Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 5 boxes Betty Crocker Super Moist Cherry Chip cake mix with pudding in the mix
- 5 cups water
- 1 2/3 cups vegetable oil
- 15 eggs
- 2 tubs Wilton White Ready To Use Icing (4 lb 8 oz each; some icing left over)
- Gum paste for 282 small flowers and 516 leaves
- Wilton food coloring in red, blue, green and black
- Wilton Color Dust
- Edible sugar pearls
- Clear cake sparkles
- Additional icing for the small heart cakes
Instructions
- 1. Prepare the gum paste flowers: roll gum paste approximately 1/8 inch thick and cut small flowers with Wilton Cut & Press Tools. Keep the cut flowers in a gum paste storage board while working.
- 2. Color and finish the flowers with food coloring and Color Dust. Press edible sugar pearls into the centers and dry the flowers on wax-paper-lined baking sheets.
- 3. Cut 516 small gum paste leaves, coloring some green and marbling some for a variegated appearance. Let the leaves dry on wax-paper-lined baking sheets.
- 4. Prepare two boxes of Cherry Chip cake mix according to the package. Fill the large oval pan and three small heart pans. Bake using the pan-specific Wilton timing guidance and check for doneness; my oven baked these in about 20 minutes.
- 5. Cool in pans for about 15 minutes. Loosen the edges, carefully turn out the cakes, and let them cool completely. Support large layers when turning them out to prevent breaking.
- 6. Prepare the remaining three boxes of cake mix and bake the other three oval layers. Cool completely, then level the oval and heart cakes with a cake leveler.
- 7. Coat the oval cake layers with Wilton White Ready To Use Icing. Decorate the small heart cakes separately.
- 8. Transport the cake layers and assemble at the venue. Support each tier with appropriately cut wooden dowels beneath its cake board, following safe tiered-cake construction practices.
- 9. Pipe white and green icing stars onto the cake, placing gum paste flowers and leaves as you work. Secure any loose sugar pearls with icing.
- 10. Color remaining icing gray with a little black food coloring, cover the turret peaks, add clear cake sparkles, and position the peaks carefully. Touch up the icing as needed.
Notes
This cake follows the Wilton A Fairytale Romance Cake design. The five cake-mix boxes made the castle layers and three small heart cakes. My oven ran unusually hot, so its 20-minute baking time is not a general recommendation. Pipe icing stars before positioning castle pieces. Support stacked tiers properly and remove non-edible structural pieces before serving.
- Method: Baking
