Frangipani (also known as plumeria) have a delicious scent that wafts through the tropics of SE Asia. When I toured Singapore and Malaysia I fell in love with the delicate velvety blooms and knew they would be a perfect pairing on this orchid cake.

Happy Birthday!
The cake is “pink velvet”, because who says it has to be red? Clearly I am not from the south, and perhaps there is now a sweet old woman shedding a tear with only her sweet tea to comfort her.

Pink velvet cake
Moving on… Even I respect that velvet cake should have cream cheese frosting, but I filled the layers with both cream cheese and chocolate bavarian cream. Once the cake was filled and iced it was ready for decoration. My workspace looks something like this when I am building the cake. The cake, extra icing, my flowers, food coloring dusts for highlights and fixes, and all the necessary tools.

Ready to assemble
Finally, the cake it done and it is time to party.

Make a Wish
Cake Details
Cake: Pink velvet
Filling:Chocolate Bavarian cream
Icing: Cream cheese frosting
Decorations: Frangipani and orchids made from modelling chocolate
What are the differences between the red velvet and pink velvet? Same ingredients, less red dye? Or can you not share your secret recipe? I’m very curious!
Well, I usually use red food gel + liquid, and this time I used burgundy gel and pink gel. Gel colors give you better color intensity, but you have to add back the liquid that would be in more traditional dye. You can make any color!