A green ombre cake for St. Patrick’s Day inspired by fashion’s fade craze and the Pantone color of the year, emerald. Perfectly fitting and festive for celebrating the Irish holiday.
By using McCormick green food color I was able to make two contrasting cake layers and because that wasn’t enough I covered them in even more green with the frosting.
The frosting is tinted minty green, the top layer neon green and the bottom is that gorgeous color of the year – emerald.
The minty green color ties in with the flavor of the frosting. Mint white chocolate buttercream. Heavenly.
Melted white chocolate goes into the frosting along with McCormick peppermint and vanilla extracts for flavor and confectioners sugar for thickening.
It’s quite sweet with the perfect balance of mint flavor so as not to be overwhelming.
The cake itself is a white cake, a blank canvas for food color. The cake bakes up soft, tender and fluffy. The food color doesn’t affect the flavor at all, in case you were wondering.
It doesn’t rise very high and bakes up fairly level so you don’t have to worry about cutting off the top of the cake to make it flat for even stacking.
For my first time baking an ombre cake to say I’m completely hooked is an understatement. Obsessed would be a better word. While it looks pretty in pictures – in person it’s stunning.
McCormick made it easy for me to produce this beautiful ombre cake and frosting with their “Seven Shades of Green Chart” that shows the colors with the exact number of McCormick food drops needed to produce each one. I’m already dreaming up my next cake.
Not only will it be ombre on the inside but the outside too. Ombre frosting. Here I come.
INGREDIENTS:
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8 or 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl on medium speed for 4 - 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the egg whites and milk until just combined.
- On low speed beat in one-quarter of the flour mixture, then one-third of the milk mixture. Scrap down sides of bowl. Beat in another quarter of the flour, then another third of the milk mixture. Scrape again. Repeat with another quarter of the flour and the remaining milk mixture. Scrape again. Beat in the remaining flour mixture just until combined.
- Remove 2 + 1/2 cups of the batter into a separate bowl. Mix half the batter with 15 drops of McCormick green food coloring and the remaining half with 1 - 2 teaspoons (start with 1 and add more as needed to reach emerald) of green food coloring. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick in center out clean. Cool the pans on wire racks 5 minutes then turn out onto racks to finish cooling right side up.
- Beat the butter until light and fluffy 3 - 4 minutes on medium speed.
- Melt the white chocolate chips using the chocolate setting on your microwave until smooth and creamy. Allow to cool off until just slightly warm but still gooey.
- Add the white chocolate to the butter and beat 3 more minutes.
- Add the sugar, vanilla, peppermint and 30 drops of green food color. Start mixer on low to incorporate all the ingredients then beat on medium until fluffy and creamy 5 - 7 more minutes. Frost cake immediately.
Notes:
White Cake adapted from Epicurious
Green Ombre concept adapted from McCormick
Copyright ©2013 Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice by Reeni Pisano All Rights Reserved. No copying or duplication of any content (including photos) without the express written permission from the owner of this website.
Disclosure: This is a paid post sponsored by McCormick. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I need your baking talents, that cake looks awesome with the varying sades of color. Fantastic job!
What a cute cake for St. Patrick’s day I love the mint too,
oh it’s so pretty and I bit it’s even more delicious than it looks
it’s so pretty! i love st patty’s day because it lets me get the mint i didn’t get enough of at christmas time! this sounds so delicious!
Ooh I love that green ombre.
This is TOO CUTE, and absolutely perfect for the upcoming holiday!
Refreshing green…How pretty is that!
Reeni, what a beautiful St. Patrick’s Day Cake!!!! And I’l bet it’s delicious, too!!
Oh, it’s lovely!!!
Green is my favorite color, and somehow it makes everything look extra delicious. This cake looks amazing!
This is so pretty girl!! Green is my favorite color so if I ever do an ombre cake, it will DEFINITELY be green! Plus I love that white chocolate peppermint frosting. I’d be eating it straight from the bowl.
what a beautiful effect. This cake has the colors of spring 🙂 Bye dear, have a wonderful we
This cake looks stunning! The peppermint intrigues me to the point where I want to give it a try.
Awesome job with the colors and the cake!
Too cute!!!!
What a gorgeous green you got; I hate working with food coloring! It always seems to make my food look weird. On the contrary, yours looks delectable and a perfect ending for a St. Patty’s Day feast 🙂
Thanks Danielle! The chart helped a lot – without it I’m sure my colors wouldn’t have come out as pretty.
That frosting alone makes this a must try! Wowza! The peppermint makes it sound yummy too!
Moon, do you get any frosting? We love frosting here! Purrs, Angel & Isabella
Delicious Cake Reeni, beautiful green color. I love to try this one for a square cake.