Beauty and the Beast Cake

Every year I make my mom's birthday cake, so I always try to think of different ways to decorate it special for her. This year, I decided to go with her favorite Disney movie: Beauty and the Beast. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen it already when I posted about it there! I knew I didn't want to get too crazy with it since I don't have the time and I'm not too advanced in the decorating department. Luckily, I remembered that the logo from the Broadway show is fairly simple and pretty much just line work. I decided this would be perfect for what I was looking to do.

Even though this cake is really simple, it still took quite some time to actually make and decorate. I think I made the frosting a little too thick this time so it took longer to apply evenly. I also had an egg crisis that took me about 20 minutes to move past. I only had 5 eggs left, which was exactly the number I needed. Of course, I ended up breaking one of them and it was late in the evening, so I didn't want to go to the store. I ended up substituting 1/4 cup of vegetable oil after some quick Googling and the cake came out fine. Problem solved.

The actual design was my favorite part to do. I specifically bought a #1 Wilton decorating tip for the job. I already had some disposable decorating bags in a cupcake kit I had received as a gift. I bought a coupler, but didn't end up using it. I didn't have the patience to figure out how to use it. Just the bag and the decorating tip worked fine, though. I just cleaned the decorating tip between frosting colors for the design. For the green, I used canned icing since it was only a small amount that I needed. I had the picture of the logo up for reference as I drew it so that I could follow the line strokes. I drew it by hand with pencil before even deciding to make the cake just to be sure it would look decent.

Beauty and the Beast Cake (Fluffy Vanilla Cake)
Source: Sweetapolita

Ingredients:

For the Cake:
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into cubes

For the Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lb. powdered sugar
1-3 teaspoons milk (depending on how creamy you like your frosting)
Wilton's Icing Colors, in rose petal, brown, and red

For Decorating:
Wilton #1 Decorating Tip
2 decorating bags
Betty Crocker Decorating Cupcake Icing in green (optional if you don't want to use the buttercream frosting and green dye for such a small amount)

Directions:

For the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the pan and set aside. In a medium bowl or measuring cup, combine and stir the egg whites, 1/4 cup of milk, and the vanilla. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir the dry ingredients together on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and remaining milk, and mix on low speed until just moistened. Increase to medium speed and mix for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and begin to add the egg mixture in 3 separate batches; beat on medium speed for 20 seconds after each addition.

Pour the batter into the pan, spreading it evenly. Bake 25-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes clean when inserted into the center. Be so careful to not over-bake. Check cake at 20 minutes, but not before, and once you feel it's almost ready, set the timer for 2 minute intervals. If you're going to take the cake out of the pan, let it cool on a rack for 10 minutes before loosening the sides with a small metal spatula, and invert onto greased wire racks. Gently turn the cake back up, so the top is up. If you want to leave the cake in the pan, then just set it on a potholder or rack and allow it to cool. Let it cool completely before frosting it.

If you plan on baking ahead of time, wrap the cake tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days, refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 2 months. It is best eaten the same day as baked.

For the Buttercream Frosting:

Using a mixer, cream softened butter and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar gradually, allowing butter and sugar to cream together before adding more.

If you want your frosting a little creamier, add a teaspoon of milk at a time and beat on high until you get the right texture. Separate a small portion of the frosting to use for the design and an even smaller portion for the rose in the design. Use rose petal (pink) icing color to tint the frosting. Use brown for the larger of the separated portions and red for the rose portion.

For the Beauty and the Beast Design:
Put the #1 decorating tip into the decorating bag and fill the bag with the brown frosting (You will have to cut a little but off the tip of the bag to make the decorating tip sit right). You might want to test some lines on a paper towel before actually starting on the cake just to make sure everything is coming out right and so you get the hang of it. I started at the top with the Beast's mane. Carefully draw the outline of the Beast, following the picture of the Beauty and the Beast logo as a guide. Once the Beast is done, continue using the brown frosting for the stems of the rose.

Once you have done all of the brown parts of the design, take the decorating tip out of the bag (I used scissors to cut the bag open) and clean it out. Once it is clean and dry, put it into a new bag and fill the bag with the red frosting. Draw the rose part of the design, including the falling pedal! Use your choice of green frosting/icing to draw on the leaves, and then you're done!