Realistic cakes are so fun to make because they fool the eye. People love to get surprised when they see hyperrealistic cakes on tiktok and Instagram or even the hit Netlix show "Is It Cake" (you can watch me on Is It Cake season 2!)
Realistic Cake Ingredients
Fondant - If you want a truly tasty fondant made will all-natural and sustainably sourced ingredients then you should use my own brand of flawless fondant.
Modeling Chocolate - You can make your own modeling chocolate or use my recommended brand of hot hands modeling chocolate.
Maple Syrup - Any brand will do.
Gelatin - I am using Knox brand of gelatin but you can use kosher brands of gelatin as well.
Food Coloring (Ivory, royal blue, violet, yellow) I like Americolor gels but you can use any kind of food coloring that you like.
My First Realistic Food Cakes
A while back I did a full-on breakfast in bed tutorial complete with stack of pancakes and gravity defying syrup bottle. I couldn't very well call myself a cake decorator though if I just made it look like pancakes, I had to make it taste like pancakes too.
I had so much fun making this cake, I included it in an episode of Ridiculous Cakes on Food Network as part of a GIANT foodie. The cake was made for my friend Krissy's celebration of the launch of her food blog, Self Proclaimed Foodie.
Getting the "pancake flavor" was super hard and I experimented with a ton of "pancake" flavored cake recipes that I found online and so many of them were fails. I didn't want to just use Bisquick pancake mix.
When I think of biting into a pancake I am reminded of butter, maple syrup and that little softer, lighter-than-air pancake texture.
So let's get this straight. This is a cake, that looks like pancakes, but isn't pancakes, it's actually a cake, but it tastes like pancakes...
Mind explosion.
How To Make A Realistic Pancake Cake
- Bake your cakes. Cool them. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer to cool while we work on the details and buttercream.
- For frosting, you can't go wrong with easy buttercream flavored with a teaspoon of maple flavoring extract. Set this aside as well.
- For the details you might want to check out the video below in the recipe card. We're making a few blueberries and a pat of butter out of modeling chocolate. Set those aside.
- Now get your chilled cakes out of the freezer. You can trim the brown off the sides, top and bottom if you want but its not necessary. The great thing about making realistic cakes is they look better if they aren't perfect.
- Crumb-coat your cakes on a plate or platter (watch the video for detailed instructions) and place it into the fridge so the frosting sets up.
- Now we are going to add a little ivory food coloring to our fondant. This is my own brand of fondant that uses all-natural ingredients and real vanilla flavoring so it will taste really good!
- Knead the fondant until it is a light ivory color.
- Roll the fondant out into thick snakes. Go back to your days of playdough. They dont need to be perfect!
- Cut the snakes in half length-wise so you have one flat side and one rounded side.
- Apply one fondant snake around the base and cut off the extra fondant from the back.
- Dilute a little ivory food coloring with some water and brush a very thin amount on the top side of the fondant snake.
- Repeat this process until the whole cake sides have fondant.
- Roll out a round piece of fondant and lay it on the top to cover the top of the cake.
- Brush it with a little of your ivory food coloring mixture, just on the top, not on the sides.
- Use a toothpick or modeling tool to add some dots to the sides of the pancakes to make them look like little bubbles from cooking. Just some here and there.
- Place the cake into the freezer for 20 minutes to get the fondant cold.
- Now add your gelatin to your water and let it dissolve for five minutes.
- Microwave it for 10-15 seconds and add it to your maple syrup and stir to combine.
- Drizzle the warm syrup on top of the stack of pancakes and let it run down the sides. The coldness from the fondant will make the syrup stop running.
- Add the pat of butter on top and a few blueberries and you're done!
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.
Recipe
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix I prefer duncan hines
- 5 ounces all-purpose flour
- 7 ounces sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 9 ounces sour cream
- 4 ounces melted butter
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
Maple Buttercream
- 3 ounces pasteurized egg whites
- 12 ounces powdered sugar
- 12 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
Syrup
- 4 ounces maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon cold water
Decorations
- 24 ounces fondant
- 4 ounce modeling chocolate
Instructions
Pancake Cake
- Preheat oven to 350ºF/175ºC. Grease three 8" cake pans with cake goop.
- Combine all your ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment attached and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Divide into three 8" pans. Layers will be a little shorter than normal so you have more "crunch" from the browning against the pan and adds to the flavor of the pancakes. You can also use two 8" pans if you want taller layers.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool fully then wrap in plastic wrap and place into the freezer while you prepare your buttercream and decorations.
Buttercream
- Place your egg whites and powdered sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment attached and mix on low until combined.
- Increase the speed to high and whip for 5 minutes to dissolve the sugar.
- Reduce the speed to medium and slowly add in your butter in small pieces until it has all been added.
- Add in the salt and maple extract.
- Mix everything on high until smooth and creamy and no longer tastes like butter. This can take 10-15 minutes.
Decorations
- Color a 1 ounce of your modeling chocolate with a little of the yellow food coloring. Shape into a small 1"x1" square.
- Color the rest of your modeling chocolate with some of the royal blue food coloring and some violet food coloring until you hava a nice dark purple blue color.
- Roll the modeling chocolate into small balls.
- Use a pair of small scissors to cut a little X in the top and pull back the tips with your finger.
Decorating The Cake
- Stack and fill the cake with buttercream and cover it in a crumb coat of buttercream on top of a large plate or cake platter (see video for more details). Place it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Color your fondant with some ivory food coloring.
- Dissolve a drop of ivory food coloring in 2 Tablespoons of alcohol like vodka.
- Roll the fondant out into long thick snakes about 24" long.
- Use a pizza cutter to cut each snake in half length-wise.
- Apply the fondant around the cake with the flat side against the cake.
- Brush a thin layer of the ivory solution onto the top of the strip, not on the sides to mimic the browning of a pancake.
- Continue this process until the sides of the cake are covered.
- Roll out a piece of ivory fondant into a 9" circle and place it on top of the cake.
- Brush the top of the cake with some of the ivory solution.
- Use a toothpick or modeling tool to poke some small holes in the sides of the fondant strips to mimic the look the popped bubbles from cooking.
- Place the cake in the fridge for 20 mnutes.
- Make the syrup.
Syrup
- Add the gelatin to the water and allow it to absorb for 5 minutes.
- Microwave the gelatin mixture for 15 seconds to melt the gelatin.
- Add the warm gelatin mixture to the syrup and stir to combine.
- Pour the syrup over your chilled cake and add your pat of butter and blueberry decorations.
Amy Winfrey says
I have this in the oven right now and it smells amazeballs! Did want to point out that your instructions don’t indicate when to add the vanilla and maple flavoring. Would have forgotten it except I learned the hard way to have all of my ingredients in front of me...
The Sugar Geek Show says
Add at any time, I usually put mine in with the liquids
Tammy H says
Hi Lizz, I can't wait to try this recipe, but I am wondering will this work as cupcakes?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes it will
Lauren says
This cake was amazingly moist, interesting and delish!
ANN says
Hello! I can't wait to make this; I was looking for a great description on the fondant part - thank you! Can I make this the evening before and leave it in the fridge or will it dry out?
The Sugar Geek Show says
The tutorial is in the blog post, just read through it 🙂
ANN says
Thanks, what is the blog website? I wanted to make the cake in full (fondant topping and all the night before) but I dont' see that in the directions.
Julie T says
can the pancake layering be done piping buttercream instead of using the fondant roping?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes that works too
Julie T says
how did the buttercream piping turn out? Have one to do and want to pipe it.
Delena says
Im confused about the ivory color and alcohol mixture to color the pancake brown? Is there a video on this somewhere?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Just a drop of ivory food color and 1 tsp of alcohol. I use everclear but you can also use vodka or even lemon extract.
Debbie says
Can you use modeling chocolate for the pancakes instead of fondant?
Christine Tran-Boynes says
I can’t find super fine sugar at the market. Would it be okay to use granulated sugar?
Mary says
Hi - I cannot wait to make this but I have a question about the cake sizes. It says underneath the pancake recipe blurb that the measurements make 3 6x3 layers or 2 8x3 rounds. Then further down in the instructions it says to fill 3 8” rounds. Would you be able to clarify please?
The Sugar Geek Show says
You can use either 6" or 8" cake pans. I used three 8" cake pans but the batter was not all the way to the top of the pan
Debbie says
Liz could you tell me if you just pour the gummy mixture over the cake while it is warm and it sets up like syrup? And can you use modeling chocolate for the ropes instead of fondant? Thank you for all the wonderful recipes and youtube tutorials.
Michelle Yarbrough says
Do you have a tutorial on how you put the syrup bottle on top? I'd like to try that.
Elizabeth Marek says
I do, it's part of our cake decorating school. You can sign up to become a member and watch any of the advanced cake tutorials. Here is the breakfast in bed cake. https://sugargeekshow.com/news/breakfast-cake-bed/
Peggy says
Can I substitute regular milk with buttermilk instead? Can I also substitute unsalted butter with brown butter instead?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can and that sounds very yummy
cupofme says
That seems like a really fun formula! and awwh, the cake is so delightful.