GEODE CAKE
Geode cake is an element of decoration on cake which looks like a deep beautiful shiny opening in the cake. This cake became a trend in 2020, and every baker was trying and experimenting to get it right to stay with the trends. I’m a baker myself and I know how thrilling and exciting it is to try new things, but I’m no professional baker so I feared to get it wrong and waste all the resources.
One of my best friend’s birthdays was coming in November 2021 and baking being my passion, I always made cakes and pastries for my close ones. I planned to make a glazed cake for my friend. I decided to make it look like different tones and shades of blue, but in baking things don’t always work out the way you want it to be, and I ended up with one tone of turquoise blue and just a hint of royal blue. I wasn’t impressed with myself and didn’t want to present one dimensional cake on my best friend’s birthday. So, after thinking a lot, I decided to experiment on making it a glazed geode cake. You won’t believe it, but I watched tons of videos and read at least 20 articles on making geode cake so that I could get it right and eliminate any possible mistake that I could make, and it kind of helped.
It is very challenging to work with cakes that can take a long time in decorating in India as the humidity here is very high. As I was working on a Geode cake for the first time and that too for my best friend’s birthday, I didn’t want anything to go other way. So, very carefully and taking all the time in the world, I went back and forth to the refrigerator to freeze my cake, so it stays firm.
People normally use colored rock candies for geode cake as it is very easy to use, but where I live, I couldn’t find those. So, I used plain sugar crystals instead, which is beneficial if you want to color it to your preference and/or if you want various sizes of it. But I’m telling you in advance, it takes up a lot of time to color these and gets very messy.
I’ll give you some tips to work on Geode cake, based on my experience, so that you don’t have to go through the same difficulties that I had. Let your layered and iced cake sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours after it is assembled, this will chill and firm up your cake. If you’re in India and it is summertime, I suggest you chill your cake in fridge for 3-4 hours. One thing you can do while your cake is in the fridge is that you can color your sugar crystals or plain rock candies. I am not a professional, so I don’t have different types of food colorings, I keep gel food coloring because it is useful in mostly everything and you don’t have to use half a bottle at once, like in liquid food coloring. Break up the sugar crystals to your preference, if required, and divide it equally in the number of colors you want it to be in. Take out 4-5 drops of gel food coloring (may differ according to your requirements) in a mixing bowl and add some water and mix it. Now, throw the crystals into the color mixture and let it soak up the color for a while. After about 10-15 minutes, place the pieces one by one on a tissue paper and let it dry. If you’re satisfied with the colors, keep it in the fridge it'll be easier to work with, especially in India. If you’re not satisfied with the color, repeat the same process and coat it 2-3 times until you have desired color. Yes, I told you before, it is time consuming.
When the cake is firm and chilled, take it out and with a sharp knife lightly make mark on the cake for the part you want to cut out, it is just to guide you for when you will cut the cake. When you are clear on which part you’re going to cut, heat your knife just a bit to help you cut through the chilled cake. Do not make deep incision, do it carefully and taking your time, make small incision at a time and run the knife through the mark as your guide. You’ll end up with a deep cut leading to the middle. If you’re in a humid country and you’re getting cake frosting all over yourself, keep the cake back in the fridge for around 20-30 minutes. Finally, it is time for assembly. Take your buttercream frosting, I suggest you use plain white frosting, and apply it on the exposed part which we cut and place pieces of sugar crystals to your preference, start with middle and work your way out. The illusion of this cake is such that it looks like a deep hole or cut in the cake which looks deeper and more natural when darker color is used in the middle. Now the last step to your geode cake is golden border. I used golden color powder with water, as I live in a dry state of India, but I advise you to use alcohol instead of water. With a brush, apply golden color to the border of sugar crystals and spray just a bit on the top of the cake, if you want. Freeze the cake for 30 minutes and finally you have your Geode cake ready after so much work and time. Below are the pictures of the glazed geode cake that I made.
