Taylor Swift Cake

It was only a matter of time until someone asked me to make a Taylor Swift Cake for a birthday party. I'm honestly surprised that it took this long, providing how incredibly popular she is and how her millions (billions?) of fans, eat, breathe and sleep all things TAYLOR.

Now, I enjoy Taylor Swift's music, but I'm not what you'd call a die hard fan, so creating a Taylor Swift cake worthy of the ultimate Swiftie required some research. So, I got to work and this is what resulted: an 8-inch, three layer chocolate cake covered and filled with Swiss meringue buttercream and decorated in all-things Taylor. I completed the project slowly, over a two day period, so as to not be rushed or overwhelmed. 

Top Tips for Making This Taylor Swift Cake

1. Follow My Step By Step Instructions: Cake layers, fondant, buttercream, piping--these things can all be kind of intimidating. But I'm here for you and I know you can do it. Below are the tools that I suggest along with step by step photos and instructions to help you along the way (and if you have a question, just ask!)
2. Take Your Time: Like I said above, I made this cake over a two day period to keep it manageable and fun. You can even spread it over three....or four days.
3. Pick the Right Cake Recipe Use your favorite or most reliable cake recipe, which for me was my chocolate cake because it stays moist and holds up really well to frosting, shaping, and decorating. You can also use a boxed mix to make your life easier.
4. Make It Your Own! Shape your own fondant pieces or use cut-outs. Want to base your colors on a different Taylor era? Be my guest. Want to do two tiers instead of one? You've got this. Use my instructions as a guide but not as strict rules. Have fun with this cake and make it your own. Taylor would want it that way.

Helpful Tools and Special Equipment

Cake Baking Equipment

• Cake pans: For this recipe, I used three 8-inch cake rounds to make the three layers. You can also use two pans and bake in batches.
• Nonstick baking spray: My favorite brands are Pam for Baking or Baker's Joy.
• Parchment paper (optional): Lining the cake pans with parchment rounds is an additional way to ensure that cake layers don't stick after baking. 
• Cake boards: Good for storing cake layers after they cool. I used 8-inch boards for this cake.
• Cake drums: These are sturdy round or square bases on which you can build and transport your cake. You can also use a flat plate or platter.

Cake Decorating Tools For a Taylor Swift Cake

• Fondant: You can either use only white fondant and color it with gel paste, or buy pre-colored fondant. For this cake, I used white, gold, red, and light blue.
• Tylose powder and/or cornstarch: Tylose powder, when mixed with fondant, helps to firm it up faster than just air-drying. The more you use, the faster it will harden. Cornstarch helps with the rolling process by keeping the fondant from sticking to surfaces. You can also add cornstarch to the fondant when mixing in colors to help keep it from sticking. 
• Food coloring: I prefer using gel paste food colors versus the liquid version for two reasons: First, the gel paste produces, richer, more vibrant colors using less product than the liquid. Second, the liquid can affect the consistency of the fondant, as you need to use more the achieve your desired color.  I used blue, pink, yellow, and purple gels for the buttercream.
• Rubber gloves: These come in handy when you are mixing food coloring into the fondant, so that you don't color your hands! You can find these in the cleaning supply section of your grocery store. 
• Turntable: While not necessary, turntables make frosting and decorating cakes much easier. I use a fairly inexpensive one like this one here. An alternative is to frost the cake on a plate and turn it by hand. 
• Piping bags with a #32 star tip or other large star tips: To create a pretty swirled decorations on top of the cake.
• Small heart, heart sunglasses, guitar, number shapes, rectangle cutters (optional): Most available via JB Cutters.  For the small round "letter" cutters, I used the flip side of a small piping tip!
• Offset spatulas and/or a cake scraper for smoothing the sides of the cake tiers
• Edible colored beads: To create the friendship bracelets on the side of the cake.
• Decorative disco balls and rock candy: To decorate the top of your Taylor Swift Cake!
• Food safe markers: To write lettering on the friendship bracelets and other fondant.

Video tutorial: Watch My Taylor Swift Cake Take Shape

Frost the Cake

1. Day 1: Bake three 8-inch cake rounds using your favorite cake recipe, such as My Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe . You will need one recipe of my chocolate cake or about 9 cups of batter of another recipe. Cool completely, remove from the pans and and then wrap each round in plastic wrap.
2. Day 2: Prepare a buttercream, such as a Swiss meringue buttercream or my easy White Chocolate Buttercream . You will need about 10 cups of buttercream for the cake and decorations.

3. Place one of the cake layers on a cake board or serving plate, securing it with a dab of buttercream.  Pipe or spread about 1-½ cups buttercream evenly on top. Place a second layer on top of the first and spread it with 1-½ cups buttercream. Top it with the third cake layer and spread an even, thin coat buttercream over the entire cake tier to form a crumb coat. Chill for at least 20 minutes.

4. Divide the remaining buttercream among 4 bowls. Color one with pink gel paste, one with light blue, one with yellow, and one with purple.

5. Using an offset spatula or spoons, spread the colors in generous patches around the cake, alternating colors. Drop dollops of the colored buttercream on top. Be sure to retain some of the buttercream for piping decorations on top of the cake.

6. Use a cake smoother or an offset spatula to smooth the sides and the top of the cake until they are even and very smooth. Run the cake smoother or spatula under warm water first to help achieve a smooth surface. Chill cake for at least 20 minutes.

Prepare The Taylor Swift Cake Decorations

1. Roll out white fondant to about a ⅛ inch thickness. Use a small round (about ½ to ¾ inch diameter) shaped cutters to cut out circle. Enough for the cake recipient's name, an "s" and the letters v-e-r-s-i-o-n. Set aside on a piece of parchment or waxed paper.
2. Roll out more white, red, gold and light blue fondant to the same thickness. Cut out hearts, heart sunglasses, a guitar, and a small rectangle shapes to decorate the top and sides of the cake (see Tools and Equipment list, above.)
3. Roll out one color of fondant to about a ¼ to ⅜ inch thickness and cut out number shapes for the birthday age (I used two of these on my cake.)

4. Use a food safe marker to write the cake recipient's name, an "s" and the letters v-e-r-s-i-o-n on the white round fondant. Write the birth year on the rectangle piece of fondant.

5. Start decorating your cake!! Place various sizes of decorative disco balls on top of the cake.

6. Transfer your remaining buttercreams to piping bags fitted with various large star tips and pipe decorative swirls on top of the cake, as shown.

7. Using water or food-safe adhesive, apply the letter pieces in a curved shape, like a bracelet. For the apostrophe, use a medium, edible pearl.

8. Create the remainder of the bracelets using colored edible pearls in different sizes.

9. Finish decorating your Taylor Swift cake by placing the fondant hearts around the top and bottom front sections. Place the guitar and sunglasses on top of the cake and the birth year piece on the bottom (or improvise and arrange them another way!)

10 Pipe in any "holes" or vacant areas with more buttercream or more hearts or disco balls. Add a few sticks of rock candy or lollipops in the back for height and more color!

Variations on My "Version" of the Taylor Swift Cake

1. Cake Size: Feeding a larger crowd? Make this cake in multiple tiers, as I did with my Wolf Cake (check out the recipe for instructions.) Or turn the theme into cupcakes, topping each with a disco ball, fondant hearts, or even a small friendship bracelet.
2. Decorations: I know that everyone doesn't have a supply of decorative disco balls and rock candy lying around, so if you don't have time to order some, use alternatives like lollipops, sparkly sprinkles or even non-edible printables. I also had these edible butterfly decorations, which I completely forgot about and would have worked perfectly.
3. Colors / themes: The colors of this cake drew inspiration from Taylor's Lover album, with its swirly pinks, blues, yellows and purples. If you want to simplify, make the buttercream one color and use your decorations and toppings to create the theme. Or, choose another of Taylor's "eras" (Red comes to mind!) to inspire your color scheme.

Storage / Make Ahead Tips

Freezing and Refrigeration

• Once frosted with buttercream, you can refrigerate this cake for up to 3 days, tightly covered with plastic wrap. Wait until the day of serving to add the fondant and other candy toppers.
• You can freeze a frosted cake as long as it has been decorated with buttercream or cream cheese frosting. Meringue-type frostings do not freeze well. Freeze the decorated cake for 1 hour to set the frosting. Then, wrap the cake tightly in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.

Storing Leftover Cake

Leftover cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, tightly covered. Freeze leftover slices for up to one month in airtight containers. Thaw the slices at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight.

Troubleshooting Your Taylor Swift Cake (or Other Cakes)

How do I cut a layer cake for large groups of people?

While most people tend to cut a cake in wedges out of habit, this method yields portions that are often too large and awkward to slice. A better method is to cut the cake in a grid. This will give you more servings per tier and neater slices. Cut straight across the cake in 1-½ inch increments, and then cut each long slice into 2-inch portions so that you are left with pieces that are 1-½ inches by 2 inches by the height of the cake.

Why Won't my Buttercream Spread Smoothly onto the Cake?

If the buttercream is too cold, it can be stiff and hard to spread. Let it sit at room temperature for a bit or briefly whip it to warm it up. Mix until it is combined and fluffy.

Over-mixing can introduce too much air, making buttercream hard to spread smoothly. After mixing, use a spatula to manually stir the buttercream. This can help break up any larger air bubbles.

My Fondant Keeps Sticking When I try to Roll it out

Dust your work surface, rolling pin, and the top of the fondant with a light layer of cornstarch (or powdered sugar.) This helps prevent sticking without adding too much extra sweetness. The same applies when mixing food colors into fondant, which adds extra moisture. Work the color in along with some cornstarch to avoid an overly sticky mess!