THE FANCY

Bonfire Cake.

by

Difficulty level: Advanced

Making your own cake stencils is all the rage. It’s pretty simple. Print out an image or pattern you like from the web, trace it out on wax paper, and use an exacto knife or scissors to cut it out. Wax paper easily sticks to buttercream without messing it up, making it easy to apply buttercream or sprinkle designs. I freehanded the flame design for this Bonfire Cake. I decided to be extra & make a meringue flame crown on the top, but you could also use buttercream to create the same look if you don’t want to go through the trouble. The results of this cake turned out lit 🔥.

xx

Lisa

For the Cake:

Prepared vanilla cake mix, split in two portions, dyed with orange & black food coloring gel.

For the Frosting

Vanilla Faux Swiss Meringue Buttercream (Recipe HERE)

Meringue Crown

Meringue dyed with orange food coloring gel

For the Decoration:

Fancy Sprinkles Bonfire Sugar

Fancy Sprinkles 24 karat Gold Leaf

Bonfire Cake
Preliminary Steps

Mix vanilla cake batter (link to cake box recipe), separate into two different bowls. Dye one bowl orange and one bowl black. 

Pour alternating color scoops next to each other  into 3 6 inch pre greased and floured cake pans.

Bake according to instructions, then allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Horizontally cut the tops of each layer so they’re completely  flat.

Prepare Meringue recipe. Add an open star piping tip to a large piping bag, and fill with meringue. Trace a perfect 6 inch circle on a sheet of wax paper. Pipe the flames starting from the bottom up in a straight line whilst very slightly “wiggling” your hand for a natural flame effect. Sprinkle on some Fancy Sprinkles Bonfire sugar before baking. Bake meringue for 45 minutes at 120. Allow to cool before removing from wax paper. 

Prepare vanilla buttercream recipe (link). Add orange food coloring gel till desired color is achieved. 

Decoration:

  1.  Smooth a small dollop of frosting on top of the cake board (this will be your cake glue)
  2.  Place the first cake layer on a cake board set on top of the turntable. 
  3. Using an offset spatula, form a smooth layer of buttercream on top of the first vanilla cake layer, about ½ inch thick.
  4. Add second vanilla cake layer, frost top with buttercream in the same fashion.
  5. Stack the third vanilla cake layer.
  6. Frost the crumb coat with buttercream by smoothing a very thin layer over every bit of cake showing. Smooth it out with an acrylic cake scraper or metal scraper.  Refrigerate cake for 10 minutes to set the crumb coat
  7. Apply the final coat of frosting with an offset spatula. To see how I make perfectly smooth cakes, watch this video (video link)
  8. Chill cake in the fridge for about 15 minutes to allow butter cream to harden before applying stencil. 
  9. Cut the top and bottom of your stencil in a straight line the same height as the cake to make sure your flames are going in the right spot.
  10. Gently apply the wax paper stencil to the cake, slightly pressing and smoothing the wax paper to the buttercream. It should stick, easily. Make sure there are no gaps to avoid the sprinkles from bleeding underneath the stencil.
  11. Scoop up some Bonfire sugar (link) and gently, but firmly press the sugar to the open parts of the flame stencil. You may have to do this twice to make sure you totally covered all of the open parts.
  12. Gently peel off the stencil! 
  13. Add your meringue crown to the top, and apply some gold leaf all over the cake for an extra firey moment.