Taco Cake Recipe
Taco Cake Recipe
Ingredients;
Vanilla Cake Batter;
- All purpose flour – 1 1/2 cup (195 grams)
- Sugar – 1 1/2 cups granulated (300 grams)
- Baking powder – 1 1/4 tsp (5 grams)
- Salt – 1/2 tsp (3 grams)
- Unsalted butter – 1/2 cup (1 stick, 113 grams), room temperature
- Vanilla extract – 1 tsp (4 grams)
- Egg whites – 1/2 cup (about 4 large egg whites, 122 grams)
- Buttermilk, room temperature – 3/4 cups (180 grams)
- Vegetable oil – 2 tsp (10 grams)
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting;
- Unsalted butter, room temperature – 2 cups (434 grams)
- Sugar – 7 cups powdered (907 grams) – or a 2 lb bag
- Salt – 1/2 tsp (3 grams)
- Heavy cream (or whipping cream) – 2 tbsp (30 grams)
- Vanilla extract – 1 tbsp (12 grams)
Additional Decorations and Tools;
- Crushed Oreos – 1 cup
- Shredded coconut – 1/2 cup- colored with yellow and orange food coloring
- Wilton – 103 tip
- Piping bags
- Offset spatula
- Yellow, orange, and green food coloring
- Cubes of red fondant – 10 1cm (tomatoes)
Instructions;
Vanilla Cake Layers:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line one seven-inch pan and one six inch pan with parchment rounds, and grease with non stick cooking spray.
- Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, until fully combined.
- Mix chunks of room temperature butter slowly into the dry mix on a low speed.
- Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly.
- Pour in egg whites, and mix on low until just incorporated.
- Mix in the buttermilk in two installments, on a low speed.
- Add in vanilla and oil, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- Divide batter between the prepared cake pans, filling them the same height.
- Bake for 35-37 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes then run an offset spatula around perimeter of the pan to separate the cake from the pan.
- Place cake layers into the freezer for 45 minutes, to accelerate the cooling process.
- Once the layers have fully cooled, level the top of both layers using a serrated knife.
- While these layers bake pretty flat, it’s important that the layers are even since we’ll be stacking them upright.
Vanilla Buttercream:
- Beat the butter on a medium speed for 30 seconds with a paddle attachment, until smooth.
- Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time.
- Alternate with small splashes of cream.
- Once fully mixed add in the vanilla and salt and beat on low until the ingredients are fully incorporated, and the desired consistency is reached.
- If the frosting is too thick, add in additional cream (1 Tbsp at a time).
- If the frosting is too thin, add in more powdered sugar (quarter of a cup at a time).
- Place 1 1/2 cups of frosting into a separate bowl, and mix in 1/4 cup of cocoa, and 2 tsp of heavy cream to make chocolate buttercream.
- To create the “beef” of the taco, add 1/2 cup of this chocolate frosting to 1 cup of crushed Oreos in a different bowl, and set aside.
- The rest of the chocolate frosting will be used to cover the center layer of the cake.
- Place another cup of frosting into a bowl and color a bright shade of green with gel food coloring.
- Put the frosting into a piping bag with a Wilton 103 tip (petal tip), to create the lettuce on the cake.
- Set aside 1/4 cup of uncolored frosting (to be the sour cream), and color the remaining frosting a bright shade of yellow with gel food coloring.
Assembling The Cake:
- To assemble the cake cut the cake layers in half.
- Secure one of the halves of the 6″ cake layer in the center of the cake round (vertically) using a large dab of buttercream.
- Cover with an even layer of chocolate buttercream.
- Place the two halves of the 7 inch cake round vertically against the frosted layer and cover these two layers with yellow buttercream.
- These two layers will be the taco shell.
- Smooth using a bench scraper or acetate sheet, then add the crushed Oreo/chocolate frosting mixture on top of the 6 inch cake half.
- Next, pipe on some lettuce on top of the Oreo mixture with the green buttercream.
- Gently place some of the colored shredded coconut on top, then add the fondant diced tomatoes.
- The last step is to top the cake with a dollop of white buttercream.