My grandmother is just about the most awesome 92 year old around. I can say that because (a) she is really awesome; and (b) not that many people live to their 90s, let alone stay so active. So to celebrate her 92nd year of awesomeness, Jessica and I made her a Rose cake (since her name is Rose). Actually, Jessica made the cake and then I snuck in at the last second to just help decorate.
Jessica assembled one of the most delicious cakes I’ve had in a long time. It’s called a White Velvet cake and the recipe is from The Cake Bible
After frosting the cake, she added a light hash pattern.
We bought some marzipan from the baking supply store, along with some high quality food coloring. We are anti-food coloring, however, there is no getting around using it for some baking, without jumping through lots of hoops. So we limit it to just minor decorating, that can easily be avoided while eating.
I rolled some of the marzipan with a few drops of the “Super Red” and thoroughly mixed it to get a nice even, bright red. I rolled a smaller knob of the marzipan with a few drops of the “Forest Green” and mixed it enough to get a good marbled effect. I wanted the leaves to look variegated.
To create leaves I rolled the red into a log and sliced it into eight pieces. Then I laid a folded kitchen towel on the cutting board, then I put some plastic wrap, a piece of the marzipan, and then more plastic wrap. I pressed and rubbed the marzipan through the plastic wrap with the back of a spoon until I got a great petal shape.
I rolled one of the petals tightly to form the center of the rose bud. Then I wrapped petal by petal around the center. Finally, I pinched and twisted the bottom of the bud to pull the petals in. I used a knife to smooth the petals and pull them open a bit.
The same process was used to make two leaves and a smaller rose bud. We sat them in the frosting.
We rolled some of the left over green marzipan into a very thin column shape. Then formed a good size ‘R’ on the cake (for “rose”).
Everyone seemed to enjoy the cake. Sabrina and Justin both seemed to really enjoy the marzipan. And I loved the cake, I cleaned up lots of leftovers.
If you get a chance to play with some marzipan, you should! It’s like Play-doh!
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ooh your grandma has such sweet grandchildren for baking her that beautiful cake!
I love my grandma as well. She is turning 90 this year. This cake looks amazing. So beautiful.
adult play-doh. more specifically, a baker’s play-doh. i like it, and i love the entire cake!
The cake was delicious. The name white velvet did throw us off though as we expected the texture of a red velvet cake. The icing flavored with real raspberries was a treat.
Beautiful cake! I love the roses, especially.
Guys, That is some beautiful cake. Those roses are works of art. (works of Lon?) Great going!