Kawaii Shave Ice Cake
ingredients
For The Vanilla Coconut Cream Cake
- 1 1/2 cups full-fat coconut milk, 375 ml
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 224 grams
- 1 3/4 cup granulated white sugar, 350 grams
- 4 large eggs, room temperature, 240 grams
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 3 cups cake flour, 390 grams
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
For The Almond Vanilla Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature, 454 grams
- 4 cups icing sugar, 520 grams
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp pure almond extract
- pinch fine sea salt
instructions
Bake The Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°f / 175°c. Prepare cake pans by spritzing with vegetable oil and lining flat pans with parchment paper cut to size.
- In a small bowl, whisk to combine the coconut milk and apple cider vinegar. Allow to curdle, about five minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk to combine the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a handheld mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about two minutes, scraping down sides of bowl with spatula as needed.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs one at a time until incorporated.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients with the coconut milk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed to combine, about one minute.
- Divide the batter - two cups of batter into one medium bowl, divide the remaining batter into two bowls. Tint the two cups of batter with pink gel food colouring, and tint the other two bowls using sky blue and lemon yellow gel food colouring, mixing gently to combine.
- Place the pink batter into the sports ball pan. Place the yellow batter and blue batter into their cake pans.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes, until cakes are lightly golden and puffed, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only moist crumbs. The sports ball pan will need an extra 10 to 15 minutes. Let cakes cool completely on wire racks before frosting.
Make The Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, icing sugar, vanilla and almond extracts on low speed to combine, 20 seconds.
- Increase to high speed and beat until buttercream is light and fluffy and doubled in volume, about two minutes.
Make The Mochi
- I made a very simple mochi recipe from Mochi Mommy - recipe link in Notes!
Decorate The Cake
- Using a cake board or plate, add a small dab of buttercream to the center. Place the yellow cake layer on top, levelling the cake if needed. Spread a generous amount of buttercream on top. Place the blue cake layer on top (levelling if needed). Add a large dollop of buttercream on top of the blue layer.
- Place the pink half sphere cake layer on top, flat side down. Press to nestle into the buttercream. Insert a wooden BBQ skewer into the top center of the cake as a dowel, if needed. Using a sharp knife, trim the bottom two layers into a dessert cup shape.
- Frost the entire exterior of the cake with the buttercream. Chill in the fridge or freezer to set; remove from fridge and frost another cleaner layer of buttercream.
- Chill the cake again in the fridge or freezer, 15 minutes. Meanwhile, divide the buttercream into 7 small bowls - leave one bowl plain, and colour each bowl with individual colours of light brown for the shave ice cup, pink, yellow, orange, green and blue.
- Remove cake from fridge. Using a toothpick, draw lines into the sphere cake to individuate the rainbow coloured stripes. Using an offset spatula, spread the pink buttercream along the stripe lines as cleanly as possible. Continue with the rest of the colours!
- Using the light brown buttercream, frost the shave ice cup as cleanly as possible, using a cake bench scraper to smooth, if needed. Fill a piping bag fitted with a medium open circle tip with the remaining brown buttercream. Pipe the edge of the dessert cup along the top edge of the cup, to differentiate the cup from the rainbow stripes!
- Chill the cake again for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a piping bag fitted with a medium open circle tip with white buttercream. Make the fondant face pieces and gently press to adhere into the front of the cake.
- Remove cake from fridge; pipe the snow cap of "sweetened condensed milk" using the white buttercream. Use offset spatula to smooth.
- Add the light pink mochi bits to the top of the cake, and insert a small wooden dessert spoon for additional decor, if using! Enjoy!
notes
Cake is best served within 24 hours of making! Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
As noted above, I used this simple and delicious easy mochi recipe for my mochi bits! It makes a whole pan, but you can snack on it and slice it up for lunchbox treats.
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