My heart stops a little when I see beautiful food. I can spend hours on Tumblr and Pinterest looking at food – and often do. This Sugar Plum Fairy cake reminds me of a beautiful ballerina’s tutu.
I wanted to make a cake for our holiday dinner that was pretty, not too complicated and delicious.
The secret to this cake is the frosting and ganache. Don’t let the ganache scare you off. It is simple to make and use. This combination of a flavored Swiss meringue and white chocolate ganache takes any cake from everyday to beautifully special. It creates a spectacular dessert when paired with your favorite cake recipe or box mix. I love to pair this frosting and ganache with a chocolate or devil’s food cake, but it would be delicious with a white or yellow cake also.
Make sure you double your recipe or use two boxes of mix, so you will have three nice 8″ layers of cake.
You will need a candy or instant thermometer for the frosting recipe. The egg white and sugar mix need to be cooked to 160° and the only way to be certain of the temperature is to use a thermometer.
For more delicious, organic recipes for all your holiday needs, please visit our recipe page.
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- 4 Organic egg whites room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup Organic granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cup Organic butter unsalted, room temperature
- 1 tsp Organic vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp Organic salt fine
- 3 tbsp Organic raspberry jam seedless
- 3 oz Organic white chocolate finely chopped or chips melted
- Organic red food coloring if desired to deepen color of frosting
- 8 oz Organic heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz Organic white chocolate chopped finely or chips
Ingredients
Frosting
Ganache
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- Bake three 8" cake layers according to instructions. Let them cool completely. If making ahead, after cakes are cooled, wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.
- It is incredibly important that your egg whites and butter be at room temperature for the best results.
- Place eggs and granulated sugar into a metal bowl or the metal bowl of your stand mixer.
- Place bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure that the bowl does not touch the water.
- Whisk or stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to approximately 160ºF. Please use caution, it will be very hot to the touch.
- Immediately place the bowl on the stand mixer using whip attachment and whip on high until frosting has become thick and glossy, forming a stiff peak. Continue to whip frosting until the bowl does not feel warm to the touch, a total of about 10 minutes.
- Switch the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, drop in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. If frosting appears curdled or clumpy at any time, increase speed to medium-high and beat until smooth.
- Once all of the butter has been incorporated, mix in vanilla, salt and raspberry jam and melted white chocolate. Before adding the melted chocolate, allow it to cool a bit. You need to be able to pour it, but don't want it piping hot. If needed, continue beating until smooth.
- Add food coloring to tint frosting to desired color.
- Place the finely chopped chocolate into a medium bowl.
- Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Stirring occasionally, bring just to a boil. Remove from heat immediately.
- Once the cream has come to a boil, pour through a sieve over the chopped chocolate.
- Without stirring, leave bowl alone, allowing the hot cream to melt chocolate for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth.
- On your serving platter, place a small dollop of frosting. Place first cake layer on top of it.
- Cover top of cake layer with frosting and place next layer of cake on top of frosting, gently pressing into place. Top with a layer of frosting. Repeat with third layer.
- Thinly ice cake top and sides and place in refrigerator to chill.
- Once chilled, with remaining frosting, completely frost cake top and sides, making top level and sides as smooth as possible. If available, a bench scraper (knife) and a turn table are very helpful tools to use.
- Once cake is frosted, pour spoonfuls of the ganache around outside top edge of cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. There is no right or wrong way to do this. I put extra ganache on the plate next to the cake to secure the cake in place and finish the bottom edge.
- When sides are completed to your satisfaction, pour ganache onto the center of the cake, allowing it to fill the top of the cake. Smooth with the back of a spoon or an inverted spatula. If your ganache starts to harden during this process, warm up for a few seconds in a microwave and stir well before continuing.
- Once ganache is set, if desired sprinkle cake with powdered sugar and decorate.
- Refrigerate cake until serving.
This Sugar Plum Fairy Cake recipe is organic, gluten free and vegetarian.
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