Floral Initial Cake (Cream Tart Style)

Have you seen the cream tart desserts? A simple Google search will provide a plethora of them. They’re number or letter cakes, and they’re stunning. They are really composed of a shortbread-like biscuit rather than cake. Piped frosting is piled on top, followed by piped flowers, actual flowers, fruit, candy, or pretty much anything else you can think of.I opted to create an actual cake version of the cream tart cookie cake for this article.Cake with Floral Initials (Cream Tart Style).

This one is incredibly fun since you can build whatever letter or number you want and top it with any color flowers you like.

Now, I simply used my own initial, but you may use whatever letter or number you like. This technique, however, works better with straight line characters or numerals.

I’ve included some images of the procedure below, as well as an explanation of why I cut the cake into rectangles rather than just cutting around the form using a template. (Hint: This way, less cake is wasted, and it’s simpler to transfer and arrange the smaller pieces.)

So go through the images and then, at the bottom of the page, there is a video that will walk you through the whole procedure.

Another thing to keep in mind. Because the edges of the cake are exposed to the air and might dry up, you should eat it the same day you make it.

Ok, lets get to the tutorial.

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Supplies Needed to Make the Floral Initial Cake:

• I baked a 139-inch cake. You may use a cake mix or make my vanilla cake from scratch: Recipe for Vanilla Bean Cake
• Buttercream My buttercream recipe may be found here: Vanilla Bean Buttercream (Replace at least half of the butter with shortening to make it pipeable.) I used the following colors: white, black, green, blue, purple, yellow, and red.
• Flower Nail
• Piping Bags
• Cut out little pieces of wax paper to use for your buttercream flowers.
• Petal Icing Tip #103 and Petal Icing Tip #2 for the Blue Flowers
• Petal Icing Tip #102 and Round Icing Tip #4 were used to make the white flowers.
• For the Purple Flowers: Open Star Icing Tip #21
• Petal Icing Tip #104 and Round Icing Tip #5 were used to make the red flowers.
• Large Cake Board
• Knife
• (To cut the cake into equal slices, use a large ruler.) This one appeals to me: Ruler in Acrylic
• Cake Leveler
• Icing Tip #6B or 8B (for piping between the layers of the cake.)
• For the Berries: Round Tip #5
• For the Leaves: Leaf Icing Tips #67 or #352

Making the Floral Initial Cake:

You should start by baking your cake. I was constructing a K and believed a 139-inch cake would suffice. Depending on your letter or number, you may need more.

Once your cake is done, lay it aside and begin working on your buttercream flowers.

Making the Flowers:

Make a pile of wax paper squares to use for piping the flowers.

Apply some buttercream to your flower nail and place it on a wax paper square.

The essential thing to remember while constructing the flowers is to use the petal tip with the narrow side facing out when piping. This thins the edges of the buttercream flowers.

After you’ve piped the flower, lay it aside (along with the wax paper square). Chill them until you’re ready to add them to the cake.

Now for the flowers: remember that you can always go back to the list of materials for the icing tip numbers and the video towards the bottom of this page to watch it being piped.

Making the Blue Flowers:

Pipe five petals for the blue flowers, followed by five yellow dots in the middle.

Making the White Flowers:

Pipe five petals and then several dots in the center of the white flowers, same like the blue ones.

Making the Purple Flowers:

Okay, these are really simple. Simply hold your piping bag straight down, squeeze, then move up and down as you squeeze to create a ruffled effect.

The Red Flower:

These look a lot like the blue and white blossoms. Simply produce as many petals as possible on the first row, then go over that with roughly five smaller petals.

Cutting the cake:

Now, take your cake and cut it into equal pieces. I made long rectangles out of mine. Yes, I could have simply cut around a letter or number template, but by cutting it into rectangles, I wasted less cake.

Furthermore, attempting to shift a huge letter while stacking one layer of cake on top of another in that form would have been a nightmare.

If you have a curving letter or number, you may need to cut the cake pieces smaller or use a template to cut around.

After you’ve cut it into equal portions, you’ll need to divide it into two layers. I just used my trusty Wilton leveler for that.

Simply cut the whole piece in half to make rectangles. (Remember if youre producing a more curving letter or number, youll probably have to cut them into smaller squares.

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Putting the Floral Initial Cake Together:

Make a letter or number out of buttercream and place it on your cake board.

After you’ve finished your buttercream, add the first layer of cake. You’ll most likely need to rearrange and cut certain elements.

Once you’ve placed the initial layer of cake on the board, pipe on buttercream dollops.

Add the second layer of cake when you’ve finished with the buttercream.

Now pipe another layer of buttercream dollops on top.

Now, take your cooled buttercream flowers, peel them off the wax paper, and place them on the cake.

Now, using your green buttercream and a piping bag, fill in any gaps with miniature green berries.

Then, put little white dots to the tops of some of the berries.

Then go back in and fill up any gaps with leaves.

Watch the video below. It will address some of your questions.

That’s all there is to it! Just be careful to serve it as soon as possible after cooking it since the edges of the cake are exposed to air and might dry up faster than normal.

So, what do you think? I hope you have a good time with this one!