Geode Cake Recipe
Geode cakes are stunningly decorated layer cakes meant to mimic the famous natural formation of rock and precious and semiprecious stones. Pieces of the finished and frosted cake are cut out, and then the cavity is filled with edible crystals made out of rock candy. Although it might seem like a lot of work, it actually isn't much more than making a layered and frosted cake, especially if you're buying the rock candy and not making it (you could, using isomalt). Use loose rock candy or the classic rock candy on a stick—just remove it from the stick before arranging it on the cake.To make a realistic geode cake, decide on your favorite color palette for the geode. Start by selecting the main color of the stones—any hue will be beautiful. Purchase either a lighter shade of that same color or white rock candy to help create the ombré effect similar to that of real rock formations. Finally, purchase edible gold dust, gold shimmer sprinkles, or flakes to paint around the edges of the geode formation.The amount of candy needed depends on how much you'd like to use on the cake and on how many cutouts you want it to have. The best course of action is to place enough candy to cover all the surfaces without crowding them. Rock candy crystals come in bags of one pound or more, so you'll get enough for this three-layer cake when you buy a one-pound bag each of colored and white candy. For easy decoration, we suggest you have at hand an offset spatula and food tweezers to easily frost the cake and place the rock candy in its place.
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cup sugar
- 4 pic large eggs
- 3 cup cake flour, sifted
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Buttercream Frosting:
- 2 (1-pound) boxes confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 6-8 tablespoons milk, divided
- 1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- To begin, preheat your oven to 350 F and make sure to grease and flour three 8-inch-round baking pans. If you don't have three pans, you can bake each layer separately, one at a time.
- Next, in a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. You can do this by hand or use a standing mixer with the paddle attachment.
- Add the eggs one at a time to the creamed mixture, making sure to beat well after each addition.
- In another large bowl, mix together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Alternate adding the flour mixture to the butter mixture with the milk and vanilla extract, making sure to mix well after each addition until you have a smooth batter. It's important not to overbeat.
- Once the batter is smooth, divide it evenly into the three prepared pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- After baking, let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Then remove the layers from the pans and allow them to cool completely on wire racks for 1 to 2 hours. The cakes need to be completely cold before you can start frosting them.
Notes
Nutrition Information:
- 650 Calories
- 33g Fat
- 83g Carbs
- 6g Protein
