Have you seen the amazing number cakes on Pinterest and Instagram and wondered how you can bake your own?  When The Northern Kiln celebrated our first birthday in January 2022, I wanted to have a fancy cake to celebrate.  Despite knowing a local bakery would have made something incredibly delicious, I decide to take a risk and bake my own!

Many of the photos and recipes I found online had a cookie base with stiff meringue between the layers.  Without knowing how this would taste, I continued searching and found some examples using traditional cake and buttercream icing.

Baking A Number Cake

I decided to use boxed cake mix to make the process easier for me.  I wanted to focus my attention on the design without stressing about baking the cake from scratch.  Two boxes of mix filled my 15" x 12" pan.  The top did crack while baking but it wasn't an issue because it had to be cut either way to provide an even surface.

Cut A Number Cake

When creating a multiple layer cake it is very important to have very flat, level surfaces.  As your cake bakes the top will naturally round so using a serrated knife (I found a large bread knife did a great job) cut off the top of the cake for a level surface.  Once the top is off, cut the cake into two pieces as you will need to cut out two numbers.

To create the number itself, I first created a stencil by drawing a Number One on a piece of paper and cutting it out.  I set my first half of cake onto a cutting board and I laid the stencil over the cake and secured it using toothpicks and then proceeded to cut around the stencil with the bread knife.  I repeated this process for the second piece of cake that would be my top layer.

Decorating A Number Cake

Before you begin decorating, make sure that you move the bottom layer to the serving platter as it won't be easy to move once you've begun.  I used my Starry Night Serving Platter from Muraï Céramique.

Using a piping bag and a #10 piping tip, I created a layer of buttercream balls.  I didn't ice right at the edges because I didn't want the icing to squish out once the top layer was added.

Once the bottom layer was done I gently placed the top layer ontop of the buttercream.  Thankfully the form of the buttercream balls stayed intact, even with slight pressure applied to the top layer.

To decorate the top, I created the buttercream roses first with a 2D tip.  I then added the macarons (add a drop of buttercream where you intend to place the macarons so they have something to stick to) and then I alternated between tips to fill in the rest of the cake.  Lastly I placed the fruit and added pearl sprinkles.  Ta-Da!

February 06, 2022 — Rhiane Heslop