Saturday, February 14, 2015

Rose Ombre Layer Cake for Valentines Day

 
 
All you need is love
Love is all you need.
 
                                                                The Beatles
 

Love it or loathe it, today is Valentine's Day.  I for one am not adverse to this day of love, not because I float in a sea of flowers while lying back on a chaise lounge to eat decadent chocolates, but because I like the idea of a day to celebrate romantic love, and it involves lots of red and pink, two of my favourite colours.
 
 
I like to celebrate occasions with baked goods, and this year, I was immediately taken by the Ombre Layer Cake that I found on Tartine and Apron StringsKayte had given me a set of Wilton 6" 5 layer cake pans for Christmas, and this was the perfect opportunity to use them.  (It astounds me that in Australia, we get charged twice the price or more of the US market price for such things, so I am grateful for Kayte's gift.) 
 
Instead of using the Swiss meringue buttercream in the recipe to ice the cake, I used my favourite Primrose Bakery Vanilla buttercream recipe, tinted palest pink, and flavoured with rose water instead of vanilla.
 
I bought Flowerdale Farm Turkish Delight rose petals to decorate my cake - a little pricey at $6.95, but they are surely the crowning glory of my creation: 
 

Here's an aerial shot - so pretty:
 

Once sliced, the true beauty of the ombre layers shines through:


It is a very impressive looking cake.  Even better, the cake tastes devine.

My only tips on making the cake layers are that they are quite delicate - grease your pan well, run a knife around the rim of the pans to unmould them, and oil your wire rack for cooling them, as the layers have a tendency to tear and stick.

Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day?  And do you like to celebrate Valentine's Day, or ignore it?

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

4 comments:

Pam said...

Pretty, pretty! I love the colors, the flowers and the cake has to be delicious! Nice quote! Happy Valentine's Day!

~~louise~~ said...

Oh gosh, Gaye, that cake is absolutely stunning!!! You did a stupendous job. I bet you won't be sharing this beauty with co-workers, lol (although, you might:) The rose petals may be the crowning glory but it is your imagination that brought this cake to delicious goodness.

Thank you so much for sharing, Gaye. Wishing You and Yours a memorable Valentine's Day. Enjoy each and every moment...

Johanna GGG said...

wow that looks so pretty - I didn't know there were cake pan sets for these ombre cakes but it makes sense - and the petals look gorgeous on top too

Cindy said...

Oh, it's beautiful! Happy Valentines Day.