Valentines Day Cake!!! (can Be Used for Anniversary's or Proposals)

For Valelintines Day ... most people get chocolates... flowers and hugs... or take there spouse out for dinner.

this Valentines Day... get them something that makes even old dead roses look Beautiful!!! again.



for this Instructable we are going to teach you how to do many things.

1. make a cake 
     this cake will be red velvet cake with cream cheese icing 
2. ice and fondant the cake
     we will show you how to crum coat and ice the cake plus rolling and laying the fondant
3. make roses for decoration out of fondant
     we will show you how to make different sized roses for boarders, lettering and just for decoration... and fondant letters and
royal icing letters
4. make our loved one that much more loved
     i promise it will work

Red Velvet Cake

 4 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
4 1/2 cups sugar
6 lg. eggs
 3 tsp. vanilla
 6 tbs. cocoa
6 tbs. red food coloring
6 tbs. water
 7 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp. salt.
 3 cups buttermilk
 3 tsp. baking soda
 3 tbs. vinegar.



Cream Cheese Icing
r 2 sticks butter  
16 oz. softened cream cheese
2 tbs. milk
8 cups powdered sugar

Fondant Roses and Cake
5lb box of fondant 
soft gel food color- Red Red & leaf green
red shimmer/luster dust

Royal Icing
3 level tbs. meringue powder
4 cups of powdered sugar
6 tbs. water

red velvet cake isnt your normal cake... it needs a little more work done to it to make it more aerated and fluffy

recipe makes 3- 2inch cakes


red velvet cake-
preheat oven to 350


in large bowl Cream together 4 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, 4 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add 6 lg. eggs & beat 1 more minute. Add 3 tsp. vanilla and mix well.
in small bowl combine 6 tbs. cocoa, 6 tbs. red food coloring & 6 tbs. water. beat into the egg mixture.
In another bowl combine 7 1/2 cups of flour & 3 tsp. salt.
Alternating, add flour mixture and 3 cups buttermilk into butter mixture.
in small bowl combine 3 tsp. baking soda & 3 tbs. vinegar.
Add to batter and mix until well blended.
Bake 35 minutes
spray a 12 inch pan- the best is either wiltons or bakers joy
fill pan about half way with the batter.....and bake
when toothpick comes out clean, cake is done.
flip out onto wire rack to cool completely.

while cakes r baking, make the icing...

cream cheese icing
Cream together 2 sticks butter & 16 oz. softened cream cheese until smooth. Add 2 tbs. milk and & 8 cups powdered sugar. Beat on high until smooth.

Use a piece of paper or cake board and cut out a heart shape.

once cakes r cool.....

use a cake or bread knife to level the top of the cakes
then place the heart cutout on top of cake and cut.
Flip the cake over onto a 12 inch cake board, so that the bottom of the cake is now the top
ice the top of the cake
flip over 2nd cake onto the 1st cake
and ice the top, repeat with third cake. Once the top of third cake is iced,
in the pictures you will see we also iced the sides of the cake before each layer was finished... this was done by choice. its up to you how you want to do it.
start on the sides of the cake. Ice just enough to get a thin layer of icing, also called a crumb coat..

Once that is complete, put in fridge to get nice and firm.
Once the icing is nice and firm take out of fridge and and a little thicker coat of icing.

Knead one box of fondant ( put shortening on hands to relieve stickiness) Using toothpicks to add the food coloring to the fondant.
I used Red Red.....
Knead the color until it is all mixed well. using a big rolling pin roll the fondant out until it is bigger than the cake ( i usually measure the across the top and sides of cake, and roll it out to that).
Roll the fondant up on the rolling pin, unravel fondant onto the cake. use a cake smoother to smooth out the top of cake.
For the sides of the cake, use the side of one hand to work up and down the sides and use the other hand to gently pull the fondant out, while smoothing at the same time.
Once it is all smoothed out cut off excess with a sharp knife or a exact o knife

Fondant Roses

Make to small balls of fondant, Roll each ball into a teardrop shape and stick bigger end on toothpick. Let dry.
Next roll out fondant to paper thin....using the small flower cutter, cut out 2-3 flowers for each rose.
Using exact o knife cut slits in the flowers, move flower to thin foam pad and using the "ball" tool,
roll out the edges of each pedal to where they "crinkle" 
flip the flower over onto the thicker foam pad and gently press the middle of the flower with the "ball" tool.
Put the flower in your hand and add a little water with a paint brush in center of flower,
now grab a teardrop and put it through the center of the flower.
add water to the pedals, and alternate, wrapping the pedals until all are wrapped around the teardrop.
With a toothpick, gently seperate the pedals on top to look like rose.
Repeat with the next small flower.
Now Repeat the process using the big flower cutter.
The bigger the rose the more flowers you need to cut out.
Put roses in a small cupped shape holder to hold the roses shape.
To make the flowers along the bottom border of the cake, Cut out several small flowers, now cut the flowers into pedals.....
roll the pedals into small balls, and then into a small teardrop. using only one small flower, repeat the same steps, cut slits ( not all the way through) place in hand and wrap around teardrop.....Using a knife or scissors cut off some of the base of the flower, so it is a little shorter......Done.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
Happy is done by rolling strips of fondant and shaping into letters

for Valentines i used royal icing....using a piping bag & tip

to make royal icing
Beat together 3 level tbs. meringue powder, 4 cups of powdered sugar & 6 tbs. water on high speed until icing forms peaks.
( the more water you use the thinner it will be, Add more powdered sugar to make it thicker. Also royal icing will become very hard fast, so while working on other things make sure to cover it up with a damp cloth or paper towell.)

for Day, cut out several small flowers once again and cut to seperate the pedals, move pedals to thin foam pad and smooth out the tips of the pedals. now flip pedal over and roll it into a spiral. Set aside and repeat for the rest of the border. Once the tiny roses are a little drier, using a knife or scissors and cut off some of the base of the flower, so that they are flatter on the bottom.

Green flower stems
color a small amount of fondant green. Roll out paper thin and cut out leaf flowers. Put a dab of water in center and place a Rose in the center. Wrap the leaf pedals up the rose, And use toothpick to curl out the tip of the leaf base. Repeat on rest of rosed.

Use water to apply the roses to the cake.
Grab a different paint brush & red shimmer dust.
"paint" the dust on top of the roses and blow off excess.
Add shimmer dust to top and sides of cake to add a little sparkle.

this last step is more about presentation.

most times when you order a cake they ask you "what would you like it to say" then they just pipe it on... 

i am not saying it doesnt look bad... but take a look at the two ways we did this cake... and you be the judge.

also on the piped version we did a dry look and on the flowered version we did a gloss look on the cake

the dry look is what fondant looks like when you are done with it... the gloss look is done by using a steamer or air compressor with a spray gun... 

the two different looks bring out two different effects... and makes it seem like two different cakes

you could also use flowers on the border with out green behind them... or dont use flowers at all... there are different combinations to create the effect you want

to be a good decorator you need to know a head of time what you think will be visually appealing to you

but... it always helps to try different things

we really hope you enjoyed ours... and good luck on your cake


you can change even the colors of the cake... as you can see on some of these other cakes of the same 

enjoy