Sixteen Candles – An 1980s Homage With A Pink Rose Cake Tutorial

Obsessed. As a teen, I was so obsessed with Pretty In Pink. We had it dubbed on VHS and I would play it over and over again, a heartsick, annoying little Chinese teen in a Benetton sweater and hair-sprayed bangs, dreaming about Andrew McCarthy. I wanted to be Molly Ringwald so bad. Except I hated the frumpy fit of her final satiny bubblegum pink dress. I get that she needed to wear pink in the end – but emerald green is so much more her colour, right?  This is so good – Every Outfit Andie Wears In Pretty In Pink. I can visualize each outfit, each jangly brooch, those floral matte tights she pulls on in the opening scenes…

So this cake. This brightly hued, screamingly 1980s boppery fun triple layer cake – I made this in collaboration with my new pal Sarah over at The PFW! (Happy birthday, Sarah!) Sarah’s instagram, Porn For Women, has blown up for a reason – it features her curated selection of handsome and cool guys, from the olden days to now, often with hilarious captions, men with sweet style as well as being cool-times with the ladies. In other words, no wiener dogs allowed, no jerks, no a-holes. Just some quality fellows, and many of them are easy on the old eyes, too.

Sixteen Candles! Another movie that has a pretty swoon-worthy teen-man in it – Jake Ryan. Never seen the movie? Well here ya go – the final scene from Sixteen Candles. You’ll feel like a teen again watching this and if you are a teen, I’ll say this: dream on. It’s fiction!

Okay! This cake! She’s a real beaut! Hilariously fun for any party or birthday. It’s one of those cakes that you kind of can’t help but smile at, whether you’re laughing at its audacious colours or loving its feminine frilliness so deeply. So dig in to making this pink rose cake tutorial!

You will need: 

Three baked and cooled vanilla cake layers, tinted electric pink

Electric pink gel colour, sky blue gel colour

5 cups of vanilla buttercream – 3/4 tinted sky blue, 1/4 tinted electric pink

An offset spatula

A cake scraper

A piping bag fitted with an open star tip (my favourite is the Wilton 1M!)

A cake board or cake plate

Step One

Using a serrated knife, trim your first cake layer to make it level. Add a creamy layer of blue buttercream.

Step Two 

Trim and level your second layer of cake; place cut-side-down on top of the buttercream. Add buttercream to this layer, then trim and level the third layer, placing cut-side-down on top.

Step Three

Frost the entire exterior of the cake using a generous amount of buttercream.

Step Four

Using your cake scraper, smooth the sides and top of the cake, pulling away any excess buttercream. This is your crumb coat! Place in freezer for 15 minutes to set until buttercream is firm.

Step Five

Remove cake from freezer. Add a final layer of buttercream, using the cake scraper to smooth this layer. Set aside.

Step Six

Fill your piping bag fitted with an open star tip with the electric pink buttercream. Pipe a cute ruffly border around the bottom of the cake – squeeze out a little puff shape then pull away, creating a “shell” look. Pipe the next shell on top of the “tail” of the previous one and continue until you’ve piped all around the bottom.

Step Seven

Now, pipe a cute matching border along the top edge of the cake! It’s like you’re making a dress for 1980s prom night! I kind of would love to have a dress in these colours.

Step Eight

Finally, the piece de resistance (ha!) – to finish the cake, create a real special little hot pink rosette in the center of the cake, using the same piping tip. Start in the center of the cake and pipe counterclockwise to create the rosette. Tip: If you’re sketched out about ruining the cake by screwing up the rosette, place the cake in the freezer prior to adding it so the blue buttercream is firm – if you mess up, you can simply lift off the offending buttercream with a metal offset spatula and try again. Or, if you’re truly worried, pipe a few rosettes onto a piece of parchment paper, place in the freezer, and once the rose is firm and cold, place gently onto the center of the cake!

I love this wildly ruffly thing!

And here it is, all Sixteen Candles-like. No one was around with me to sit on a table and kiss above this pretty glowing cake. However, husband did slam a piece of this back later when he got home. Sheer romance.

I’m thinking three of these cakes in three different colours and sizes would be RIDICULOUSLY cute at a bridal shower or Marie Antoinette themed birthday party. This cake really makes me want to get dropped off at the mall and snap bubblegum wearing my ski jacket half off my shoulders and ogle cute boys with my gal pals. But wait, I’m 37! Oops! See, this cake is a mental time transporter!!

Hope you liked this pink rose cake tutorial with a deeply 1980s twist! We finish with a final set of mini questions: What’s your favourite movie from the 1980s?? And who would you make this cake for?! Happy baking, cake pals! xo Lyndsay