A dream for little girls and boys: this moist, colorful cake with cream cheese buttercream is delicious and unique!
Taste and Occasion
Whether you're making this pink cake for kids' birthdays or a baby shower: You will be undoubtedly rewarded with shining eyes! Of course, the preparation takes some time. The recipe is also straightforward since it's a pink rainbow cake without fondant.
Admittedly, the result may seem a bit overwhelming for adults from a visual point of view 😉 . From experience, almost all children love such a pink buttercream cake. And we grown-ups are delighted with the wonderful taste: a super moist sponge cake meets delicious cream cheese buttercream.
Initially, it was supposed to be a pink girl's cake. Of course, you can bake it just as well for boys who are into those colors. Or you could just use different shades of blue. Our son ate the whole thing with great pleasure - and he didn't care exactly what the pink birthday cake looked like. As already mentioned, the creation is not an easy, quick sheet cake or muffins. You definitely need to calculate some time for the preparation.
Ingredients
Since I'm absolutely not a fan of motif cakes, however, I created a pink girl cake without fondant that any reasonably amateur baker can recreate without any problems. The girls' birthday cake consists of several layers of cake, made wonderfully moist with Greek yogurt.
For the filling and frosting, I opted for a buttercream with cream cheese, which is much " lighter " than the classic American one. Plus, my pink rainbow cake has only about half as much sugar as most similar recipes you'll find online or in baking books. Of course, this recipe is still no low-calorie snack 😉.
How to make the Pink Cake
First of all, grease a small springform pan (8 in / 20 cm) and dust it with a bit of flour. Then, preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Beat the soft butter with the sugar for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Gradually stir in the eggs. Mix the flour with baking powder and baking soda. Stir in briskly, alternating with yogurt and milk. Use enough milk, so the dough falls from the spoon with difficulty tearing. Now, divide the dough into thirds and color it in graduated pink. Pour one-third of the dough into the pan, smooth it out, and bake for about 15 minutes. Test with a chopstick; the cake may still be slightly moist. Use the same method to bake the other two colored doughs. Remove cake layers from the pan, turn out and let cool upside down.
For the cream cheese buttercream, beat the soft butter with the powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Then stir in cream cheese just briefly. Divide the cream in half. After this, assemble the cake with one half, i.e. spread a thin layer on the first base, place the second one on top and spread it, and place the third one on top and spread it as well. If the top cake layer is very uneven, it is best to put it upside down.
The second half of the cream is for spreading. If there is little time, spread it thinly on the top and all around the cake, refrigerate and then decorate. If you have more time, first spread a very thin layer around the edge, brush it off and refrigerate the cake for 30-60 minutes. Then, using the remaining cream, virtually spread a second layer again. Before serving, whip the cream until light and stiff. While continuing to whip, add the sugar, cream stiffener, and, finally, the color. Pour into a piping bag and pipe small pink dots onto the cake. Decorate with sugar decorations as desired. Enjoy your great pink birthday cake!
Top Tip
Gel colors or natural colors from fruits and vegetables are suitable for coloring. For the latter, you must use a lot so that the color is intense even after baking. Here I suggest coloring the cream rather than the dough.
Recipe Card
Pink Birthday Cake
Equipment
- 1 springform pan (8 in / 20 cm)
Ingredients
For the dough
- 210 grams (1 cup) butter, soft
- 180 grams (1 cup) sugar
- 3 eggs, medium
- 300 grams (2 ⅖ cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 210 grams (1 cup) Greek yogurt, or whole milk, or sour cream
- 100 milliliters (⅖ cup) milk, coarse
- food coloring
For the cream
- 250 grams (1 cup) butter, very soft
- 150 grams (1 ⅓ cups) powdered sugar
- 200 grams (1 cup) cream cheese, full fat
For the decoration
- 70 grams (⅓ cup) cream
- 1 small bag bourbon vanilla sugar
- 1 small bag cream stiffener
- food coloring
- sugar sprinkles
Instructions
- Grease a small springform pan (8 in / 20 cm) and dust with a bit of flour. Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Beat the soft butter with the sugar for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Gradually stir in the eggs. Mix the flour with baking powder and baking soda. Stir in briskly, alternating with yogurt and milk. Use enough milk, so the dough falls from the spoon with difficulty tearing.
- Divide the dough into thirds and color in graduated pink. Pour one-third of the dough into the pan, smooth it out, and bake for about 15 minutes. Test with a chopstick; the cake may still be slightly moist. Use the same method to bake the other two colored doughs. Remove cake layers from the pan, turn out and let cool upside down.
- For the cream cheese buttercream, beat the soft butter with the powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Then stir in cream cheese just briefly. Divide the cream in half. Assemble the cake with one half, i.e. spread a thin layer on the first base, place the second one on top and spread it, and place the third one on top and spread it as well. If the top cake layer is very uneven, it is best to put it upside down.
- The second half of the cream is for spreading. If there is little time, spread it thinly on the top and all around the cake, refrigerate and then decorate. If you have more time, first spread a very thin layer around the edge, brush it off and refrigerate the cake for 30-60 minutes. Then, using the remaining cream, virtually spread a second layer again.
- Before serving, whip the cream until light and stiff. While continuing to whip, add the sugar, cream stiffener, and, finally, the color. Pour into a piping bag and pipe small pink dots onto the cake. Decorate with sugar decorations as desired.
Notes
- Both the base and the cake as a whole can be prepared well a day in advance.
- Of course, if you have three small springform pans, bake the different colored doughs side by side in the oven simultaneously.
- A quicker alternative to the recipe is to color the cream pink instead of the dough. This way, you can bake the dough in the pan all at once instead of in thirds (longer, of course) and then divide it horizontally into thirds after it cools.
- You can freeze the cake well cut into pieces if there is anything left over.
Ingredient substitutions
Variations
Absolute advantage of the recipe: you can prepare the pink buttercream cake easily 1-2 days in advance for children's birthday parties and Co. If you color the cream instead of the bases, the baking will be much faster. Fancy some alternative birthday treats for kids? Then be sure to check out the recipes on this blog, in which I also show many lovely creations. For example, this numbers cake or my colorful rainbow cake.
About Kathrin & Jan
It's like a little miracle to me every time. Seemingly simple ingredients are made into something that can brighten up your life. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour melt into an airy biscuit, a fine tart, a juicy cake, or a crispy biscuit. Baking simply makes you happy. Welcome and enjoy our blog!
Kathrin & Jan
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