Valentine’s Day is almost here and I am so pumped to share a little more detail on this cake that I shared on The Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family” show in January. With 6 layers of white, pink, and red tinted cake on the inside, decadent (almond candy-like) white chocolate raspberry buttercream, pink ganache, and A TON of goodies on top to make your Valentine’s Day extra special with an over-the-top cake.

I was contacted by Hallmark again to create a fun Valentine’s Day Cake to share on the show, and I’m so flattered and honored to be on the show for my 4th time! It has been a dream come true, and I have really gotten to know a few of the family there really well. It’s always a lot of fun, and this time was no exception.

Making a cake that was a fun on the inside as it was on the outside was really simple. I wanted to stick to a simple white, red, and pink color palette, and make sure to let those colors sing out in their own way inside and outside the cake. I am OBSESSED with stripes on the inside of a cake, so it was really simple to take a quick white cake recipe of mine and change it to red and pink. You don’t need to use three different bowls, or go crazy with extra dishes! All you do is spoon out 1/3 of your cake batter into your prepared 6″ pan (one of three). Then add a touch of red gel food coloring to your cake batter to make it pink. Divide your pink batter in half and add it to your second prepared 6″ pan. Add a touch more of red coloring to the remaining batter and you have a lovely red shade! Add that to your final prepared 6″ pan and you’re all set with white, pink, and red cake rounds to bake up beautifully for your cake.

Next, I wanted to create some kind of Valentine’s Day flavor for my cake without it having to be a different color than white for my buttercream … so I did a white chocolate raspberry buttercream! It turned out very candy-like and sweet but I seriously love it for this particular cake. I use a lot of fresh raspberry, or freeze dried raspberries, in my buttercreams for my cookbook Cake Confidence (PREORDER IS UP NOW ON AMAZON!!) , but for this cake, I wanted to not have that pink hue sneak into my buttercream that these fresh additions sometimes add. I ended up just going straight for the Raspberry Emulsion this time. Some emulsions add color to your buttercream, but this one didn’t, so we ended up with a white as snow buttercream, and lots of white chocolate raspberry flavor.

For the pink drip, I added a touch of red (I’m talking a toothpick) gel coloring to my prepared white chocolate ganache. It created such a soft and sweet drip color, and I think I’ll need to use it on more of my cakes!!! Make sure your coloring isn’t water based, or else the coloring will seize up your drip.

For all these crazy toppings, I was planning on having a separate tutorial for each, but hey, life happens, haha. Instead, I’ve made little videos of the toppers that I’ll put up on my Instagram page (two are already up! (THIS for the rose, and THIS for the chocolate bark).

I feel like one of the biggest keys to making this cake a success is keeping it cold. Cold cake layers are easier to decorate. Cold cakes are easier to stack. Cold cakes are easier to add the drip to. And cold drips are easier to add the toppings onto. So use that freezer between steps and your life will be so much easier.

Hope you have as much fun making this cake as I did! It’s sure a crowd pleaser and really has a wow factor! Here’s a video of me making it on the Hallmark show last month:

Happy Valentine’s Day this week, and as always, if you make one of my creations, I’d LOVE to see it! Tag me @bakingwithblondie or #bakingwithblondie on Instagram for a chance to be featured in my InstaStories. 🙂

Valentine’s Day Cake
Recipe Type: Cake
Author: Mandy | Baking with Blondie
The most perfect festive Valentine’s Day cake, with bright layers of white, red, and pink cake and frosted in white chocolate buttercream. Topped off with a soft pink ganache and all the garnishes your heart could desire!
Ingredients
  • [b]Striped Vanilla Cake[br][/b]
  • 3/4 Cup Buttermilk
  • 2/3 Cup Sour Cream
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
  • 3 Egg Whites
  • 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 White Cake Mix (Duncan Hines), sifted
  • Red Gel Food Coloring
  • [br]
  • [b]White Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream[br][/b]
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream + 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 3 sticks (1 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, left out at room temp for 20 minutes to slightly soften
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla (or clear vanilla if you want it to be whiter)
  • 2 Tablespoons Raspberry Emulsion (Lorann)
  • 6-7 Cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
  • [br]
  • [b](Pink) White Chocolate Ganache Drip[br][/b]
  • 1 Cup White Chocolate Candy Melts (I use “Very White” or “Bright White” from Wilton)
  • 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
  • Red Gel Coloring
  • [br]
  • [b]Garnishes:[/b]
  • Valentine’s Sprinkles
  • Gumballs
  • Red Fondant Roses
  • White Sprinkle Chocolate Bark
  • Marbled Fondant Hearts
Instructions
  1. [b]DIRECTIONS FOR THE WHITE STRIPE CAKE[/b]
  2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep 3 6″ cake rounds with a swipe of shortening and dust of flour. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla, egg whites, and vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. Sift in cake mix and stir until just combined. Spoon 1/3 of the batter into the first prepared cake round.
  4. Add a small drop of red gel coloring to the remaining cake batter and stir (should be pink). Spoon 1/2 the remaining cake batter into the second prepared cake round.
  5. Add a few drops of red gel coloring to the remaining cake batter (should be red). Spoon the rest of the cake batter into the third and final prepared cake round.
  6. Bake for 25-27 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 2 minutes in pan, then flip out onto a cooling rack. Cool to room temperature. Wrap in plastic wrap twice and freeze for easier frosting.
  7. Before frosting, slice each round in half to make 6 skinny cake rounds (2 white, 2 pink, and 2 red).
  8. [br]
  9. [b]FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY BUTTERCREAM:[/b]
  10. In a small glass bowl, microwave white chips and 1/4 cup heavy cream for 30 seconds. Stir until creamy and no lumps. Set aside.
  11. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip up the butter on high speed until light and fluffy. Add in chocolate ganache mixture you made.
  12. Add in pinch of salt, vanilla, and emulsion. Whip up to combine.
  13. Add in the other 1/4 cup heavy cream, and then add in the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add more heavy cream if needed. Turn mixer on high speed for about three minutes to expand the texture and lighten the color. Hand beat with a wooden spoon afterwards to remove any air bubbles.
  14. [br]
  15. [b]DIRECTIONS FOR THE PINK GANACHE: [/b]
  16. In a medium glass bowl, stir together the white chocolate and heavy cream. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir until thoroughly combined. Add 10-20 more seconds if needed (normally you wouldn’t, but just in case).
  17. To achieve the pastel light pink color, use a tiny toothpick prick of red color to add to the ganache and stir. A little goes a long way, so go easy.
  18. Add to your drip bottle and set aside for ganache drip.
  19. [br]
  20. [b]ASSEMBLY: [/b]
  21. Tape a 6″ cardboard cake round to an 8″ cake round for ease of decorating.
  22. Fill a large piping bag with buttercream.
  23. Using a cake turntable, pipe a small dab of buttercream in the center of the 6″ cake round to act as glue. Use an offset icing spatula to spread it out.
  24. Place down first red cake round, pipe on a layer of buttercream. Place down pink cake round, repeat. White cake round, repeat. Repeat again with the remaining red, pink and white rounds.
  25. Crumb coat the entire cake. Freeze for 5 minutes.
  26. Add on final layer of buttercream, add sprinkles to bottom rim by pressing them on gently.
  27. Add on ganache drip, place in the freezer for 5 minutes to harden.
  28. Add on chocolate sprinkle bark, marbled fondant hearts, fondant roses, gumballs, and more sprinkles.