Pink Rays of Sunshine

Dull, dreary, wet, rainy, cold and miserable.  The weather and my mood.  It's February in the great Pacific Northwest and I'm sick of it.  Warmer shores and tropical sunshine are calling my name, but alas that dream is not in the budget. So, what's a girl to do? The first answer that comes to mind (my mind at least) is; bake!

Ruffles and ombre, two very popular themes in cakes and fashion are everywhere right now and I completely understand why.  Whimsical, light and feminine ruffles are a perfect match for cake, and the graduated, saturated color of ombre provides some really great visual interest; an unexpected surprise when you cut into that cake for the first time.

This was my first ombre attempt and I'm so glad I decided to make this a "practice" cake as I did encounter some difficulty. I struggled a bit to get the thin layers of tinted cake batter to bake evenly and the luscious fluffy whipped icing, while delicious made my layers slide around a bit.  Thus you'll notice it's looks a bit tipsy.  Cute, but tipsy.  It does however taste divine.

The icing is what some call a Seven Minute Icing, a fluffy meringue based icing that resembles marshmallow fluff in texture.  It's soft, light and unctuous. A delight to ice with and very easy to make.  I flavored it with a small amount of almond extract (my favorite) and tinted it the palest of pinks.  I'll make this cake again next week for a friend's daughters birthday and when I do I'll make it slightly smaller (6") and use a flat baking sheet to place the cake pans on while baking.  :)  Why is it that sheet pans warp over time?  One of life's great, but annoying mysteries.

The recipe for the cake and icing can be found here on this delightful blog; Just a Smidgen
http://justasmidgen.com/2012/01/24/pas-de-deux-blush-pink-ruffled-rainbow-layer-cake/

Two cake recipes are listed, I used the second one.  The icing is also the one used on the site, but actually belongs to Sweetapolita and can be found here:
http://sweetapolita.com/?s=angel+feather+icing

 Cake baking or baking of any sort is always a mood lifter and making this was no exception.  For now warmer shores and tropical climes will have to wait, but at least for me, the waiting can now be made a little sweeter.