Dome cake, aesthetic cake, bowl cake – if you’ve been wondering how to make a cake bombe, look no further! It’s actually much easier than you think to achieve this charming, offbeat cake! I love my cake bombes decorated in buttercream ruffles, squiggles and leaves, or you could cover it entirely with buttercream flowers! The beauty of the cake bombe is, you can stuff it full of amazing flavours and textures, and it all melds together as it chills into its signature rounded shape.
Why Are These Cakes So Charming!?
When I first started seeing these darling-shaped cake bombes on the interweb, I got excited to try one myself. I’ve baked up many half-sphere cakes in my day, using my trusty “sportsball” pan, which has two half-sphere cake pans. (Here’s an example – Homer Simpson’s HEAD!) BUT – my little mind was blown upon reading Natasha Pickowicz‘s method of building cake bombes from her wonderful book More Than Cake. While you can purchase a dome-shaped cake pan to make a cake bombe, you can also just use a regular old bowl! The trick is to bake your cake using a large sheet pan. Then, you layer and frost everything right into the shape of the bowl, compacting it all together to create a DEE-licious cake. The cakes have a sense of whimsy and maybe even a touch of comedy! Their unique shape will definitely have your guests enchanted.
What does a cake bombe taste like, and how do I make it?
My friend, the cake bombe is a tender and tasty ROTUNDA of cake, and it can be soaked and filled with all sorts of flavour enhancing tricks, such as earl grey milk tea, lemon syrup, raspberry jam, toffee bits and Swiss Meringue Buttercream. What I’m saying is, the world is your Cake Oyster when building one of these babies. What you’re essentially doing is building your cake within the sphere pan. You bake your cake, make your buttercream and choose any additional fillings. Line and cover the interior sphere pan completely with cling wrap so it hangs over the sides. Then, you build your cake by alternating frosting with cake cut to fit, nestling everything tightly and into the bowl shape. Once you reach the top, cover the entire cake tightly with the overhanging cling wrap and chill for three hours (or overnight) in the fridge to get everything nice and firm and ready to decorate. I’ve also power-chilled the cake in the freezer for around 45 minutes to quicken this step.
What do I need to make a cake bombe?
To make the internet’s cutest cake, you will need:
A large 18 x 12 inch rimmed baking sheet pan, oiled and lined with parchment paper
A large 8 x 4-inch round hemisphere cake pan or 4 to 5 cup large tall bowl of your choice
One recipe for vanilla sheet cake or chocolate sheet cake
One recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Syrups, jams and flavourings of your choice
Piping bags fitted with various tips – I love to used Wilton #70 for ruffle edges and aesthetic leafy shapes, Wilton #104 for squiggly ruffles or Wilton #1M for ruffly lines.
Edible flowers – I love using pansies or bachelor’s buttons, as they are easy to grow. Or, use whatever you can find in the organic grocery aisle’s herb section.
A cake ring mould to set your sphere pan on top of to stabilize the pan as you build!
How do I decorate one of these bad boys?
I love doing a ruffly border using a large leaf tip, but you can use any piping tips you have! You can also decorate the whole thing with edible flowers, fresh herbs and raspberries, if you don’t have piping tips. You can really decorate it any way you like! My favourite cake bombe of the summer had to be my Milky Earl Grey tea soaked vanilla cake with raspberry jam and vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream! Watch me make the whole thing below.
I made this light blue cutie to celebrate old friends visiting this past summer – NO ONE believed it was plant-based, and neither will your guests! You can jump right in to the recipe below. I love mixing up the jams, berries and even the milk tea soaks – you could really use any tea for the soak!
Earl Grey Milk Tea Raspberry Cake Bombe
ingredients
For The Vanilla Sheet Cake
- 310 ml soy milk, 1 1/4 cups
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 125 ml aquafaba, 1/2 cup
- 112 gram unsalted plant-based butter, room temperature, 1/2 cup
- 300 grams granulated white sugar, 1 1/2 cups
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, optional
- 390 grams cake flour, 3 cups
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
For The Earl Grey Milk Tea Soak
- 250 ml soy milk, 1 cup
- 16 grams loose earl grey tea leaves, 1/4 cup
- 50 grams granulated white sguar, 1/4 cup
For The Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 250 ml aqua faba, unsalted
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 200 grams granulated white sugar, 1 cup
- 130 grams icing sugar, 1 cup
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- pinch salt
- 454 grams unsalted plant-based butter, room temperature, 2 cups
- cornflower blue gel food color, optional
For The Decor
- raspberry jam
- fresh raspberries
- edible flowers and herbs, optional
instructions
Bake The Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Prepare a 12×18-inch rimmed baking sheet pan by spritzing with vegetable oil and lining with parchment paper cut to size.
- In a small bowl, mix the soy milk with the apple cider vinegar and set aside to thicken.
- In a small bowl, whisk the aquafaba until foamy and light, about 1 minute, and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugar until creamy and blended well. Add the foamy aquafaba, vanilla extract and vanilla beat paste, mixing until combined.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternate between adding the flour mixture and the soy milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, until just combined and a cake batter forms. Do not overmix. Use a spatula to fold in any stray flour lumps.
- Bake the cake for 22-25 minutes, until edges are lightly browned and the top is golden in colour. Let cool completely on wire rack.
Make The Milk Tea Cake Soak
- In a small saucepan set to medium heat, combine the soy milk and granulated sugar, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and add the earl grey tea leaves, allowing them to steep into the hot milk for about 4-5 minutes. Strain the milk tea through a fine mesh sieve to remove the tea leaves. Let cool completely before using.
Make The Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the aqua faba on low speed to foam up, about two minutes. Add the cream of tartar.
- Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until medium stiff peaks appear, 5-10 minutes or more. Begin adding the sugars, one teaspoon at a time, until incorporated.
- Once the meringue reaches stiff peaks, begin adding the butter, one tablespoon at a time until incorporated.
- Whip the mixture on high speed until creamy and luscious. Add the vanilla and vanilla bean paste and mix to combine.
- Swap out the whisk attachment for the paddle attachment and whip on medium speed to deflate air bubbles, if desired.
Assemble The Cake
- Line the sphere pan or large bowl with two long pieces of cling wrap so the cling wrap overhangs the bowl.
- Place a dollop of buttercream into the bowl and cut out a piece of cake to nestle on top. Using a pastry brush or spoon, add the milk tea soak to the cake.
- Once the milk tea soaks in, add a thin layer of raspberry jam.
- Add a thick layer of buttercream, using an offset spatula to spread to the edges of the bowl. Nestle fresh raspberries into the buttercream.
- Add another layer of cake cut to size, and continue to layer and build until you've reached the top of the bowl, with a final layer of cake. Cover the cake with the clingwrap overhang and chill in the fridge for 4 hours until firm, or overnight!
- Remove the bowl from the fridge. Unwrap the overhang and place a cake board or plate on top of the bowl. Deftly invert the cake bombe onto the cake board.
- Colour the remaining buttercream with food gel colouring, if desired. Frost the entire exterior of the cake bombe with a thin layer of buttercream; chill until set, about 20 minutes in the fridge.
- Frost the cake bombe with a final coat of buttercream, using a cake bench scraper of offset spatula to smooth it. Fill a piping bag fitted with a #70 large leaf tip or #104 petal tip. Add ruffles and squiggles to your liking. Add fresh berries, edible flower petals and herbs, if desired! Top with a strawberry, raspberry or a stemmed cherry!
- Refrigerate until ready to serve and enjoy!
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