Happy smiles is all you'll see when you bring this fanciful Polka Dot Cake to the party.
Rich chocolate frosting gets covered with light and crispy meringue kisses to make the most fun cake you'll ever make. This is one of those uber-impressive creations you'll get showered with praise for. Feel free to take all the credit!
My recipe for Colorful Meringue Kisses makes a big batch - you'll only need about half of them to decorate the cake. To create tasty cookies out of the rest: Sandwich kisses together with frosting, your favorite jam, peanut butter, dulce de leche, Nutella or any other dessert spread. They'll stay crisp for a day.
Color the meringue any hue you like. I mixed pastels for spring. Make sure you don't attempt meringue on a rainy spring day! The moisture in the air makes it nearly impossible for them to dry out and get crisp. One of those sunny days will be perfect 🙂
Polka Dot Cake with Meringue Kisses
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- 2 cans (16-oz containers) chocolate frosting whipped until fluffy
Colorful Meringue Kisses
- ¾ cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 3 large egg whites
- Gel-paste food coloring
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans; line pans with parchment, grease and flour, tapping out excess flour, then set aside. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar until light, about 2 min. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in 3 parts, beginning and ending with flour and scraping down sides of bowl often. Divide batter between pans and bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 30 min. Cool in pans 15 min. Turn out and cool, top side up.
For Meringue Kisses:
- Heat oven to 175°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Prepare 4 large pastry bags fitted with ½-inch plain tips or plain couplers; set aside.
- In a small, heavy saucepan combine ¾ cup sugar, corn syrup and 2 tbsp water over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar dissolves; remove spoon. Brush insides of pan with a wet pastry brush to remove anysugar crystals. Boil, without stirring, until syrup registers 230°F on a candy thermometer, about 4 min.
- While syrup cooks, whip egg whites and remaining 2 tbsp sugar until soft peaks form. With mixer on low speed, pour sugar syrup into egg whites in a slow steady stream. Increase mixer speed to high and beat until mixture is thick and glossy, about 5 min.
- Working quickly, divide meringue between 4 bowls, then tint pink, orange, yellow or blue. Stir each one before transferring to prepared pastry bags. Pipe 1 ¼-inch round kisses onto lined baking sheets as close together as possible. Bake until set and cooked through, about 2 ½ hr. Turn oven off, leaving meringues to dry completely, about 1 hr.
Assemble the cake:
- Trim domed tops from cooled cakes. Fill with a ¼-inch-thick layer of frosting and frost the entire cake. Decorate sides with Meringue Kisses.
Notes
- My recipe for Colorful Meringue Kisses makes a big batch - you'll only need about half of them to decorate the cake. To create tasty cookies out of the rest: Sandwich kisses together with frosting, your favorite jam, peanut butter, dulce de leche, Nutella or any other dessert spread. They'll stay crisp for a day.
Nutrition
Recipe Tara Bench & Khalil Hymore
Photographs Kate Sears
Food Stylist Tara Bench
Prop Stylist Pam Morris
Originally published Ladies' Home Journal May 2011
Robin McMahon says
Looks Great!
Mary Bench says
So whimsical yet sophisticated! Beautiful!
Brittany Smart says
Such a fun but beautiful way to decorate a cake!
Veena Azmanov says
Very cute and creative and best Valentine Idea too. Love the colors giving it that amazing look.
Linda says
This cake looks so fun and delightful. I love the color combination and who can say no to a chocolate cake like this one.
Kushigalu says
What a beautiful and gorgeous way to decorate cake. Loved it!
Uma Srinivas says
How beautiful is this cake that you made!!
You did hard work on this and gorgeous pictures too! Perfect for Valentine's day!
Pam Greer says
This is the cutest cake ever!!! I will be making it for my granddaughter's birthday and I know that she is going to love it!
Sophie says
This looks so delicious and yum. Maybe the loveliest cake I have seen. Thanks for the inspiration.
Jenni LeBaron says
This polka dot cake is so brilliant! I love the idea of using these meringue kisses to decorate. I also love that you can change up all of the colors depending on your event!
Charity Beth Long says
This cake is so pretty! The colors are perfect for spring. What brand and colors did you use? Thanks in advance!
Sara says
What a delicious and ADORABLE cake! I can't wait to make the colorful kisses for Valentine's Day this year!
Vikki says
I love this decoration, it's so fun and colorful!
Tara says
Thanks Vikki!
Catalina says
This cake is so cute! Such an awesome decoration idea!
Allyson Zea says
Wow this turned out so delicious! YUMMY!
Tara says
Oh good! Thanks for the comment!
Kevin says
This looks so cool! I love the way your made the polka dots!