Best Sunny Flower Cake Recipes

SUNFLOWER CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake: Position the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottoms and sides of two 8-inch round cake pans.
• Prepare the cake batter according to the package instructions. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Let cool in the pans about 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks and let cool completely.
• For the frosting: Meanwhile, combine the butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, salt and 3 tablespoons milk the in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a handheld electric mixer). Mix on low speed until mostly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and mix until smooth, adding more milk as necessary to make a spreadable frosting.
• Transfer 1 cup of the frosting to a small bowl and tint with the brown gel food coloring. Scrape the brown frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch plain round tip (number 804).
• Tint the remaining frosting with the lemon yellow and golden yellow gel food coloring. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain round tip (number 803) with 3 cups of the yellow frosting.
• Cover the remaining yellow frosting (about 3 1/4 cups) with plastic warp and reserve for frosting the cake.
• To assemble: Place one cake layer upside down on an extra-large cutting board or platter (at least 20-by-14-inches). Using a serrated knife, cut the other cake layer into 8 wedges. Lightly trim the rounded side of each wedge so it is flat; discard the trimmings. Arrange the wedges around the cake, trimmed side against the cake, to create a sunflower shape.
• Pipe a circle of yellow frosting around the center cake to create a 1/2-inch border.
• Spread the reserved yellow frosting in the bowl evenly over the top and sides of the cake, (including the petals), leaving the circle inside the piped border unfrosted.
• Pipe a continuous spiral of brown frosting inside the 1/2-inch yellow border, starting at the edge of the border and working in towards the middle until the center of the cake is filled.
• Place one brown candy on its edge in the center of the brown frosting. Place a second candy next to it, leaving a candy-size space between. Continue to place candies around the center, working out towards the edge and arranging the successive rows of candies in the spaces between the previous rows until the center of the cake is filled.
• Holding the pastry bag with the remaining yellow frosting at a 45-degree angle, pipe a small dollop of frosting on the edge of one of the cake petals, stopping and pulling the bag off the dollop to create a tip. Repeat the dollops, working out toward the tip of the petal until the petal is filled. Repeat with the remaining petals. Slice the cake and serve.

MINI SUNFLOWER CAKES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. Grease and lightly flour cups of sunflower mini pan, or spray pan with baking spray with flour.
• Make cake batter as directed on box, adding food color to batter. Pour batter into pan, filling each cup about three-fourths full.
• Bake 18 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pan to cooling rack, placing sunflower side up. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the chocolate chips onto center of each cake. After chips melt slightly, spread chocolate with knife. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Store loosely covered.

SUMMER SOLSTICE SUNSET CAKE

Steps:

• Special Equipment Needed:.
• Gel food coloring (I used Americolor gels Electric Pink, Electric Yellow, Electric Blue, Watermelon Red, Tulip Red, and Orange); piping bags; a large star piping tip (Wilton 2D is one of my favorites!); a bench scraper; an extra-tall cake scraper (optional).
• Bake Your Cake:.
• Preheat your oven to 350°C Prepare four 6-inch-round, 3-inch-deep (6"x3") cake pans by greasing with shortening, placing a baking paper round on the base, greasing again, and flouring.
• In a medium-size bowl, combine your egg whites, whole eggs, 1/2 cup of your milk, and vanilla and whisk to combine. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine your cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix on low speed for a few minutes until combined.
• Add in your butter and keep mixing. Stream in your remaining 1 1/2 cups milk, half a cup at a time, continuing to beat on the lowest speed. Raise the speed to medium and continue to beat for about 1 minute.
• Scrape your bowl, and then return the batter to low speed. Add your egg mixture in three batches, allowing each to incorporate fully before adding the next. Scrape again and mix briefly.
• Divide your cake batter into four portions. Tint the first portion a deep raspberry color using Watermelon Red gel color and Electric Pink with just a small touch of Electric Blue. Color the second portion sunset orange with Orange, a bit of Watermelon Red, and a bit of Electric Pink. Tint the third portion a deeper pink with Electric Pink and a touch of Watermelon Red, and the last portion a lighter pink with Electric Pink an a touch of orange.
• Spoon your batter into your pans, swirling up to two colors together in each pan if you want a swirlier look, although you can also just do one color per pan!
• Bake your cakes for roughly 30-35 minutes, but keep an eye on them starting at minute 25. You'll know they're baked through when you press down in the center of each cake and it springs back. You can also insert a cake tester, and it should come out completely clean.
• Remove your cakes from the oven and allow to come to room temperature on a rack. Then, I like to wrap them up in plastic and put them in the fridge for at least half an hour, preferably overnight before I remove them from the pans. The cakes should be cold all the way through before attempting to trim them.
• Prepare Your Buttercream:.
• Whip up some buttercream using the recipe linked in the ingredients list. You will need to make one and a half times the listed recipe.
• Divide your buttercream into three equal portions. Set one of these portions aside.
• Split one of the two portions you're working with in half, and color one part fiery red using Americolor Tulip Red and the other part a peachy pink with Electric Pink, Watermelon Red, and the tiniest bit of Electric Blue.
• Color the entirety of the second half a warm yellow using Electric Yellow and a touch of Tulip Red.
• Divide the one portion of buttercream you'd set aside earlier into three smaller portions. Color each portion a different shade of orange to create an ombre effect that ranges from your yellow and your fiery red that you just finished mixing. Use Electric Yellow, Tulip Red, and Orange to achieve this.
• Stack Your Base:.
• Level and torte each of your 4 cakes in half. Take three layers total and stack these first, spreading a thin layer of pink buttercream between the cake layers. Set in the fridge or freezer for about 10 minutes until the buttercream hardens up.
• Now you're going to create the rays of the sun in this section of cake. It's tricky, so work patiently and take your time! Take your cake out of the fridge and, using a small, sharp paring knife, cut into the cake, inserting the knife halfway the side of the cake at about a 25° angle. Without using a sawing motion at all, pull the knife through the cake as you rotate it on your turntable, creating a cone shape that you're cutting into your cake.
• Pop the top of the cake out and set it aside. Spread a thin layer of yellow buttercream onto the exposed insides of the cake, then replace the top portion and gently press it into the buttercream to adhere. Place in the fridge or freezer for another 10 minutes to let it firm up again.
• Repeat this step twice more, although the second time you'll move your knife up to just inside the circumference of the top of the cake and hold it at a 45° angle, and the third time you'll move your knife to a little over halfway along the radius of the top of the cake and hold it at a 65° angle. Make sure to rest the cake in the fridge or freezer between each cut to firm up the yellow buttercream!
• Finally, flip that section of cake upside down and use that paring knife to carve a shallow dome into the exposed base of the cake. I used a spoon to press the cake down into a smoother dome shape after cutting.
• Fill the dome completely with yellow buttercream and freeze or refrigerate again.
• Begin stacking your remaining layers of cake on your cake board or plate, layering a small amount of pink buttercream between every cake layer. Reserve the final layer and set aside.
• Grab your cake segment with the sun inside and flip it over onto the layers of cake you've been building up so that the sun dome is resting on the layers of cake below. Add a thin layer of pink buttercream on top of this segment and cap it with that final reserved layer of cake. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.
• Decorate the Base:.
• Place your red and orange buttercreams into piping bags. Scoop about a half cup of your remaining yellow buttercream into a piping bag as well. Cut the tips off the bags to create a hole 1/8th of an inch wide on each.
• Place the remainder of your yellow buttercream in a piping bag fitted with your large star tip and set aside.
• Remove your stacked cake from the fridge and trim away the brown sides of the cake. Then, pipe your yellow buttercream in rings rising up the base of the cake until it reaches roughly 1/5th of the way up the sides.
• Repeat with your ombre of orange buttercream, working your way up the sides of the cake, and finish with your red buttercream taking it all the way to the top, then covering the top of the cake entirely.
• Use your bench scraper to gently smooth the sides of the cake, holding it completely still at the base while you spin your turntable, cleaning it off, then moving it up towards the top and repeating. You will create smooth stripes of color that barely blend into each other.
• Smooth out the top of the cake with a small offset spatula, then, if you have one, use your extra tall cake scraper to smooth the sides one more time to create a perfectly cohesive smooth look. Tidy up the lip of buttercream at the top of the cake with your offset.
• Pipe frilly poofs of yellow buttercream with your star tip at the top of the cake, then add your sprinkles.
• Slice Your Cake:.
• Cut slices from your cake, either one at a time or, for a grand effect, remove an entire half of the cake at once to reveal the full sunset effect!

PEEPS SUNFLOWER CAKE

Steps:

• Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions, using two parchment-lined and greased 9-in. round baking pans. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks; remove paper. Cool completely., If cake layers have rounded tops, trim with a long serrated knife to make level. Spread frosting between layers and over top and sides of cake. , For petals, arrange Peeps around edge of cake, curving slightly and being careful not to separate chicks. For sunflower seeds, arrange chocolate chips in center of cake.

SUNFLOWER CAKE

Steps:

• Using a palette knife, frost 1 of the 9-inch cakes with the chocolate frosting. Frost the sides first, building extra frosting at the top of the sides. Then, frost the top. Since this part of the cake is supposed to look like the center of a sunflower, the frosting should not be smooth, but should swirl into peaks. To create this swirled, peaked effect, lightly run the palette knife through the frosting and gently pull up. Using a spatula place the cake in the center of a platter that is at least 20-inches by 20-inches or you can use a piece of cardboard that is covered with foil.
• To create the petals: Using a serrated knife, cut the second 9-inch cake in half. Then, cut each of the halves in half again. You should have 4 triangles. Cut each of these 4 triangles in half again to create 8 triangular pieces. Using a paring knife, trim each of the eight petals to curve slightly inward so they hug the outside of the center of the cake. Be careful not to trim off too much. Start at the corner of the curved edge, and trim a slightly rounded arc that ends at the opposite corner of the rounded edge. Using the yellow frosting and a small spatula or palette knife, frost the top and 2 sides. There is no need to frost the curved edge. Once the pieces are frosted, place them around the cake. Looking at the cake as though it was a clock, place the petals at 12, 3, 6 and 9. Place the remaining four petals in between 12 and 3, in between 3 and 6, in between 6 and 9 and in between 9 and 12.

SUNFLOWER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with shortening or cooking spray. Make cake batter as directed on box--except stir chocolate chips into batter. Reserve 1 cup batter. Pour remaining batter into pans. Stir cocoa into reserved 1 cup batter. Drop chocolate batter by tablespoonfuls randomly onto batter in pans. Cut through batter with knife for marbled design.
• Bake 27 to 32 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around edges to loosen cakes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Place 1 cake round on large serving plate. Cut remaining cake into 8 triangles; place around cake pointed sides out to look like sunflower petals.
• In medium bowl, stir white frosting and tube of yellow gel food color until well blended. Frost sides and top of cake with yellow frosting. Sprinkle petals with yellow sugar. For sunflower seeds, pipe black decorating icing in center round of cake, using star tip. Make small bee using decorating icing. Store loosely covered at room temperature.