Name: Ombre Strawberry Cake
Yield: 1 8-inch cake
Ingredients: 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoons, plus more for pans; 3 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for pans; 1.25 cups whole milk; 4 large eggs, room temperature; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 1.75 cups sugar; 1 tablespoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; Pink gel food color, such as deep pink; 0.5 cup seedless strawberry jam; Finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon; 4.5 cups sugar; 18 large egg whites, room temperature; 3 pinches kosher salt; 12 sticks (6 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoons; 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract; Pink gel food color, such as deep pink

Yield:

1 8-inch cake

This spectacular cake is ombré on the inside—and on the outside, it looks like a giant pale pink rose thanks to its piped ruffled Swiss Meringue Buttercream. When you slice into it, the tonal shades of pink cake are revealed; each layer is separated by more Swiss buttercream and strawberry jam.

The vanilla cake is made using the reverse creaming method, which produces five finely textured layers. Each one is tinted a different shade of pink (but you only need one type of pink food coloring!). The cake is assembled starting with the darkest pink layer. Then comes frosting on the top and sides. The final touch is the ruffled piping, using the same dusty rose pink frosting.

What Is Reverse Creaming?

A technique used for our Strawberry Ombre cake, reverse creaming is also known as the paste method. Softened butter is beaten into the dry ingredients rather than creamed with the sugar as in many cake recipes. This coats the butter in flour which inhibits the production of gluten and creates cake with a finer texture—not too dense, but also not too fluffy.

It's a challenging technique at first: The reverse creaming produces a sandy, crumbly mixture that may frighten you the first time you try it. Persist and you'll be rewarded with cakes that are more even; reverse creaming also prevents doming, so it is the perfect mixing technique for cakes you are going to frost.

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Ingredients

Cake

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoons, plus more for pans
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for pans
1 ¼ cups whole milk
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pink gel food color, such as deep pink
½ cup seedless strawberry jam
Finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

4 ½ cups sugar
18 large egg whites, room temperature
3 pinches kosher salt
12 sticks (6 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoons
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Pink gel food color, such as deep pink

Directions

Preheat oven, prepare pans, and whisk milk and eggs:

Preheat oven to 350°F, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Butter five 8-inch round cake pans; line with parchment. Butter parchment, then dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla.
Beat dry ingredients and add butter:

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until well combined. Continue beating while gradually adding butter until mixture is crumbly, about 3 minutes.
Add milk mixture in two parts:

Slowly add half of milk mixture; increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly add remaining half of milk mixture, scraping down bowl as needed. Beat until incorporated, about 1 minute more.
Divide batter between five bowls:

Remove bowl from mixer; divide batter evenly among five bowls (about 1 heaping cup per bowl).
Tint cake batter:

Tint four of the bowls with pink food color, starting with a small drop and gradually adding more to each bowl to create a gradient of shades.
Fill cake pans:

Transfer batter from each bowl to one of the prepared pans, spreading to edges with a small offset spatula. Tap pans on counter to release any air bubbles.
Bake and cool cakes:

Bake until a tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 15 minutes per cake. Transfer pans to wire racks; let cool completely. Turn cakes out of pans and remove parchment.
Heat jam and lemon juice:

In a small saucepan, heat jam and lemon juice and zest until warm.
Combine sugar and egg whites for Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, 6 egg whites, and a pinch of salt in the heatproof bowl of a mixer set over (not in) a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch and feels completely smooth when rubbed between fingertips, 2 to 3 minutes.
Transfer to mixer and whisk until stiff peaks form:

Transfer bowl to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; whisk on low speed until foamy. Increase speed to medium-high and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form and mixture has cooled completely, about 10 minutes.
Whisk in butter and vanilla:

Reduce speed to medium-low; add 4 sticks butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, whisking until fully incorporated after each addition. Whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Don't worry if buttercream appears curdled after all of butter has been added; it will become smooth again with beating.
Beat buttercream to finish, then make two more batches:

Switch to paddle attachment; beat on low speed until air bubbles are eliminated, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic, and let stand at room temperature. Repeat process twice more with remaining ingredients, using the same amounts each time, then combining all three batches of buttercream in the large bowl and covering with plastic.
Tint buttercream:

Add pink food color, a drop at a time, until desired shade of light pink is reached.
Assemble cake:

Place darkest pink layer, bottom-side down, on an 8-inch cardboard cake round. Using a pastry brush, brush cake with a thin layer of jam mixture; top with 1 cup buttercream, spreading evenly to cover completely. Repeat process with three more layers, stacking layers darkest to lightest. Finish with lightest cake layer, bottom-side up.
Frost top and sides of cake:

Evenly spread top and sides of cake with a 1/2-inch thickness of buttercream, smoothing sides with an offset spatula. Refrigerate until chilled, about 20 minutes.
Pipe buttercream:

Transfer remaining buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a large petal tip (such as Wilton #127). Hold bag perpendicular to top of cake, with the wider part of the tip opening at the bottom. Pipe a petal in a circular pattern so that it adheres to top of cake. Simultaneously, rotate cake, and continue piping petals so that the end of each petal overlaps the beginning of the previous petal, until top of cake is covered completely. Next, pipe petals onto sides of cake: hold bag perpendicular to side of cake and pipe around cake, slightly overlapping each layer of frosting as you work from top to bottom of cake to cover completely.

Mike Krautter