Polka Cake Recipes

POLKA DOT CAKE

Steps:

• Mix your white cake mixes together with the eggs, water and oil it calls for (to get your cake as white as possible, do the egg white only version). Set aside two cups of the mixture and refrigerate the rest of the mix until needed.
• Tint the two cups of batter that you set aside with your food coloring to your desired color. Place your cake pop molds on a baking sheet and oil your cake pop cavities (top and bottom). Fill your bottom cake pop pan with batter, attach the top, and press all around thoroughly to make sure the parts are sealed together. Bake your tray in the oven at the temperature the cake mix calls for until the cake pops are almost cooked through. Just keep checking with a toothpick after 10 minutes until the toothpick comes out almost clean (mine took about 17 minutes at 350°).
• Remove the cake balls from the pan and get the rest of your cake mix out of the refrigerator.
• Place 6-7 cake balls into the bottom of a greased 6" cake pan and spoon in batter just until the cake balls are covered. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, but try more than one spot when you test in case you happen to hit a cake ball that's already done instead of the new white batter underneath. Mine took about 35 minutes in a 350° oven. Repeat until you have three layers of cake. You can either do this one at a time if you only have one pan, or you can make multiples at once if you have several 6" pans. Allow the cakes to cool completely on a cooling rack before icing.
• If you have rounded cake tops, use a bread knife to even out the tops of your layers so they will sit evenly on each other. Then stack them together with a layer of icing between each. I made the mistake of trying this before the tiers were totally cool with a lighter whipped icing option, and the layers were sliding around all over the place! The second time I let them completely cool and used the thicker regular icing and it worked much better. Once your layers are stacked, ice around the tops and sides, and you're ready to cut the cake and see the surprise inside!

POLKA DOT CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Spray bottoms and sides of two 9- or 8-inch round cake pans with baking spray with flour.
• Make, bake and cool cake mix as directed on box for two 9- or 8-inch round pans.
• Tint 1/3 cup of the frosting with 1 or 2 drops food color for desired shade of pink.
• On serving plate, place 1 cake layer, rounded side down; spread pink frosting over layer almost to edge. Top with second layer, rounded side up. Frost side and top of cake with remaining frosting.
• Insert candies into frosting on side and top of cake as desired. Store loosely covered.

POLKA DOT SMASH CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease bottom only of 8x4-inch loaf pan with shortening or cooking spray, and place paper baking cup in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally, until smooth. Place 1 3/4 cups batter into loaf pan. Spoon remaining batter into muffin cups.
• Bake loaf cake 35 to 40 minutes and cupcakes 18 to 23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. For easier handling, refrigerate or freeze loaf cake 30 to 60 minutes or until firm.
• Stir together 2 tablespoons frosting and red food color to deep red color. Spoon frosting into decorating bag fitted with small round tip; set aside. In small bowl, mix remaining frosting and teal food color to desired color. Trim rounded top off loaf cake. Using 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut 2 rounds from loaf cake. Place one round cake, cut side up, on plate. Spread cut side with teal frosting. Top with remaining round cake, cut side down.
• Spoon remaining teal frosting into decorating bag fitted with large round tip. Frost sides of cake with long stripes of frosting from the base of cake to top. Frost top of cake, and smooth with spatula. Pipe deep red frosting dots on side of cake. Use remaining frosting to frost cupcakes.

POLKA-DOT BIRTHDAY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 11-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; butter parchment and sides of pan, and dust with flour. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla, and orange zest. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low, add butter 1/2 stick at a time; beat until mixture is the texture of coarse meal. Add half the milk mixture, and increase speed to medium-high; beat 1 minute. With mixer running, slowly add remaining milk mixture. Beat 30 seconds more.
• Spread batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with a spatula. Bake until golden on the top and edges are pulling away from the sides, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Transfer to a wire rack; let cool 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and invert onto wire rack. Remove parchment; let cake cool completely.
• Cut cake in half, into two 8 1/2-by-11-inch pieces. In a small saucepan, heat marmalade until it is syrupy (strain as needed). Spread over one half; let cool at least 10 minutes. Top with remaining half.
• Cut cake into 8 pieces, each about 3 by 4 inches. Cut parchment paper into 8 pieces, each 4 by 5 inches; set a piece of cake on each. Measure 2 1/2 cups buttercream; set aside. Using a small offset spatula, thinly coat top and sides of each piece with some of the remaining buttercream to seal in crumbs. Transfer cakes on parchment paper to a baking sheet, and place in refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from refrigerator; cover each piece with a final layer of buttercream, smoothing top and sides with the offset spatula. Return baking sheet to refrigerator.
• Place 3/4 cup reserved buttercream in a small bowl; tint it red for the numbers. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with an Ateco #11 large round tip. Divide remaining 1 3/4 cups reserved buttercream among four small bowls; tint each a different color. Transfer all but one color to separate pastry bags fitted with #11 tips. Place remaining color in a pastry bag fitted with an Ateco #5 small round tip to make tiny dots. Remove cakes from refrigerator. Using red frosting, pipe numbers 1 through 8 on top of cakes, a different number on each. Pipe dots around numbers with other colors. Return cakes to refrigerator.
• To assemble, remove cakes from refrigerator, and remove parchment paper. Arrange cakes on a serving tray, forming a hopscotch or other desired pattern. Serve.

POLKA-DOT STRAWBERRY CAKE

Steps:

• Slice 300g of the strawberries. Put in a pan with the icing sugar and lemon juice. Gently heat until the juices start to run, then cook, uncovered, for 2 mins. Tip into a food processor or mini blender and whizz to a purée, then press through a sieve to remove the seeds.
• Grease and line the base and sides of a 23 x 33cm Swiss roll tin. Grease and line the base of a deep 20-21cm round cake tin. (You will also need a deep 23cm round cake tin for later.) To make the polka dots, whisk the egg and sugar using a hand-held electric whisk until thick, pale and the mixture leaves a trail when the whisk blade is lifted. Sift in the flour and fold in using a spatula until well mixed, then fold in 1 tbsp of the strawberry purée and a few drops each of the pink and red food colouring.
• Spoon small dots of the mixture randomly over the base of the Swiss roll tin, leaving a little space between each dot. Place in the freezer for 20 mins until the pink dots are firm to the touch.
• To make the cakes, heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. If you have a tabletop mixer, you can make the whole quantity in 1 batch. If using a handheld electric whisk, it will be easier to make the cakes in 2 batches of 4 eggs each. Whisk the eggs and sugar until the mixture is light and pale, and the whisk blades leave a trail when they are lifted - this will take 5-8 mins. Sift in the flour and baking powder, drizzle in the butter and vanilla, and fold everything together using a spatula until all the flour is incorporated.
• Pour half the mixture into the prepared cake tin and the other half over the Swiss roll tin, spreading it out evenly. Bake the rectangular cake for 15 mins and the round cake for 25 mins. Turn out each cake onto a tea towel, then remove the paper and invert onto a wire rack to cool.
• To make the filling, beat together the mascarpone, icing sugar and remaining strawberry purée. Chop 200g of the remaining strawberries into small pieces. Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold into the mascarpone with the chopped strawberries.
• Line the base and sides of the 23cm round cake tin with cling film. Trim the edges of the rectangular cake, then cut into 2 x 9cm-wide strips lengthwise. Fit around the sides of the tin, trimming to fit if necessary. The cake should butt together fairly tightly.
• Cut the round cake into 3 layers (you could cut it into 2 layers if you find it easier, and divide the following filling accordingly). Place the bottom layer in the base of the cling film-lined tin. Reserve 3 rounded tbsp of the filling in a small bowl, then spoon half the remainder over the cake, smoothing it flat. Place a second cake layer on top and add the remaining filling, smoothing it flat. Top with the last cake layer. Cover the cake with cling film and chill for 24-48 hrs, along with the small bowl of reserved filling.
• Carefully remove the cake from the tin and peel off the cling film. Slide the cake onto a serving plate. Slice the remaining hulled strawberries. Spread the reserved filling over the top of the cake and fill with sliced berries, adding in the 8 whole ones.
• Warm the apricot jam with 2 tbsp water in a small pan, then press through a sieve. Brush liberally over all the strawberries. Dust the top edge of the cake with icing sugar. Chill until ready to serve.

CHOCOLATE-RASPBERRY POLKA DOT CAKE

Steps:

• Line three 9-in. round baking pans with waxed paper; grease and flour the pans and paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350°., Dissolve cocoa in boiling water; cool. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in cocoa mixture and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk and water; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, beating well after each addition., Transfer to prepared pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely., For ganache, place chocolate in a small bowl. Bring cream just to a boil; pour over chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Stir in extract. Chill. Beat chocolate mixture until soft peaks form, about 15 seconds., For raspberry cream, place raspberries in a food processor, cover and process until blended. Strain raspberries, reserving juice. Discard seeds. Gently fold juice into whipped cream., Cut each cake horizontally into two layers. Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with 1 cup raspberry cream. Top with another cake layer; spread with half of the ganache. Repeat raspberry and ganache layers. Top with another cake layer; spread with remaining raspberry cream. Top with remaining cake layer. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set., For glaze, in a microwave, melt chocolate, butter and corn syrup; stir until smooth. Stir in extract. Cool slightly, stirring occasionally. Pour over cake., For garnish, in a microwave, melt candy coating in separate bowls; stir until smooth. Tint half of the white coating using blue coloring if desired. Pipe or spoon melted coating onto waxed paper in different sized circles; let stand until set. Press circles onto cake. Refrigerate cake until serving.