until you reach the edge of the cake. The buttercream should be about ¼" thick so you have a nice rainbow showing through when you slice the cake.

Now just crumb coat your cake, chill until firm and frost with your final layer of buttercream. I use a bench scraper to get nice straight sides. Check out my free tutorial on how to make your first cake if you want more info on frosting and filling a cake with straight edges.

How to make the rainbow drip cake

Ok time to make some water ganache! I actually only made 3oz of each color because you won't need very much to make the rainbow drip. I decided to go with pre-colored wilton candy melts so that I didn't have to color a bunch of chocolate. But if you only have white chocolate, you can just add regular food coloring to the water ganache after you make it.

I made red, orange, yellow, lime green, light blue and purple water ganache. Divide the colors into small piping bags and snip off the tip. Don't snip off too much or it will all leak out.

Pipe your water ganache into a triangle on the top of the cake, letting the color drip over the edge a little. Continue on with the next color in the rainbow until you have made your way all the way around the cake. It should set up within a few minutes.

How to make a pot of gold cake pop

Take your cake scraps and add a scoop of buttercream. Smoosh the cake and buttercream together to make a cake pop dough. Roll the dough into a ball about 3" wide. Place a cake pop stick dipped in some melted chocolate into the center of the cake pop and freeze 10 minutes.

Once your giant cake pop is chilled, you can dip the whole thing into a bowl of melted chocolate. Place the cake pop onto some parchment until the chocolate is set. The flat top becomes the top of the pot of gold. Cool huh!

Carefully lift your cake pop off the parchment paper and pipe on some yellow buttercream. Dip the buttercream in your gold confetti sprinkles for the coins.

Finishing the pot of gold cake

Pipe a nice big fluffy cloud of buttercream on top of the rainbow drip cake. Place the pot of gold cake topper right on top of the buttercream. I finished the bottom edge of the cake with some buttercream as well to hide the rough edge.

I was super proud of how much of this cake Avalon was actually able to do. I had to help her with the frosting (because I'm a control freak) and doing the rainbow drip but she was able to do pretty much everything else.

A super fun cake to do with your kids or to take to a Saint Patrick's day party! Check out this super fun video of Avalon taking over and making this rainbow drip cake for Saint Patrick's Day.

March 1, 2019 Course Preview

Cocoa Butter Cactus Cake Tutorial

Skill level: Intermediate

This week's tutorial is all about cocoa butter! If you've ever wondered how to use this amazing product, look no further than this online course. We cover how to paint with cocoa butter, how to airbrush, how to create an amazing edible velvet texture, how to create a stunning wicker design, edible succulents, a super cute prickly pear cactus cake topper and more.

There's a lot to cover in this course, so let's get our tools together and let's get started!

1:03:35 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how create a southwest-inspired cactus cake
How to airbrush and handpaint with cocoa butter
Learn how to create a wicker basket design using modeling chocolate
How to create a velvet spray texture on a cake tier using cocoa butter
Learn how to create modeling chocolate succulents

Tutorial Chapters

The upside-down method 1:08
Final coat of buttercream 3:38
Coloring modeling chocolate 4:26
Covering the cakes 9:11
Making a double barrel tier 12:47
Prickly pear cactus topper 16:39
Wicker pattern 20:53
Cocoa butter painting 28:09
Cactus topper details 39:10
Adding velvet texture 42:32
Painting wicker texture 47:22
Chocolate succulents 50:37
Stacking the tiers 54:58
Adding final details 57:11

March 1, 2019 Paid Video

Cocoa Butter Cactus Cake

Skill level: Intermediate

There's a lot to cover in this course, so let's get our tools together and let's get started!

1:03:35 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how create a southwest-inspired cactus cake
How to airbrush and handpaint with cocoa butter
Learn how to create a wicker basket design using modeling chocolate
How to create a velvet spray texture on a cake tier using cocoa butter
Learn how to create modeling chocolate succulents

Tutorial Chapters

February 24, 2019 Blog

Fresh Flowers On Cake

How to put fresh flowers on cake and how to make them food safe

Putting fresh flowers on a cake is a great way to add some gorgeous decoration to your wedding cake but it's important to make sure your flowers are prepared properly. Placing fresh flowers into a cake without sealing them can cause toxic chemicals (like pesticides) to leach into the cake and potentially cause a major food hazard to your guests. Follow this simple guide on how to put fresh flowers on cake without making anyone sick.

And if you're interested in making the gorgeous marble wedding cake, be sure to check out the other tutorials in this series.

White velvet cake recipe

How to make your first cake

How to get sharp edges on your buttercream

How to make a marble wedding cake

Why do you need to make flowers food safe?

Aside from leaching toxic chemicals into your cake, some flowers are actually poisonous to humans if eaten. Some of these flowers can cause an upset stomach but some are deadly poisonous.

That doesn't mean you CAN'T use all these flowers on your cake but you should take extra precaution to make sure they are sealed, safe and clean before placing on the cake.

Here is a list of poisonous flowers, some might surprise you.

Step 1 - Where do you buy fresh flowers for your cake

I talked to my florist friend Kim who is the owner of Swoon Floral Design here in Portland and she says she get's her flowers at the flower market but you can get your flowers from a grocery store or whatever is most convenient to you. Make sure you buy more flowers than you think you need because some of the flowers might wilt and not look very nice when it's time to use them.

Choose some flowers that are large as the main attraction and then some smaller flowers and leaves to use as fillers. If you are only using large flowers it will be harder to fill in holes in certain areas.

Step 2 - How to keep fresh flowers from wilting

Usually flowers come with a packet of flower vitamins that you mix in with the water to help keep them fresh. Follow the instructions on how to mix this and then keep your flowers in water until you use them to avoid wilting.

Step 3 - Who puts the fresh flowers on cake?

Once upon a time, I delivered a rustic buttercream cake to a wedding and placed it on the cake table. The florist arrived as I was setting up and proceeded to shove fresh roses into the cake without even asking me.

Even in the early days... I was pretty sure this wasn't ok. After that day I always let the florist, bride, coordinator, everyone know ahead of time that I would place the flowers myself. A copy of the cake sketch would be forwarded to the florist as well.

I would instruct the bride to let the florist know to leave whatever flowers she had for me for the cake in a bucket of water by the cake table. If there wasn't a florist, I would let the bride know that I did not buy flowers and if she wanted flowers someone would have to buy them and place them at the table.

Step 4 - What tools and materials do I need to put fresh flowers on cake

You'll need floral tape, scissors and plastic wrap. In the past I have used straws or water picks and those work pretty good too but sometimes my stems are too thick for the straws.

Step 5 - How to make fresh flowers food safe

Making your fresh flowers food safe is pretty simple although it can be time consuming depending on how many flowers you need to put on the cake. I would typically allow myself an extra hour at set-up to place flowers.

Cut your main large flower and a few smaller flowers to accent it.

Trim some plastic wrap to about a 3"x3" square.

Take about 4" of floral tape and give it a stretch to activate the stickiness. Wrap the floral tape around the plastic wrap to secure it to the flower

Now you can insert the flower into the cake without fear of the water leaking into the cake

What are some other ways to make flowers food safe?

You can also use a product called Safety Seal which is food safe wax that when melted, you can dip the stems of flowers into the wax to seal them. This is great if you have access to a microwave when you need to put the flowers into the cake

I have also used chocolate as a seal on the back of some gerbera daisies that I used to decorate my cream tart cake.

What about edible flowers?

Ok so now that you're probably scared to even put one flower on a cake, let me put your mind at ease. Toxicity levels will vary based on the level of contact with the flowers. For example, ingesting even a small part of some flowers can cause symptoms, whereas for others you’d need to ingest a large amount to see any effect. With any exposure or symptoms, it’s advised that you contact the Poison Control Center (800-222-1222) or your doctor immediately.

Stick to eating the cake and you should be ok.

There are also quite a few flowers that are completely safe and can even be eaten. These edible flowers do not need to be sealed and can be placed directly on the cake IF they haven't been treated with any pesticides. Even edible flowers should not be eaten if they aren't organically grown.

February 19, 2019 Blog

Meringue Cookie Recipe

My meringue cookie recipe makes a delicious, crisp cookie that tastes like a toasted marshmallow.

The first time I made a meringue cookie recipe was in pastry school. I had no idea they were so easy to make. Simply combine egg whites and sugar and whip it up! This meringue cookie recipe is perfect for making meringue pops or pretty much any shape you can think of.

What is an easy meringue cookie recipe

My meringue cookie recipe is super easy. The key to a perfect meringue cookie recipe isn't in the ingredients, it's in the baking (if you can call it that), it's more like a dehydration process.

Just bring a couple of inches of water to a simmer in a pot.
Place a stainless steel mixing bowl over the simmering water.
Add in your egg whites and your sugar and whisk occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
Once the sugar is dissolved, you can begin whipping. Add in your vanilla and cream of tartar. I use my kitchenaid for this otherwise, it would take a long time to do with your hands. Let your meringue whip until it's at the stiff peak stage.
Once your meringue is ready you can add color if you like. To make the rainbow meringue kisses, I place a little dab of food coloring on the inside of my piping bag with a toothpick so it colored the meringue as I piped. I used light blue, pink and yellow.

How to bake meringue cookies

Most people do not bake their meringues for long enough which results in wrinkly or sticky meringues.

Preheat your oven to 225ºF
Pipe your meringues onto parchment. If you're making multiple sizes, put larger meringues on a separate pan.
Bake meringues 2" or smaller for 60 minutes. After the time is up, turn off the oven and leave them in the oven until it's completely cool (I let mine sit in there overnight).
For larger meringues like meringue pops, bake for 90 minutes then let cool.

How do I know if my meringue cookies are done?

Once your meringues are totally cool, they should lift right off the parchment paper. When you bite into them they should not be soft in the middle and feel very light and crisp. If you go to lift the meringue cookie off the paper and it sticks, they are not done yet.

Why are my meringue cookies sticky?

The day I made my meringue cookies, it was raining like crazy. I thought for sure they would be sticky, but they weren't. As long as your meringue cookies are baked for long enough and left in the oven to completely cool, they won't be sticky. The stickiness comes from leftover moisture in the meringue coming to the surface and making it sticky.

How long do meringue cookies last?

The great thing about meringue cookies is that you can make a whole bunch ahead of time and then save them for later. You can store meringue cookies in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Meringue cookies make great gifts because they stay fresh for so long. They do not need to be refrigerated.

How do you change the flavor of the meringue cookie?

You can change the flavor of your meringue cookie very easily! Simply replace the extract with any other type of flavoring you desire like strawberry or peppermint. I thought about flavoring this meringue cookie recipe with bubblegum flavoring since it's a unicorn theme and all but I couldn't find any locally. Next time!

How do you make a meringue pop?

You can use this same recipe to make fun meringue pops! All the rage right now in the cake world. You can color your meringue the same way. This time pipe the meringue onto one half of a cake pop stick. Apply some fun sprinkles and bake as usual. These make great treats for parties, for using on cakes or for packaging individually for sales.

For extra fun, try using a little edible glitter from never forgotten designs! I love how much it sparkles!

Recipe

Print Recipe

4.90 from 49 votes

Meringue Cookie Recipe

How to make crispy crunchy rainbow meringue cookies. So easy to color, flavor and pipe into different shapes.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 30

cooling1 30

Total Time1 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Calories: 11kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Meringue Cookie Ingredients

3 egg whites fresh
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
5 oz sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring
1 pinch salt

Instructions

Meringue cookie instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 225ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in a pot. Place a clean stainless steel mixing bowl over the water. It shouldn't touch the water.
Combine your egg whites and sugar and whisk to combine. Occasionally whisk as it's heating to distribute the heat and dissolve the sugar.
Once your egg whites are at 110ºF (or when you don't feel any grains of sugar between your fingers) you're read to whip
Place the bowl on your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on med for one minute, add in cream of tartar, salt and flavoring.
Bump up to high and let whip until you reach STIFF peaks.
Now you are ready to pipe your meringue onto the baking sheet in kisses, swirls or pops. The possibilities are endless!
Bake for 60 minutes, then turn off the oven but do not take out the cookies. Let them sit in the oven until they are completely cold. I leave mine in overnight.
Cookies can be stored in a ziplock bag unrefrigerated for up to two weeks.

Video

Nutrition

February 18, 2019 Free Video

How To Stack Your First Fondant Cake

How to cover your buttercream cakes in a gorgeous marbled fondant and stack them flawlessly

I'm obsessed with marbled fondant. If you watched last weeks video on how to get super sharp edges on your buttercream cake, you're going to love this next tutorial on how to cover your cake in a gorgeous marble fondant. This marbled fondant look was inspired by one of my favorite marble turn tables and I just love how it turned out.

How to make marbled fondant

To make the perfect marbled fondant, you start out with white fondant. I take out a couple of tablespoons of the white and color it ivory. Then I do the same with some and make some grey. Now comes the easy part. Just layer on top of each other and pull the fondant a couple of times to start mixing in the ivory and grey. But don't mix it too much. You want to keep those interesting lines and patterns.

Next I roll out the marbled fondant using some cornstarch. Make sure you keep moving the fondant around every couple of rolls so that it doesn't stick to the table. Try flipping it over and seeing which side of the fondant you like better. I roll my fondant out to about 1/16 of an inch. Thin fondant results in sharper edges on your cake, plus who likes to eat thick fondant?

How to cover your cake in marbled fondant

Now it's time to cover our cake in our marbled fondant. I roll my fondant up onto my rolling pin and unroll it onto the well-chilled buttercream cake. Use your fondant smoother to work out any air that might be trapped under the top right away. Then you can start slowly pressing the fondant against the cake to work out the ruffles. Try not to pull the fondant down, just open up the folds of fondant and press gently against the cake.

Once your cake is covered, cut off the excess around the cake about 2" away from the board. Gently flip your cake upside down and use your fondant smoothers to smooth the fondant upwards all the way around the cardboard. Use an x-acto blade to cut off the fondant around the top of the board. This makes a really seamless look to your fondant cake.

Lastly I use my fondant smoother to sharpen up the edges of the fondant. This can be a bit time consuming but I love how the super sharp edges on the fondant look.

Once you're done with your fondant, carefully turn the cake right side up and place back into the fridge to keep it chilled until you're ready to stack your cakes.

How to stack your fondant cakes

Once you have your cakes all covered in fondant, all that's left is to stack them. I like to use milkshake straws because they are strong, easy to cut and not expensive to buy. Make sure you're always cutting your straws evenly and inserting them straight up and down. Download my straw guide to understand how many straws you need to use for the best stability. After your straws are inserted you can stack your cakes.

For a two tier cake, you can definitely stack your cake at home and then deliver the cake already stacked. It will be very stable. If you have a three tier cake you might consider traveling with the top tier separately and then adding it on top when you arrive. Bring some extra buttercream to fix any gaps.

When your cakes are nicely chilled, it should be very easy to pick your cakes up. Place the first cake onto your cake board and secure with some melted chocolate to keep it from sliding around. Make sure it's centered.

Then take your second tier and place it on top, making sure it's centered. I use a small amount of buttercream to fill in the gap between the layers and my finger to smooth it out for a seamless look.

That's it! That's all there is to making a simple marble fondant cake. Make sure you watch the full video tutorial on how to cover your cakes in marbled fondant for step-by-step instructions.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them for me in the comments.

February 18, 2019 Blog

Marbled fondant tutorial

How to cover your buttercream cakes in a gorgeous marbled fondant

How to make marbled fondant

How to cover your cake in marbled fondant

Lastly I use my fondant smoother to sharpen up the edges of the fondant. This can be a bit time consuming but I love how the super sharp edges on the fondant look.

Once you're done with your fondant, carefully turn the cake right side up and place back into the fridge to keep it chilled until you're ready to stack your cakes.

How to stack your fondant cakes

That's it! That's all there is to making a simple marble fondant cake. Make sure you watch the full video tutorial on how to cover your cakes in marbled fondant for step-by-step instructions.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them for me in the comments.

February 15, 2019 Course Preview

No Prob Llama Cake Tutorial

Skill level: Intermediate

We continue our cake structure series with a cute no prob llama cake using threaded rod as the cake structure. Liz Marek breaks down how to use threaded rod, how to cut it without damaging the threads, how to measure and scale up a photo reference picture, along with all the fun details that make this llama shine!

We've got a lot of fun tips and tricks in this tutorial, including how to make edible pom poms, how to carve down cake and estimate the widths of objects if you only have 1 photo. Let's get our tools and materials together and let's get started!

1:11:59 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to scale a picture reference and plan for structure
How to make a cute cartoony llama cake using a threaded rod cake structure
Learn how to create edible pom poms, cutesy fur, a grass cake board and other fun details
Learn how to sculpt a llama face and feet out of cake and rice cereal treats

Tutorial Chapters

Materials & tools 0:10
Measuring & Scaling 4:29
Cutting threaded rod 15:23
Assembly 17:20
Carving down rice cereal 22:53
Stacking the cakes 30:57
Carving the cake 37:15
Carving the llama face 41:17
Covering with fondant 44:25
Detailing the face 46:37
Detailing the feet 50:24
Adding the fur 52:08
Making the ears 56:58
Making the necklace 59:56
Final Details 1:04:18

February 15, 2019 Paid Video

No Prob Llama Cake

Skill level: Intermediate

1:11:59 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to scale a picture reference and plan for structure
How to make a cute cartoony llama cake using a threaded rod cake structure
Learn how to create edible pom poms, cutesy fur, a grass cake board and other fun details
Learn how to sculpt a llama face and feet out of cake and rice cereal treats

Tutorial Chapters

February 4, 2019 Free Tutorials

How To Bake From Scratch

These are my top 7 tips on how to bake from scratch successfully

There seems to be a lot of confusion out there on how to bake from scratch. Some seem to think that they don't have the talent for it or that scratch recipes never work for them. I'm here to tell you that anyone can bake from scratch. If you follow my 7 simple tips on how to bake from scratch, you too can have a baking win!

Nothing compares to a vanilla cake or chocolate cake baked from scratch. I love to bake from scratch but even with all my experience in baking, I can easily have a fail if I don't prepare properly.

I recently got a copy of Baking Basics from one of my favorite authors Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of the Baking Bible. One of my most trusted sources of cake recipes. I wanted to try out her brownie recipe and thought this would be a great time to share my process for testing out new recipes.

How to bake from scratch tip #1 - Get your recipes from a trusted source

I know it's tempting to just go to pinterest when you want to try a new recipe but literally ANYONE can write a recipe and say it's the best. You never know if this person can really bake or not or what their idea of "best" is.

I once tried a banana cream pie recipe that was ranked #2 on google. I thought wow, it's ranked so high, it MUST be good. The photo looked amazing, the reviews seemed like it would be good.

Well... it might be considered tasty to others but for me, it just gave me a stomach ache. WAY WAY WAY too sweet. I couldn't even taste any banana. I should have searched my cook books first.

Try asking in a cake or baking group if anyone has a trusted recipe that they love and could recommend. Look for recipes from highly rated cook books. Try a recipe from a well-known baking source like Sugar Geek Show.

How to bake from scratch tip #2 - Read the WHOLE recipe before you start

I can't tell you how many times I have had people leave comments under my own recipes stating that the recipe did not turn out. I ask, did you read the recipe. "well... sorta.... I skimmed it". *facepalm*

I get it, I hate reading recipes too. But you know what I hate more? Wasting ingredients. Usually recipes contain a lot of helpful info that will help you find success the first time you try it out.

There might be tips for trouble-shooting problems or even things to make sure you don't do to avoid failure. Whomever wrote the recipe has most-likely spent a lot of time testing and re-testing the recipe for success so make sure you take advantage of that experience and read the recipe!

When you read the recipe it also gives you a chance to look up any techniques that you may not understand like whipping to soft peaks or folding.

How to bake from scratch tip #3 - Check your ingredients

Make sure you have all the ingredients the recipe calls for before you even start mixing. If you have to run to the store then it's better to do it now then in the middle of mixing.

Some recipes will actually not turn out right if you stop in the middle of mixing.

How to bake from scratch tip #4 - Weigh your ingredients ahead of time

If your recipe calls for a scale, use a scale. If it says to use cups, use cups. Trying to convert recipes often results in disaster. Almost all my recipes call for ingredients by weight so that you get accurate measurements. Measuring by volume (cups) leaves a lot of room for mistakes. Maybe your flour is too packed, you aren't exact with your measuring or you're doubling the recipe. All these things can lead to disaster.

I measure all my ingredients before I start mixing. Sometimes I don't realize I don't have enough of a certain ingredient until I start measuring. Or I think I had an ingredient but I actually don't. That happens to me ALL THE TIME. Just ask my husband, poor guy is always being sent to the store last minute.

Measuring out your ingredients ahead of time also ensures you don't forget any ingredients. I will read through the ingredients one by one and tap the bowl to the corresponding ingredient. Better safe to double check then waste all those ingredients because you forgot the sugar.

How to bake from scratch tip #5 - Ingredients need to be room temperature or slightly warm

Some things do not like to mix. Oil and water or ingredients that are warm/cold. Things like butter that are oil based will not mix with eggs if the butter is warm and soft and the eggs are cold. Same thing with milk, cream cheese, sour cream etc. This is the second most common mistake people make when making a recipe from scratch.

This is how I warm various ingredients before baking so they are all the same temp.

Eggs - While still in the shell, place into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes
Milk - Warm in the microwave until it feels body temperature
Butter - I microwave mine in 10 second increments until soft enough to impress my finger into the surface but it still holds it's shape.
Cream cheese - Cut into small chunks and place onto a plate. Place a hot glass bowl over the top of the cream cheese for 5 minutes. I warm my bowl by heating it with hot tap water.
Sour cream or mayonnaise - Microwave for 10 seconds and stir

How to bake from scratch tip #6 - Don't make any changes the first time you try it

I love to make adjustments to recipes after I have tried them so they are more to my preference but I always follow the recipe as is the first time. You never know if you're totally ruining the recipe by making a slight adjustment.

Sometimes the author will put some notes at the bottom of the recipe for known acceptable substitutions.

How to bake from scratch tip #7 - Read through the directions as you are making the recipe

It can be difficult to remember everything a recipe says to do so I have the recipe nearby as I am mixing to make sure I don't miss a step. Even as an experienced baker, I know it can be very easy to accidentally make a mistake.

Baking from scratch can seem very intimidating when you're first learning and I totally get it. No one explains these simple techniques for testing out new recipes. Often times the recipe does not turn out and you're left feeling like maybe you can't bake at all and it's pointless to try again!

I hope these tips have given you the confidence to try your hand at baking from scratch and if you're looking for inspiration, check out the full list of free, tried-and-true recipes on our blog.

February 4, 2019 Blog

How To Bake From Scratch

These are my top 7 tips on how to bake from scratch successfully

Nothing compares to a vanilla cake or chocolate cake baked from scratch. I love to bake from scratch but even with all my experience in baking, I can easily have a fail if I don't prepare properly.

How to bake from scratch tip #1 - Get your recipes from a trusted source

I once tried a banana cream pie recipe that was ranked #2 on google. I thought wow, it's ranked so high, it MUST be good. The photo looked amazing, the reviews seemed like it would be good.

Well... it might be considered tasty to others but for me, it just gave me a stomach ache. WAY WAY WAY too sweet. I couldn't even taste any banana. I should have searched my cook books first.

How to bake from scratch tip #2 - Read the WHOLE recipe before you start

I get it, I hate reading recipes too. But you know what I hate more? Wasting ingredients. Usually recipes contain a lot of helpful info that will help you find success the first time you try it out.

When you read the recipe it also gives you a chance to look up any techniques that you may not understand like whipping to soft peaks or folding.

How to bake from scratch tip #3 - Check your ingredients

Make sure you have all the ingredients the recipe calls for before you even start mixing. If you have to run to the store then it's better to do it now then in the middle of mixing.

Some recipes will actually not turn out right if you stop in the middle of mixing.

How to bake from scratch tip #4 - Weigh your ingredients ahead of time

How to bake from scratch tip #5 - Ingredients need to be room temperature or slightly warm

This is how I warm various ingredients before baking so they are all the same temp.

Eggs - While still in the shell, place into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes
Milk - Warm in the microwave until it feels body temperature
Butter - I microwave mine in 10 second increments until soft enough to impress my finger into the surface but it still holds it's shape.
Cream cheese - Cut into small chunks and place onto a plate. Place a hot glass bowl over the top of the cream cheese for 5 minutes. I warm my bowl by heating it with hot tap water.
Sour cream or mayonnaise - Microwave for 10 seconds and stir

How to bake from scratch tip #6 - Don't make any changes the first time you try it

Sometimes the author will put some notes at the bottom of the recipe for known acceptable substitutions.

How to bake from scratch tip #7 - Read through the directions as you are making the recipe

I hope these tips have given you the confidence to try your hand at baking from scratch and if you're looking for inspiration, check out the full list of free, tried-and-true recipes on our blog.

February 1, 2019 Course Preview

Monster Cake Tutorial

Skill level: Intermediate

In this tutorial, Liz Marek breaks down how to create a cute cartoon monster from a picture. You will learn how to scale a reference picture, how to plan out the internal structure to make the cake gravity-defying, and how to carve and add details to the cake.

This cake structure is perfect for the beginning cake decorator who wants to jump into learning more about cake structures, but doesn't know where to start. There's many tips and tricks to cover in this tutorial, so let's get our tools together and let's get started!

1:17:33 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to scale a picture reference and plan for structure
How to cut wood for custom cake boards and how to cut threaded rod
Learn how to use armature wire for complex shapes and structures
Several tips and tricks on how to carve and cover the cake
Learn how to make a large shiny isomalt eyeball

Tutorial Chapters

Planning & scaling 0:38
Cutting threaded rod & wood 7:15
Structure assembly 9:18
Making armature arms 12:06
Adding rice cereal treats 18:44
Carving rice cereal treats 21:04
Stacking & carving cake 21:23
Smooth ganache layer 23:53
Modeling chocolate 26:08
Isomalt eye 29:25
Covering the cake 36:02
Details & Smoothing seams 49:56
Adding the eye 55:09
Legs & feet 59:11
Arms & horns 1:05:22
Adding teeth 1:13:51

February 1, 2019 Paid Video

Monster Cake

Skill level: Intermediate

1:17:33 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

Learn how to scale a picture reference and plan for structure
How to cut wood for custom cake boards and how to cut threaded rod
Learn how to use armature wire for complex shapes and structures
Several tips and tricks on how to carve and cover the cake
Learn how to make a large shiny isomalt eyeball

Tutorial Chapters

January 28, 2019 Free Video

Mini Crystal Kintsugi Cake

The Crystal Kintsugi Cake Is A Must-See Cake Trend

In case you haven't noticed, the geode trend is just hotter than ever. Just when we thought we had seen it all, more versions of these crystalline cakes keep popping up. Want to learn to make one yourself? Of course you do! I've created an adorable mini crystal kintsugi cake that doesn't require a degree in engineering and is OH so fun to make!

Enter in the crystal kintsugi cake.

I originally created the crystal kintsugi cake for a crystal inspired wedding shoot. I am always so lucky when I work with the amazing vendors here in Portland. They trust me to just go with the theme and create something that hasn't been done before. I SO appreciate that freedom! No one likes to copy another cakers design.

After I saw the inspiration board for the shoot, I was immediately inspired by two photos. This broken ceramic bowl that had been repaired with gold and this beautiful crystal called a "spirit crystal". I fell in love with the colors and immediately started imagining how to re-create them in sugar!

Designing The Crystal Kintsugi Cake

Sometimes you spend a lot of time sketching out a cake design and fretting over details and colors and other times... you draw it out in 5 minutes on a scrap of paper and call it good. This was my sketch for the kintsugi cake. NOT that detailed but it got my idea across to the rest of the team!

My idea was simple. Apply the principles of Kintsugi pottery to a cake.

Kintsugi is the Japanese practice of fusing together broken pottery with a mixture of resin and gold or silver powder. This pottery is considered to be more beautiful for having been broken. If that isn't inspiration for a cake, I don't know what is.

Making Sugar Crystals

The hard thing about creating a new cake trend is always figuring out how to do something for the first time. I knew I wanted some beautiful sugar crystal clusters to adorn this cake but no crystal molds existed at this time! I thought ok, I'll just mold a crystal cluster. I spent so much time googling crystals to buy but nothing was quite the right shape.

So I made one. I actually sculpted the crystal cluster with oven baked clay and added in some small real crystals to the base to create the shapes I wanted. I then molded them and made an acrylic master to send to my good friends at Simi Cakes and Confections to make crystal molds for me so I could make them out of isomalt!!

Figuring out how to make a mold that would not break the delicate crystals was quite the feat! Sometimes you might see a two part mold but for the large crystal, they had to make a three part mold! EPIC! Pouring the crystal molds was a ton of fun and the secret to keeping the edges sharp is a hot knife and a blow torch.

I use the large mold for the top of the kintsugi cake and the smaller molds to create clusters around the edges. A combination of rock candy and broken crystals filled in the gaps.

I could not have been happier with the final cake! I think it's my most favorite wedding cake so far!

One of the most challenging parts of this cake design was of course the middle tier which featured a huge gap in the cake filled with crystals. To create this gravity defying cake, I had to carefully work out some technical details and create a pretty elaborate structure (covered in the original kintsugi cake tutorial).

How To Make A Mini Kintsugi Cake

But like all things, once I had made this cake a few times, I thought of a slightly simpler way of doing things.

I was asked to make a version of this kintsugi cake for a fundraiser for the local rocks and mineral museum.

The cake had to be smaller since it was for a fundraiser and easy to transport home. I came up with a cake design that features all the fun part of the original cake tutorial but with a simpler structure.

To make my crystals, I mixed a little edible glitter (flash dust) into my melted isomalt and poured it into the crystal molds until they where about half full. Then I colored the rest of the isomalt with a touch of light pink then filled up the molds the rest of the way. This creates a nice gradient effect for the sugar crystals. They take a while to cool so do this first.

First I formed a dome of RKT with chocolate added to it over a 6" cake board around a ½" wooden dowel, making sure there's lots of chocolate around the dowel so it cools very firmly. I put it in the fridge to speed up the process. Once cooled, I trimmed the dowel to be the same height as my 8" round cake.

You start out with a wooden cake board, a ½" metal flange, male adaptor and ½" pvc pipe. Cut a hole in your 8" round cake board that is the same size as the flange. Then attach your flange to the board and screw in the adaptor. Put in your pvc pipe and trim it so that it's the same height as your 8" cake.

Take your 8" round crumb coated cake and place it onto the cake board and thread it over the pvc pipe and it should fit snugly over the flange. You should be able to see the pvc pipe poking up through the cake at this point. Fill up the center of the pvc pipe with some melted candy melts. Insert the RKT dome into the pipe and use a level to make sure it's straight up and down. You can place little pieces of fondant in the gap between the dowel and the edge of the pipe to hold things in place until the chocolate cools. Place the whole thing in the fridge to chill until firm.

While the cake is chilling, you can crumbcoat yoru 6" round cake. Take your cake out of the fridge and place the 6" cake on top. I attached mine with some melted chocolate to make sure it stays in place.

Now comes the fun part! Carving! I carved some jagged areas away from the cake to create the crystal look. I tried to be as random as possible and keep things looking natural.

For the fondant, I swirled together some pink, ivory and white. A little bit different than my original design but that's the beauty of this cake, you can adjust it to whatever colors you like! I torched the surface a bit to make some texture and then paneled the 8" cake with the fondant. I cut away the excess where the cake is carved. I then repeat the process on the 6" cake.

I smoothed the fondant out a bit but not too much. It's natural after all! No need for super sharp edges. I covered the RKT and the inside of the carved cakes with more buttercream and layered up some rock candy and some isomalt crystals. I painted the edges with a combination of gold paint and pink food coloring mixed with everclear.

Lastly I painted on some gold lines between some of the cracks in the fondant to mimic the kintsugi look of the pottery. I also outlined all the carved areas with the rock candy with gold to bring it all together, plus I just really like gold!

Want to learn how to make the original kintsugi cake tutorial? Check out the full tutorial on Sugar Geek Show! It's free to try! So what have you got to lose?

Want to learn how to make the mini version? You can watch the making of the mini kintsugi cake process! Have a question? Just leave me a comment 🙂

Materials Needed

Edible:

Two 8" round chocolate cakes
One 6" round chocolate cake
Easy Buttercream
Lump Candy
Rock Candy
Fondant
Edible Gold Paint
Pink, Ivory food coloring
Everclear or vodka
Rice cereal mixture
White chocolate melties
16 oz pre-cooked isomalt

Structure:

10" cake board
½" metal flange
½" male adaptor
½" pvc pipe
⅜" wooden dowel
8" cardboard round
6" cardboard round

Tools:

Pvc pipe cutters
Paintbrush
Small - Medium - Large crystal molds
Silicone bowl for melting isomalt
Cake spatula
Blow Torch

January 28, 2019 Free Tutorials

How to make box cake taste better

How to make a box cake taste better is one of the most common questions beginner bakers ask. I've been teaching bakers how to doctor cake mixes like doctored red velvet, doctored chocolate cake, doctored white cake, and doctored strawberry cake for years, using simple ingredients like butter, milk, and sour cream to improve flavor and texture. In this guide, I'll show you the best tricks to upgrade any boxed cake mix so it tastes more like homemade. These simple cake mix hacks are used by home bakers and professional decorators alike to turn basic boxed cake mix into bakery-style cakes

Quick Glance at the Recipe

Recipe Name: How To Make A Box Cake Taste Better
Why You'll Love It: Easy cake mix upgrades that make boxed cake taste homemade
Time and Difficulty: 10 minutes prep plus 30 minutes baking time | Beginner friendly
Main Ingredients: Cake mix, butter, milk, eggs, sour cream
Method: Mix, bake, decorate
Texture and Flavor: Moist, tender crumb with bakery-style flavor
Quick Tip: Replace water with milk and oil with butter for instant flavor improvement

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Ingredients That Make Box Mix Taste Better

Adding a few ingredients to your box mix can greatly improve the flavor of the cake while still keeping that easy mixing method that a box mix has. Just dump it all in a bowl and mix!

Liquids: Replace water with whole milk, buttermilk, brewed coffee (especially for chocolate), or even fruit juice (lemon-lime for yellow cake).
Fats: Use melted butter instead of oil for richer flavor.
Sour Cream: Sour cream, buttermilk, or Greek yogurt for moisture, tang, and tenderizing gluten for a softer cake texture.
Eggs: Add an extra egg or even just an extra egg yolk for richness, or use only egg whites for a lighter cake.
Extracts & Spices: Add a teaspoon of vanilla, strawberry, coconut, or lemon extract to add flavor. Remember that some flavors like almond and peppermint can be very strong, so use less. For chocolate, add a little extra cocoa powder; for spice cakes, add cinnamon or nutmeg.

Why These Ingredients Make Box Cake Taste Better

Box cake mixes are designed for convenience, which means the ingredients are optimized for stability rather than flavor.

Professional bakers improve boxed cake mix by adjusting three things:

Fat - Butter and sour cream add richness and help create a softer crumb.
Liquid - Milk, buttermilk, or coffee adds flavor that plain water cannot.
Protein - Eggs help strengthen the structure of the cake and improve texture.

Balancing fat, liquid, and protein is the same principle used in professional cake recipes, which is why these simple swaps can transform a boxed mix into something that tastes much closer to homemade.

Don't Be Afraid To Use Box Cake Mix

There's an endless debate over what's better: box cake mix or baking from scratch. Some people feel strongly that cakes should always be made from scratch, while others prefer the convenience and consistency of a boxed mix.

Honestly, there's room for both.

Many professional cake decorators use doctored cake mix recipes because they provide reliable results and a simple mixing method. When you're baking large cakes or tiered wedding cakes, consistency can actually be more important than anything else.

The only thing I recommend is being transparent with your customers.

In some areas people don't mind whether a cake starts from a box or a scratch recipe. But where I live in Portland, people care a lot about ingredients and food sourcing (Portlandia is real, y'all). I've had clients email me just to confirm that my cakes are baked from scratch.

If you do use a doctored cake mix, simply be honest about your process. You can say your cakes are baked fresh daily, and if someone asks specifically about scratch baking, just be upfront.

If you want to learn more about baking from scratch, you can also check out my full collection of cake recipes on Sugar Geek Show.

Best Cake Mix Flavors To Doctor

Most cake mix hacks work with any flavor of boxed cake mix.

Some of the best flavors to doctor include:

White cake mix
Yellow cake mix
Chocolate cake mix
Red velvet cake mix
Strawberry cake mix
Spice cake mix

Each flavor can be improved with simple ingredient swaps like milk instead of water, butter instead of oil, and additional extracts or spices.

Tip #1: Start With The Best Box Cake Mix Brand

The first step in learning how to make a box cake taste better is choosing a good cake mix to start with.

My personal favorite is Duncan Hines. It's usually a little more expensive than some cheaper mixes, but the flavor and texture are noticeably better. Plus they frequently go on sale, so I tend to stock up on my favorite flavors.

Some of my favorite Duncan Hines mixes include:

Red Velvet
Triple Chocolate
White Cake (perfect for WASC)
Strawberry

Strawberry cake mix can sometimes be harder to find, so I occasionally substitute Betty Crocker for that flavor.

These flavors are often the most requested by clients, and they also tend to take the longest to make from scratch, which makes them perfect candidates for doctoring a box mix.

Tip #2: Ignore The Ingredients On The Box

Most boxed cake mixes ask you to add three ingredients:

• Eggs
• Water
• Oil

doctored red velvet box cake ingredients

These ingredients are convenient because most people already have them at home, but they don't add much flavor.

A few simple swaps can dramatically improve the taste and texture of your cake.

Replace water with milk

Milk adds fat and proteins that create a richer flavor and softer crumb.

Replace oil with melted butter

Butter adds significantly more flavor than oil and helps create a texture that makes boxed cake mix taste homemade

For chocolate cake, use coffee instead of water

Tip #3: How To Make Box Cake Taste Better Step-By-Step

WASC is one of the most famous doctored cake mix hacks in the cake decorating world. It became popular on baking forums years ago because decorators needed a white cake that tasted great, stayed moist, and was sturdy enough to stack for wedding cakes. The result is a bakery-style cake from box mix with incredible flavor, a soft crumb, and a texture that works beautifully for layered cakes. This is how you make it.

Melt your butter and warm your milk (or whatever liquid you are using) so it's not cold. Cold liquid can cause your cake batter to split.

Add your cake mix to the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment attached.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the box mix except any add-ins like sprinkles or nuts, which can break down during the mixing process. Mix on speed 2 for 2 minutes.

Once your batter has mixed, it should look shiny and smooth. You can now add in any other ingredients like sprinkles, fruits, nuts, etc. Mix until just combined.

Divide your batter into three cake pans prepared with cake goop or another preferred pan release. Bake until a toothpick comes from the center with only a few sticky crumbs. About 30-35 minutes in an oven preheated to 350ºF.

funfetti cake decorated in white frosting and sprinkles

Allow your cake layers to cool fully before decorating your cake with buttercream.

PRO TIP: Check out my tutorial on how to decorate a cake for tips and beginner cake decorating ideas.

Tip #4: Make your buttercream from scratch

If you want your cake to taste homemade, skip the canned frosting.

I know making frosting from scratch might sound intimidating if you've never done it before, but my easy buttercream recipe is actually incredibly simple.

Just combine all the ingredients in a bowl, whip until light and fluffy, and then mix on low speed for about 10 minutes using the paddle attachment to remove air bubbles.

The result is smooth, creamy buttercream that tastes infinitely better than store-bought frosting.

Some other great frosting options include:

Tip #5: Add delicious cake fillings

Another easy way to make a box cake taste homemade is to use flavorful fillings.

Most cake fillings are surprisingly simple to make and add a huge boost of flavor.

Some of my favorite cake fillings include:

Frequently Asked Questions About How To Make Box Mix Taste Better

Can I use these ingredients for any box mix?

Yes you can. But the flavor of the box mix may change what ingredients you add. Here are some suggestions.
Liquids: Replace water with whole milk, buttermilk, brewed coffee (especially for chocolate), or even fruit juice (lemon-lime for yellow cake).
Fats: Use melted butter instead of oil for richer flavor, or add a dollop of sour cream or yogurt for moisture and tang.
Eggs: Add an extra egg or even just an extra egg yolk for richness, or use only egg whites for a lighter cake.
Extracts & Spices: Add a teaspoon of vanilla, almond, or lemon extract; for chocolate, add a little extra cocoa; for spice cakes, add cinnamon or nutmeg.

Do bakeries use box cake mix?

Some bakeries and cake decorators use doctored cake mix recipes because they provide consistent results and a strong cake structure for stacking.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to make a box cake taste better doesn't have to be complicated. With a few simple upgrades like replacing water with milk, swapping oil for butter, or adding ingredients like sour cream and extracts, you can transform a basic boxed cake mix into something that tastes much closer to homemade.

Whether you're baking for fun, making a birthday cake for family, or decorating a tiered cake for a client, these simple cake mix hacks can save time while still giving you great flavor and texture.

And if you really want to take things up a notch, try the classic WASC cake method, which has been a favorite among cake decorators for years.

Do you have a favorite trick for how to make a box cake taste better? Let me know in the comments!

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Recipe

Print Recipe

4.85 from 207 votes

Doctored Box Cake Recipe (WASC)

A doctored cake mix that is well-used by bakers all over the world that produces a delicious white cake that tastes almost like scratch. This recipe makes three 6"x2" cake rounds or two 8"x2" cake rounds

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 747kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Equipment

Cake Pans

Ingredients

1 box white cake mix I like duncan hines
5 oz AP flour 1 cup (spooned into cup, not scooped)
7 oz granulated sugar 1 cup
¼ teaspoon salt
9 oz sour cream 1 cup room temp
4 oz melted butter ½ cup
8 oz milk 1 cup room temperature
4 large egg whites room temperature
½ teaspoon almond extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

WASC CAKE INSTRUCTIONS

The instructions for this cake are super easy. Basically, put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix it on medium speed for 2 minutes! Voila! Cake batter is ready. Pour batter into two prepared 8" pans and bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

Video

Notes

Don't worry about any of the ingredients on the back of the box, just use the ingredients listed in the recipe.

This recipe makes enough batter for three 6"x2" cakes or two 8"x2" cakes (round).

This recipe makes 40 cupcakes with about 1.25 ounces of batter per cupcake tin.

You can replace 4 egg whites with three whole eggs if desired

Nutrition

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Tempering chocolate in the microwave is so easy and results in a glossy, shiny tempered chocolate!

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this post contains affiliate links which means I may get a couple of pennies if you purchase from my link but it doesn't cost you anything extra*