Pink Lemonade Hydrangea Rose Cake and Cupcake Tutorial

Hydrangea Rose cake and matching cupcakes.  Flavor you ask? Pink Lemonade with Raspberry preserves filling and pink lemonade butter cream frosting.

Update: 07/17/11. Finally, I’m posting the tutorial on the cake and cupcakes. I had this almost typed and posted once, and it disappeared into oblivion when I went to post it and I lost everything. I just didn’t have the strength to re-type it again that same day.  Sorry for the delay.

South Florida is a really great place to live. It’s literally paradise. Though, I have to admit that I miss the Mid West and gardening in the spring and summer. It’s just not the same here. A whole different region and zone for gardening.

I used to live for spring when I could get out into my yard and start nurturing my rose bushes and hydrangeas. It was my passion. In the summer, when the roses and hydrangeas were in full bloom, I would bring the flowers in and arrange them in a vase and place them atop my fireplace mantle. I could stare at them all day. *sigh*

I love them so much in fact, these two flowers were the wedding bouquet I chose for my second marriage, unfortunately the marriage didn’t last as long as my love for these flowers.

It was a blessing in disguise really, but that’s not what this post is about. It’s about my inspiration for this Pink Lemonade Hydrangea Cake with matching cupcakes.

I regularly scan Youtube videos on cake and icing techniques and ran into this instructional video on piping hyrdrangeas on cupcakes. I knew I had to try it as soon as I saw a cupcake could easily become one of my favorite flowers.  And it is so easy. It really is. The secret is all in the piping tip you use (Wilton 2D large drop flower tip.)  A monkey could do it. Not that I’m calling you a monkey.

Hydrangea Rose Cake:

I adapted this Pink Lemonade recipe from A Little Loveliness. I decided also to fill mine with raspberry preserves and make them even more delectable.  I used one cake box and yielded one 9 inch round cake and 8 cupcakes.

Once you have your cake and cupcakes baked and cooled, it’s time to have some fun. Let’s focus on the cupcakes first. Take a disposable piping bag and the Wilton long filling tip and fill the bag with the raspberry preserves. Fill the centers with the preserves like so.

Take some of your pink icing and fill a disposable piping bag, attach a Wilton 2D large drop flower tip and fill bag with the butter cream frosting.  Hold bag at a slight angle. Start around the outside of the cupcake and work your way into the middle, just like the video above demonstrates.

After every couple of cupcakes or so, place your pink sugar pearls in the middle of the flower with a pair of tweezers. Doing this early allows the pearls to take before the frosting starts to stiffen and dry.

Next, it’s time to decorate the cake. Take a serated long knife and cut the cake carefully in half. I used the knife and a flat spatula to lift the top of the cake off. Use the pink frosting bag and go around the edges of the cake with the frosting to make a damn to hold the preserves in.

Fill the middle with preserves. I used the long tip and then spread out the preserves with a butter knife.

Replace the top of the cake. Don’t trim off the top of the cake, as you want the rounded top to create the round shape of a hydrangea.

It’s time to do an icing crumb coat, and place your rosettes on the cake.  Pick where you want to place them and use the same pink frosting and tip that you used for piping the hydrangea. Here’s a great tutorial for piping rosettes.

Now you’re ready to start piping the hydrangea technique. I started on the top of the cake.

Stop every so often be sure to add your off white sugar pearls to the center of your flowers. Once the top is done I piped around the bottom of the cake where it meets the cake stand. I did two rows of hydrangeas on the side.

That’s it. Start showcasing your masterpiece.

Your guests will be in awe of your creation at your next entertaining event.

I’d love to see your cake or cupcakes or both. Please come back and leave a link or picture.

d

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Sherri @ TheKitchenPrescriptiondotcom

Prep time: 3 hours 30 mins

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 3 hours 42 mins

Serves: 16

Wow your guests at your next entertaining event with this lovely cake and cupcakes combination.

Ingredients

• CAKE AND CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS:
• 1 box Duncan Hines white cake mix
• Ingredients cake mix calls for
• 3 tablespoons Country Time Pink Lemonade Sweetened Drink Mix
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• pinch of salt
• FILLING:
• 1-2 Jars of Raspberry preserves (depending on how much or little you desire)
• BUTTER CREAM FROSTING INGREDIENTS:
• 10 Tablespoons salted butter room temperature
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soft light cream cheese
• 2-3 pounds confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4-6 tablespoons Country Time Pink Lemonade concentrate (thawed)
• 1 tablespoon heaving whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• OTHER ITEMS YOU WILL NEED:
• White sugar pearls (can be purchased at Michaels in the baking section)
• Pink sugar pearls
• Wilton Rose gel/paste coloring (keeps from thinning out your butter cream)
• Icing Whitener (I always have this on hand as the butter and cream cheese tend to make the color off white, which is ok for this this cake.)
• Wilton Sky Blue and Lemon Yellow gel/paste coloring

Instructions

1. CAKE AND CUPCAKE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
3. add pink lemonade sweetened drink mix
4. add lemon zest
5. add pinch of salt
6. mix with stand mixer or hand mixer
7. Pour batter into 9 inch greased and lightly floured non stick cake pan
8. Bake until a toothpick come out clean
9. BUTTER CREAM FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS:
10. Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth
11. add about 3/4 lbs of confectioners sugar
12. add whipping cream
13. add 2 tablespoons of thawed pink lemonade concentrate
14. add lemon zest
15. mix and keep adding confectioners sugar a little at a time incorporating the rest of the pink lemonade concentrate.
16. If frosting is too runny add more confectioners sugar
17. If too stiff add more pink lemonade concentrate
18. Now take some of the frosting in a separate container or bowl and mix in the rose gel coloring until you get the rose color you desire
19. Don’t mix the cake color frosting until after you do your crumb coat (see below)
20. Once that is done then mix a very tiny bit of the sky blue and a touch of yellow gel/paste and whitener to get that hint of yellow green hydrangea color
21. Its best to mix the color separately until you get the color you desire then add to frosting.