Sunflower Cake

I had a family reunion to attend which was a potluck celebration and I thought that a sunflower cake would be both fun and delicious. The celebration started to help celebrate the great grandparents on the one side of the family. This side of the family love get togethers for any and all reasons. We often get together at a parks pavilion. I was surprised to learn that you can rent them out. Originally I thought it was good luck that the pavilion was available, but really it was all prearranged. This sunflower cake was to celebrate at a family farm.

I was inspired by this one farm that my kids and I used to drive past. It was on our way to the beach. Each year when the whole field is in full bloom I always want to stop and take a picture of the beautiful scenery. 

I had a family reunion to attend which was a potluck celebration and I thought that a sunflower cake would be both fun and delicious. The celebration started to help celebrate the great grandparents on the one side of the family. This side of the family love get togethers for any and all reasons. We often get together at a parks pavilion. I was surprised to learn that you can rent them out. Originally I thought it was good luck that the pavilion was available, but really it was all prearranged. This sunflower cake was to celebrate at a family farm. 

I was inspired by this one farm that my kids and I used to drive past. It was on our way to the beach. Each year when the whole field is in full bloom I always want to stop and take a picture of the beautiful scenery. 

How to Make the Ultimate Sunflower Cake

I use the Wilton sunflower pan to bake the cake in. Before putting the batter into the cake pan I used the Wilton Cake Release, which is said to be like an extra strong cooking spray. I applied it with a pastry brush. I usually use Professional Pam cooking spray and I think that next time I will use cooking spray. It is quicker and has no clean-up. Just make sure you spray generously.

After the cake was cooked I let it cool for approximately 15 minutes. At this time the sides shrunk and left the sides of the cake pan. Then I cut the bottom off of the cake. I did this when the cake was still in the pan to make it straight. It is important to level the cake because it will help prevent the top of the cake from splitting. Then I flipped the cake onto a cooling rack to completely cool before icing the cake.

As for the icing I tinted the icing with the Wilton gel colors. The gel colors are fantastic. This time I tried to ice the cake with Betty Crocker icing. I used the Betty Crocker Chocolate to the center of the sunflower cake. And the vanilla icing for the petals that I dyed a shade of yellow - orange. I often try to make extra icing as it will keep in the refrigerator. I mix it in a medium mixing bowl and then place the icing right into a triangle shaped icing bag. This way they are easy to store in a sealed container in my refrigerator. 

At this point I usually put the cake onto the serving dish. Since this was an outdoor family reunion I decided to put it right onto my cake carrier. I have two shapes of cake carriers. One is round and the other two are rectangles. The rectangle one has a dish to help transport cupcakes. For this sunflower cake I used the round carrier and put the cake right on the container. The best part is the cover that clicks on top. There is also a handy handle for when you are transporting the cake.

I used the icing tip #21 to create the middle of the sunflower. This tip will make the shape of a star. I used chocolate and thought the color looked soft so I decided to keep the original color. I didn’t whip this icing. When making the star shapes for the middle I squeezed the icing and while squeezing I pulled up so that there would be a point at the tip of the star. For the lines around the petals I used the small round tip 5. This traces the outline of the flower. Then I rotated between star tip 16 and a larger star tip 18 for the rest of the petals. Along the border that I created I used the smaller star. I squeezed the icing close to the cake and kept the tip close to the cake. This made the star shape flat. Then when you are using the star tip 18 you can decide if you want to make a swirl shape or if you want to make a star shape. I decided for my cake to use the star shape. I think if it was a different type of flower I would use the swirl, but I liked the effect of the different types of stars.

Everyone loved the cake. You can’t help but smile when looking at a sunflower and especially if you are looking at a sunflower cake.

After this cake of inspiration we started to grow sunflowers beside our vegetable garden. It looked so remarkable. They were the super tall sunflowers and could be seen from such a far distance. The kids loved to watch them grow and the birds loved them afterwards. We let them dry out on a picnic table and then let the birds enjoy the seeds.