How To Make Geode Cake

A photo of the final geode cake in this geode cake tutorial.

About This Geode Cake Tutorial

This geode cake tutorial contains a recipe for a three-layer, viii-inch chocolate cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting. Information technology also includes step-past-stride photos showing you how to decorate the outside of the cake to wait like a geode stone formation.

What is a geode cake?

Geode cakes are meant to mimic the natural rock germination, with the baker typically carving out chunks from the cake and filling the cut-outs with "edible crystals" made out of rock candy or isomalt shards. The crystals are then painted multiple colors to emulate the wait of real geodes themselves.

Pros and Cons of A Geode Hymeneals Cake

Geode cakes are a bit of an net phenomenon on both Instagram and Pinterest (seriously, expect upwards #geodecake); information technology was easy to experience inspired by photos of epic centerpieces that towered way over my caput, with veins of edible gold running through the cake (like this one!).

After scrolling through all those photos, all I wanted to practice was try making one myself! I had this crazy idea to make a geode cake that looked like the non-traditional engagement ring I chose—a cornflower blue sapphire haloed by diamonds on a platinum ring. I was and then excited that I forgot about two very important issues with geode cakes:

A lot of geode cakes look like vaginas.

At that place, I said information technology. Allow'southward get that elephant out the room early, lol. Granted, there are some cakes that worst offenders than others—pink geode cakes are notorious for looking similar vaginas (there'south actually a famous baker that sells pink ones they call "vageode cakes"… yikes!). I as well think that ones that are painted ombre (where the centre of the geode cutout is a darker color that gradates to a lighter version of that aforementioned color) look vaginal, too. I don't know if I only have a muddied heed, only according to the response to my Instagram Stories, I don't think I'm solitary in my opinion. In any case, it's weird that something and then phallic (er… what's the reverse of phallic? vaginal?) became the edible centerpiece in what's often dubbed as "the most important 24-hour interval in a adult female's life". Only maybe that'due south on purpose, lol.

Geode cakes are really terrible to consume.

I don't know if anybody saw my Instagram Stories last week, in which I made my very first geode cake ever (this 1!) and taste-tested it, too. But spoiler alert: it turns out all those big chunks of rock crystals ruin the texture of a very soft, pillowy block covered in even silkier buttercream. Plus, yous could potentially chip your teeth on ane of the sugar chunks!!! Many of you guys DM'ed me that, similar to most fondant wedding cakes, you're not actually supposed to eat the crystals. That is, most people skin off/pick off/consume around the fondant parts of a nuptials cake—yous're supposed to do the same with the crystals and not sit there and swallow the entire thing similar I was doing. Oops.

While this makes sense to me on a theoretical level, information technology also low key offends me. I want all parts of my wedding cake to be tasty—I don't want to be picking around the gross/inedible parts of a colorful cake while wearing a very expensive white dress! Besides, in that location are so many good cake recipes (and designs!) out there that don't require you to fifty-fifty do this kind of work to eat information technology. I quickly came to the consensus that a geode block is Not what I'm going to be making and serving at our wedding ceremony. Womp.

That beingness said, I withal recall that making a geode cake at home is a fun and artistic manner to spend your fourth dimension. Too—these cakes usually cost an arm and a leg to have custom made, and it turns out they're actually quite easy to brand at home! Hither's how:

Ingredients To Brand A Geode Cake

Here are the central ingredients to make a geode cake blueprint:

A Really Good Cake Recipe For The Base of operations of Your Geode Cake

This should go without saying, but a good block pattern should start off with a proficient block recipe. One that's tasty and comes together quickly because you're going to be spending so much time on assembling the cake itself. For our block today, I went with the chocolate block recipe in my cookbook, Weeknight Blistering. It's ALMOST one basin (technically you need two bowls: 1 for the dry ingredients, the other for the wet ones), and you don't even demand to pull out your stand mixer—you lot can just mix everything by hand!

A Really Good Frosting Recipe To Comprehend and Decorate Your Geode Cake

Adept frosting recipes are silky and piece of cake to polish, but will concord its shape when applied to the cake. For this reason, most decorators choose a meringue-based buttercream like Swiss meringue or Italian meringue buttercream frosting. But these buttercream frostings are time-consuming to make, and between you and me, I like the taste of archetype American buttercream—which is made with just confectioners' carbohydrate, butter, and vanilla—much better.

The key is to find a proficient buttercream frosting that "crusts" and hardens slightly when applied. For this block, we're going with a classic birthday block type frosting from this awesome recipe in the Hummingbird High archive. Unlike most traditional American buttercream frostings, this recipe likewise has foam cheese (making information technology more of a cream cheese frosting tbh), giving it a wonderful tang that pairs well with the chocolate block.

Rock Candy For Decorating Your Geode Cake

Recollect those rock candy lollipops yous could buy at science museums and boardwalk shops? Yous're basically going to be buying that for this cake, but with the candy in chunks in a pocketbook instead of wrapped around a lollipop stick.

I was an idiot and paid a premium for a bag off Amazon. I'd completely forgotten that rock sugar—which are basically bigger granules of rock processed, and unflavored to kick—is available for buy at nearly Asian supermarkets at a third of the cost. Simply be warned: rock carbohydrate comes in MUCH bigger granules than the processed. It'due south harder to consume (but maybe that doesn't matter, since you're non going to be eating it anyhow per my rambling above?), simply easier to work with when making your cake.

Nutrient Coloring For Painting Your Rock Candy

You'll need food coloring to paint the rock candy colors to mimic a geode. I used two different types of blues from this Americolor nutrient coloring kit. In a pinch, y'all tin get away with using merely one color—yous'll still need to make two batches of food coloring for the total effect, but dye one with a higher quantity of the same food coloring to get it a darker shade than the other.

Alternatively, if you're feeling lazy and/or don't want to deal with ownership a paintbrush (encounter next section), you can but buy unlike shades of stone candy on Amazon (in addition to the clear stone candy I got fleeced on, I briefly considered ownership this nighttime blue shade and this low-cal blue i of rock candy).

Vodka For Painting Your Rock Candy

If you lot're using a nutrient coloring gel like I am, you'll need to sparse the gel out with some vodka. The vodka too helps apply and adhere the color onto the stone candy without dissolving it completely like water would.

Edible Golden Or Silverish Leaf For Decorating Your Rock Candy And Cake

Most geode cakes usually incorporate some sort of metal, glittery patterning (see this cake as an instance) to really bring life to the rock formation blueprint. The all-time way to do this is with edible gold leaf, which is easily purchasable through Amazon.

For this cake, I used edible silvery leaf I bought on my last trip to Japan—I thought that silverish leafage was a rarity in the US, just it turns out you can likewise buy information technology quite hands on Amazon. Good thing I lugged it back all that way, ha.

You demand a scattering of tools to make a geode block:

A Rotating Cake Stand up

Near geode cakes start with a perfectly smooth frosted cake. The all-time way to frost a perfectly smoothen cake is with a rotating cake stand. I use a heavy-duty metallic 1 that I got from a restaurant supply store; it's very like to this one past Ateco.

Metallic rotating block stands are great considering they won't move at all even if yous accidentally knock information technology with your elbow (which I've done many times). But in a pinch, you tin besides utilise lighter weight plastic ones—I like this ane by Wilton, which allows you lot to tilt the cake side by side to help with decorating.

Kickoff Spatulas

Y'all'll need a big offset spatula to polish the cake's sides, and a smaller i to encompass the cake's cut-outs with frosting. I know I audio like an advertizement for Amazon, but they actually sell reasonably priced sets of unlike sized offset spatulas that are perfect for this recipe.

A Serrated Knife

A abrupt serrated knife is the best way to piece out the cut-outs for geode block's rock processed crevices. Try to get a smaller/shorter i, like this 5-inch one by Wusthof—the shorter length will get in easier to carve your cut-outs more than accurately. In a pinch, a abrupt dent knife volition exercise, but a serrated knife volition piece of work better against the chilled cake nibble (more than on that in a second).

A Small Paintbrush

If you didn't purchase colored rock candy, you'll need a small paintbrush to pigment food coloring onto your rock candy. I actually didn't have a paintbrush on manus (I tried to buy i specifically for this project, simply after biking to Fred Meyer's in the pouring rain, I discovered I left my wallet at dwelling and let out a roar of frustration so loud that the person in line backside me jumped lol), so I used a brush meant for brushing egg launder onto pies.

Because it's much larger than the kind of paintbrush I wanted (which was something like these brushes), my coloring is more all over the identify and less of the ombre coloring that's traditional in geode cakes. Only I actually ended up liking information technology more since it looked a lot less vaginal, then in that location's that.

Tweezers

Finally, you'll need some tweezers to use the edible gold (or silvery) leafage onto the cake.

A photo of the finished geode cake from the geode cake tutorial with a slice taken out of it.

How To Brand A Geode Cake

Once you've frosted a perfectly polish cake, it's time to make your geode cake design!

1. Use a minor serrated pocketknife to carve out cutting-outs in the block.

Photo showing step 1 of the geode cake tutorial instructing you to slice cut-outs from the cake.

Don't worry too much about the shape and size of the cut-outs—just practice what feels easiest! I literally just sliced out a chunk without thinking too much about information technology. You can do ane giant cutout (which is traditional for geode hymeneals cakes), or do multiple ones like I did to make it look less vagina-y.

two. Utilize a small start spatula to comprehend the cut-outs with frosting:

After you lot make your frosting, exist certain to prepare aside at least ¼ cup to ⅓ loving cup of the frosting to use for this purpose. Unlike the rest of the cake, you don't demand to perfectly smooth the frosting on the cut-outs—after all, you'll be covering information technology with rock candy! Also, don't worry if any block crumbs get into the frosting in the cutting-outs. Again, you're going to be covering that area anyway.

3. Employ tweezers or your fingers to comprehend the cut-outs with rock processed:

The rock candy will be held in place with the frosting. Y'all want to press firm enough and so that the rock candy holds its place, but not so hard that yous stop up denting or destroying the cake within. You'll also want to embrace any crumbs or exposed parts of cake with rock candy to hide them.

4. Use a pigment brush to paint the centers of the rock candy-covered cut-outs with a darker color, then pigment the cut-outs' outer edges with a lighter color:

To make your "pigment", mix as many drops of food coloring as necessary to achieve the color of your choice with one teaspoon of vodka.

v. Tweeze gold or silver leafage onto the cake to finish the design:

Bakers making traditional geode hymeneals block designs typically create a gilt leaf edge effectually the cutting-outs. Once again, I avoiding doing so because I thought this enhanced the vagina event of the design, lol. So instead, I just placed silver foliage at random throughout the cake. But y'all do you!

Get in Weeknight Baking

Although I broke this downwards fairly easily, information technology tin can be fourth dimension-consuming to brand a geode cake—in fact, information technology took me almost the entire afternoon but to assemble, frost, and make the geode design. Information technology would have taken all day if I'd made the block in the aforementioned mean solar day, as well.

Because I don't like to spend eight consecutive hours in the kitchen all at once, I divided the recipe over a few days. I actually exercise this for many of the cake recipes in my cookbook, Weeknight Baking. Here's how it went downwards:

1. Day I: Make the Cake! (around 1 hour, including Bake Time)
  Follow the instructions in the recipe below to cool the cakes to room temperature, then turn each layer out into its own individual sheet of plastic wrap. Cover tightly with the plastic wrap and freeze overnight—do NOT air-condition! Refrigerating cakes dries them out, while freezing the cakes locks the moisture in. In a pinch, I'd rather you leave the cakes wrapped at room temperature. However, I don't recommend doing so; the cake has such a soft crumb that it's much easier to carve when information technology has frozen overnight. So freeze the cakes!

1. 24-hour interval Two: Brand the Frosting and Frost the Cake (around i toone ½ hours)
  In full general, it will take about x minutes to make the frosting and then the residual of the fourth dimension to get together the layer cake and frost it perfectly smoothen. Depending on your feel with frosting cakes, information technology could take far less (or far more!) fourth dimension to practise so—I'm a fleck of a perfectionist, and then it ever takes me at least an hour to smoothen out my cake. Don't forget to salvage at least ¼ loving cup to ⅓ loving cup of the frosting for your cutting-outs the next day; you lot can place this frosting in an airtight container and air-condition overnight.

Twenty-four hours Three: Make the Geode Cake Pattern (around one ½ hours) and Serve!
Follow the instructions above to complete your geode cake. You lot may want to warm your frosting before using on the cake—simply scoop it into a heatproof bowl and microwave it on low in x to 20 second bursts until creamy, using a rubber spatula to mix it upwardly.

Best Geode Cake Tutorial Tips

- {Ingredient Tip} I'm not unremarkably one to harp on sifting ingredients (see: this article in Bon Appetit, where I talk about why yous don't really ever need to sift your flour), but for the frosting recipe, it'south especially important that you sift your confectioners' carbohydrate. The recipe uses a LOT of information technology, and you don't desire whatsoever lumps showing (specially when you're trying to perfectly polish a cake!).

- {Cake Making Tip} For this cake recipe, it's especially of import to add the coffee while it'southward notwithstanding hot (almost humid, if possible!). The hot java will bloom the cocoa powder in the recipe, giving it a deeper flavour and an extra-dark color that'southward signature to this cake.

- {Cake Making Tip} For even cake layers, I like to actually weigh out the layers with a digital scale to brand sure they're even. The easiest style to do this is to set a prepared block pan on a digital scale and tare it to "0". Cascade batter into the pan until the scale registers the weight listed in the recipe (because aye, I've included the approximate weight of the batter needed for each pan!). Echo with the second and tertiary cake pan.

- {Decorating Tip} In general, chilled block is easier to carve; fifty-fifty if you don't follow the weeknight baking schedule in a higher place (I get information technology, 3 days is a long time to wait for a cake!), I recommend baking the cakes the twenty-four hours before and freezing them overnight. Before making the frosting, prepare the cakes out on the counter and let them thaw slightly while making the frosting. Assemble and frost the cake every bit instructed above—at this indicate, the cake will exist the perfect temperature (not stone hard, but even so pretty chilled) for carving the cut-outs.

{Decorating Tip} When filling your cutting-outs the rock candy, starting time by placing the candy on the outside of the cut-outs and work your fashion in. The outer rock candy will help protect your hands from the frosting (though yous'll definitely still demand to wipe them off as yous go—this is a messy job!).

For the Chocolate Block

3 cups (12 ounces or 340 grams) cake flour
3 cups (21 ounces or 595 grams) granulated sugar
i cup plus 2 tablespoons (3.35 ounces or 95 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa pulverisation, sifted if lumpy
one Tablespoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons baking pulverisation
i ½ teaspoons kosher salt
ane ½ cups (12 ounces or 340 grams) buttermilk
¾ cup (6 ounces or 170 grams) canola oil
3 big eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla excerpt
i ½ cups (12 ounces or 340 grams) boiling hot coffee

For the Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups (xvi ounces or 454 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups (16 ounces or 454 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
ane tablespoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
8 cups (32 ounces or 907 grams) confectioner's sugar, sifted

For the Chocolate Cake

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously spray iii 8-inch cake pans with cooking spray and line the bottom of each with a parchment paper circle. Spray the parchment, also.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and table salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Gradually whisk in the dry ingredients until just combined. Slowly pour in the coffee. The batter volition be fairly runny; apply a safe spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the basin. Use the rubber spatula to finish mixing until smooth and well combined, 2 to iii minutes more.
Divide the concoction evenly betwixt the pans; if using a digital scale to measure out out layers, note that this recipe makes effectually 72 ounces (2041 grams) of batter—cascade 24 ounces (680 grams) of concoction into each cake pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. When done, the top of the cake should bounce back when gently pressed and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake should come out with a few crumbs attached. Cool completely in the pans on a wire rack earlier frosting.

For the Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, crush the unsalted butter on medium-low until soft and flossy, two to 3 minutes. Scrape down the lesser and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer on depression, add together the cream cheese, half loving cup at a time, scraping down the lesser and sides of the bowl as necessary. One time the cream cheese is combined, add the vanilla and salt, so beat on medium-loftier until the frosting is creamy and shine, 1 minute. With the mixer on depression, gradually add the confectioners' carbohydrate and beat until combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the basin again, and so vanquish on medium-high until the frosting is creamy and smooth, 2 to iii minutes.

NO TIME TO BAKE?!

Over the past several years of runningHummingbird Loftier, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a total-time, extremely enervating job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook,Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.

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