Wicked Birthday Cake

This Wicked Birthday Cake is decorated with a yellow brick road down the center to divide an Elphaba side and a Glinda side. The Elphaba side features green buttercream, a witch hat, and a broom. The Glinda side is covered with pink buttercream, a silver crown, a silver wand, and iridescent bubbles.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 3

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 4 15

Servings

Calories 885kcal

Author Meghan

Equipment

3 8-inch round cake pans
3 Even Bake Cake Strips
Wooden skewers for cake supports
disposable piping bags
#2D piping tip
6B piping tip
round gold cake board
small fondant rolling pin
Plastic silver wand
Plastic bubbles
Metal silver crown
Emerald City cardstock cake topper

Ingredients

For the Hat and Broom:

black rolled fondant
powdered sugar

For the Cake:

3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut or Ghirardelli
1½ cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2½ cups all purpose flour see note
1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder not Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1¼ teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
1½ cups well-shaken buttermilk see note
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Buttercream:

50 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, see note
25 ounces powdered sugar see note
5 pinches table salt
2½ tablespoons vanilla extract
5 tablespoon heavy cream

For the Stabilized Whipped Cream:

4 teaspoons cold water
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For Cake Assembly and Decor:

35.2 ounces Amarena cherries in syrup
white rolled fondant
powdered sugar
yellow pink and green food coloring gel
green rock candy sticks
pink sugar pearls
edible silver stars
edible pink glitter
edible green glitter

Instructions

Make the Hat and Broom:

For the hat, roll a piece of parchment paper into a cone shape and secure it with masking tape.
Roll out some black fondant on a powdered sugar dusted cutting mat with a small fondant rolling pin to an even thickness.
Roll the fondant around the parchment cone and use a sharp paring knife to trim the excess, pressing together the fondant at the seam.
Use a large biscuit cutter to cut out a circle for the brim of the hat and press the cone on top to secure.
Roll out some black fondant into a thin rope and wrap it around the fondant cone to create the layered look of Elphaba's hat.
For the broom, wrap thinly rolled black fondant around a white drinking straw and cut the straw to fit the desired length of the broom.
Cut strings of fondant to make the broom bristles and gather them into a bunch, pushing the ends up into the straw and pressing the fondant at the end of the straw around the strings to secure.
Brush the surface of the hat and broom with a clear alcohol, such as Everclear, to dissolve the sugar and give them a finished appearance.
Allow the fondant to dry for at least a day before assembling the cake. If you use gum paste instead of fondant, you may not have to wait as long.

Make Cake Layers:

Preheat oven to 300°F. Spray pans with non-stick baking spray containing flour, such as Pam for Baking, or grease and flour the pans. To ensure the cakes do not stick to the pans, line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper and grease paper.
Finely chop chocolate and combine with hot coffee in a bowl. Let the mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate, 1½ cups hot brewed coffee
In a large bowl, sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3 cups sugar, 2½ cups all purpose flour, 1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, 1¼ teaspoons salt
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer).
3 large eggs
Add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate coffee mixture to eggs and whisk by hand until combined well. If you use a mixer for this step, go slow or the batter will spray out of the bowl.
¾ cup vegetable oil, 1½ cups well-shaken buttermilk, ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
Fold in the sugar mixture until just combined well. Batter will be very thin.
Divide batter among the pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Remove the pans from the oven to a cooling rack. Cool for 15 minutes.
Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove paper, if using, and cool the layers completely. The cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap and then in a resealable gallon bag, at room temperature.

Make the Buttercream:

In standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. NOTE: if using a hand-held mixer, increase mixing times by at least 50%.
50 tablespoons unsalted butter
Add powdered sugar and salt, and beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds.
25 ounces powdered sugar, 5 pinches table salt
Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla extract and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds.
2½ tablespoons vanilla extract, 5 tablespoon heavy cream
Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.
Use immediately or store in refrigerator. If refrigerated, allow frosting to come to room temperature before use.

Make the Whipped Cream:

Add the water to a microwave safe bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Allow to sit for 3 to 4 minutes.
4 teaspoons cold water, 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
Microwave the gelatin for just a few seconds until fully dissolved. Stir the mixture then strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
Combine the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the mixture until soft peaks form, then turn the mixer to low speed.
1 cup heavy cream, ¼ cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pour the gelatin mixture into the mixer slowly. Increase speed to medium and beat until stiff peaks form.

Assemble the Cake:

Fill a piping bag with the tip cut off with vanilla buttercream.
Place a round cake board on top of a spinning cake stand. Place pieces of waxed paper round the bottom edges of the board. Smear some buttercream in the center and place the first cake layer on top.
Pipe a border of buttercream around the top perimeter of the cake. This will serve as a barrier to prevent the whipped cream filling from spilling out the sides under the weight of the next 2 cake layers.
Add the whipped cream inside the border in an even layer.
Place the chopped cherries on top of the whipped cream with some of the syrup.
35.2 ounces Amarena cherries in syrup
Stack the second cake layer on top.
Repeat the process with the buttercream border and filling.
Place the final cake layer on top. Insert 3 wooden skewers into the cake so the layers do not slide. Make sure the skewers are about 1 inch shorter than the cake because will settle and compress, becoming shorter.
Add a crumb coat of buttercream using an offset spatula and a metal cake scraper while spinning the cake stand. A thicker layer is preferred here.
Set the cake aside, at room temperature, to make the yellow brick road.

Make the Yellow Brick Road:

Wearing food safe nitrile gloves, tint some white fondant with yellow food coloring gel by working the gel into the fondant with your hands.
Roll the fondant out using a small fondant rolling pin with guides to achieve an even thickness. Measure the height and diameter of your assembled cake with a ruler to know how long and wide to make the road. You will overlap the sides of the road with piped buttercream, but you want to make sure it's wide enough for the full effect.
Use a pastry wheel or sharp paring knife to make parallel horizontal lines down the entire length of the road.
Use a sharp paring knife to make the offset vertical lines to create an offset brick pattern.
Drape the fondant over the top and front side of the cake, pressing down gently to adhere it to the buttercream.

Make the W:

Print out a W in black and white from the Wicked: For Good logo on a piece of white cardstock. Make sure to measure how wide your yellow brick road is before deciding on a size of the W, taking into account that you will be piping buttercream onto the sides of the road. Cut out the W with scissors.
Roll some black fondant out in a thin layer.
Place the black W stencil on top and use a sharp paring knife to cut around the stencil.
To adhere the W to the yellow brick road, use royal icing or buttercream and press the W while holding to ensure it will stick.

Decorate the Cake:

Divide the remaining buttercream into each of two bowls. Tint one with green food coloring gel and the other with pink. Transfer the colored buttercream to disposable piping bags fitted with large star tips. I used a #6B for the green buttercream and a #2D for the pink.
Pipe on the green buttercream on the left side of the cake and the pink on the right. The Wicked logo sometimes has the colors reversed, so it's up to you which color goes on which side.
Sprinkle the green side with edible green glitter and the pink side with edible pink glitter, if desired.
Place the Emerald City cardstock cut out toward the back of the yellow brick road, facing the front of the cake.
Insert rock candy behind the Emerald city.
Press the broomstick into the green buttercream on the opposite side. I piped more green buttercream on top of the broom to make sure it didn't fall off.
Place the fondant witch hat on top of the green side of the cake.
Press a silver wand into the pink buttercream at the front of the cake.
Place the silver crown on the top of the cake, in the pink buttercream. You may overlap it onto the yellow brick road if you want.
Press the plastic cake bubbles into the pink buttercream on the sides and top of the cake.
If you want to add pink sugar pearls to the pink side, use tweezers to transfer the pearls to the buttercream.
To finish the cake, use Everclear or a clear alcohol to brush on the fondant yellow brick road and W to remove any white powdered sugar. This gives a more professional look.

Notes

For a gluten free cake: Use a measure for measure gluten free flour in place of all purpose flour.

Substitute for buttermilk: 1 cup of milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar, let sit for 5 minutes.

For the buttercream: using unsalted butter will allow you to control the overall salt in the recipe. I always use salted butter because I think the extra salt helps balance the sweetness.

25 ounces powdered sugar is equivalent to 6¼ cup

Source: Cake adapted from Epicurious.com, buttercream adapted from the America's Test Kitchen Complete TV Show Cookbook

Nutritional information is only an estimate and will vary based on your ingredients and substitutions.

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