My dear friend Faraha is getting married this weekend i'A and wanted a Lord of the Rings themed bridal shower. She had a pinterest going for months and so we had the decor figured out, but I actually struggled a bit with this cake. On pinterest all the LOTR cakes are very fondant-heavy and I don't like fondant...I don't know anyone who does either haha. To me it isn't even edible, so I wanted to make the cake decorations relevant to the theme but also with the least amount of fondant possible. I love piping buttercream more than shaping fondant as well.
This cake was difficult to make because I didn't have a set picture in my mind before I started, I sort of kept going at it and seeing if it worked out. I tried to make this forest-y to match the many forests in LOTR, as well as including a gold spray-on strip and gold rings made of fondant. This cake had a buttercream coffee filling and was the first cake I made using the leaf piping tip (352 I believe). The bride loves coffee-flavored things, so I knew I was going to use this recipe as soon as I saw it while scrolling on Instagram.
This cake yields two 6 inch layers.
Ingredients (cake):
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp coffee extract
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
Instructions:
- As always, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and prepare 2 6-inch cake pans by buttering and flouring.
- Mix the first 5 ingredients (all dry ingredients) in a stand mixer first.
- Slowly add the rest (wet ingredients) and increase the speed until the batter is well-formed.
- Divide half of the batter in each cake pan
- Bake for 30-35 minutes depending on when the inserted toothpick comes out clean from the middle.
- Let it cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before preparing the buttercream, then set in fridge until served.
