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food

Leopard Print Cake

Things are getting a lil' wild in the kitchen.

Leopard Print Cake

Ingredients

  • For the leopard cake:
  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/8 cup cocoa powder, for the chocolate spiral
  • Orange food coloring, for the orange spiral
  • 3 cups chocolate buttercream frosting
  • For the leopard print fondant:
  • 2 cups light orange fondant
  • 1/2 cup chocolate fondant
  • 1/4 cup orange fondant

Steps

  1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two 8-inch extra deep cake pans with baking spray and parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla.
  3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg mixture. Alternate adding in the flour mixture and the buttermilk until completely combined. Divide batter into 3 bowls, one with two-thirds of the batter and the other two with the last one-third divided. Add cocoa to one of the bowls and orange food coloring in the other. Place batters in piping bags.
  4. Pour half of the white batter between the two prepared pans and create a chocolate swirl in each. Top the chocolate swirl with an orange swirl and cover with another chocolate swirl. Top each pan with remaining batter, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Set aside to cool.
  5. Make the leopard fondant: Roll chocolate fondant into a 3-by-12-inch rectangle. Form orange fondant into a 1 1/2-inch log and place on top of the rectangle. Roll the rectangle over the log, almost completely covering while leaving approximately 1/8 inch of the orange color exposed. Cut the log into approximately forty 1/2-inch pieces. On a surface sprinkled with powdered sugar, roll out the the light orange fondant to approximately 1/2 inch thick. Place the leopard spots randomly across the light orange fondant and cover the surface with a sheet of parchment. Roll the fondant out to 1/4 inch thickness, and remove the parchment to reveal leopard print fondant. Set aside while you frost the cake.
  6. Assemble the cake: Cut each cooled cake in half. Place a layer on a cake plate and top with 1/2 cup of chocolate buttercream. Repeat until all cake layers are used. Cover cake completely with remaining buttercream. Roll leopard fondant onto a rolling pin and drape over the cake. Smooth out with your hands and trim the excess fondant from the bottom. (Cake can be placed on a can with a smaller diameter than the cake itself so the fondant drapes evenly and can be trimmed easily.) Serve immediately. Cake will keep up to 5 days covered.