Cakes, Food, Recipes

Strawberry and Coconut Ombré Cakes

I’ve always been intrigued but a little threatened by Ombré cakes, but when JJ from 84th and 3rd announced a new SABH challenge for Ombré, I knew I had to step up to the challenge.

So what is ombré, I hear you ask? Ombré is the French word for colour that is shaded or graduated in tone. The technique can be applied to hair, nails, and of course, cake.

Obviously I wanted these to be pretty, but I wanted them to stand out a little from the rest of the picture-perfect-made-for-pinterest cakes I have seen flooding the internet lately. So I thought, why not make them ombré in flavour too?

ombre-cakes

I had a little brainstorm and soon enough I had scribbled down a wonky drawing of a dessert idea. The top was a white coconut-flavoured cake, the next layer a pale pink with a subtle coconut flavour, then a darker pink  cake with a subtle strawberry flavour, and finished off with a dark pink and strongly flavoured strawberry base.

ombre-cakes-1

Strawberry and Coconut Ombré Cakes

5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 10
Author: Swah

Ingredients

Ombre Cakes

  • 230 g butter softened
  • cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs room temperature
  • 1 cup milk room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • cups self-raising flour
  • cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Coconut essence
  • Strawberry essence
  • Pink food colouring

Cream cheese icing

  • 4-5 cups sifted icing sugar
  • 100 g butter at room temperature
  • 250 g cream cheese at room temperature

Instructions

Ombre Cakes

  • Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 4 20cm round cake tins with baking paper and grease the sides.
  • Cream the butter with an electric mixer until smooth in a large bowl.
  • Gradually add the sugar and beat for 3 minutes until fluffy.
  • Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • Sift the 2 flours and salt into a separate bowl.
  • Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Do not overmix!
  • Divide the mixture into 4 separate bowls (I used digital scales for accuracy).
  • For the top layer, add no colouring and 1-2 tablespoons of coconut essence.
  • For the second layer, add a tiny drop of pink food dye and 1 teaspoon of coconut essence.
  • For the third layer, add more pink food dye and 1 teaspoon of strawberry essence.
  • For the bottom layer, add a generous amount of pink food dye and 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry essence. Try and stir each bowl as gently as possible.
  • Pour each batter into their lined cake tins and bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden brown.
  • Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Icing

  • Cream the butter and icing sugar together until well mixed.
  • Add the cream cheese in cubes slowly until incorporated. Continue mixing for 5 minutes until the icing is light and fluffy.

Assembly

  • Use a round cookie cutter (approx 10cm in diameter) to cut out 5 rounds per cake.
  • Place the dark pink strawberry cake on the bottom of your serving platter, and pipe a layer of cream cheese icing on the top. Place the second pink layer of pink and repeat the process, gently pressing down each layer.
  • Pipe a rose on the top of each ombre cake (I use the Wilton 1M tip) and ta da!

ombre-cakes-2

The flavours complemented each other perfectly and the cream cheese icing ensured it wasn’t sickly sweet.

ombre-cakes-4

And what about the cake offcuts? Well, I hate wasting food so I transformed the leftovers into cake pops! Stay tuned for the recipe next week. **Edit – check out the cake pop recipe here**

sabh

I can’t wait to see what everyone else created!

Previous Post Next Post

You Might Also Like

15 Comments

  • Reply Erika July 21, 2014 at 11:54 am

    Oh you killed it Swah! These babies are just gorgeous and I love that you made the flavours correspond with the intensity of the colours :)

  • Reply Mel July 21, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    These are great! I’m going to make them for my daughters first birthday party next month :)

  • Reply JJ - 84thand3rd July 21, 2014 at 6:52 pm

    So pretty, love that they are mini cakes! Glad you tackled your fear of ombre ;)

  • Reply GourmetGetaways July 22, 2014 at 9:43 am

    Oh these are so cute!!! Like you I love it when colours have flavour associated with them. The coconut and strawberry combination sounds delicious.
    Great pics too :)
    Julie
    Gourmet Getaways

  • Reply The Blonde Tourist July 22, 2014 at 12:12 pm

    Saw the start of this on your insta – so adorable and look delish! Can’t wait to see the cake pops too. BT x

  • Reply milkteaxx July 22, 2014 at 3:10 pm

    these are gorgeous!

  • Reply Sugar et al July 22, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    What lovely mini cakes! Strawberry and Coconut are a rocking combination.

  • Reply tania@ My Kitchen Stories July 22, 2014 at 5:47 pm

    Wow these look scrumptious just the kindof cake I love. aww I like all cake but these look sooo good

  • Reply Miss Sage Sugar July 23, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    These are just too cute! :)

  • Reply Strawberry and Coconut Cake Pops August 14, 2014 at 9:47 am

    […] in melted chocolate. I hate to waste food, and I had a lot of left over cake and icing from my Strawberry and Coconut Ombre Cakes. So cake pops were the logical […]

  • Reply Trish August 18, 2014 at 2:46 pm

    Love a good ombre!
    T x

    • Reply Swah August 21, 2014 at 12:11 pm

      Thanks Trish! xx

  • Reply Pearl - Pretty Mayhem August 25, 2014 at 1:24 pm

    I am in love with these ombre cakes, they’re so pretty! Off to pin it now :)

    • Reply Swah August 26, 2014 at 2:17 pm

      Glad you liked them Pearl! :)

  • Reply My Top 10 Recipes from 2014 January 5, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    […] 5. Strawberry and Coconut Ombre Cakes […]

  • Leave a Reply

    Recipe Rating