DIY {No-Bake} “Pretty-in-a Pinch” Mini Cake

{DIY Tutorial by HWTM Blog Contributor, Jessica Kirkland of Pen N’ Paperflowers}

If you are looking for the BEST idea ever for a quick, charming cake…you are going to absolutely love me after I share this DIY with you.  For those of you who don’t like to bake…you are going to love me even more.

Remember the Fabulous Find I shared with you last week featuring the Miette baking book? Well it was the adorable “Tomboy” layer cake on the book’s cover that immediately caught my eye and I vowed to make the cake for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. Lucky for me, (yes, I said lucky), I ended up catching a cold two days prior to the party and seriously considered canceling because I had no energy and felt pretty miserable. Desperate to still pull things together, I had to get resourceful. 

Normally, I enjoy baking everything from scratch. Considering my circumstances though, I knew there would be very little chance of Ella even having a cake at all if I insisted on going that route. Remembering the other DIY cake I shared with you some time back, I was inspired to head back to the bakery at my local grocery store.  Here’s where the lucky part comes into play.  I discovered I could purchase an un-iced chocolate cake from the bakery. (And it was already pre-sliced into four layers – I only needed three). Are you kidding me?  So I did the unthinkable. For a little over $5 bucks, I purchased the un-iced cake and a tub of pre-made buttercream frosting *gasp* – and was out the door.

KEEP READING for the final results and step-by-step instructions. Trust me when I say…this was easy as pie cake.

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SUPPLIES NEEDED to recreate this mini 5″ Tomboy Cake

• 5-inch un-iced chocolate cake (with three pre-sliced layers)
• 1/2 pound of white buttercream frosting (approx. 1-2 cups)
• piping bag (or ziploc bag)
• large french pastry tip (although the book recommends a star tip)
• icing spatula
• mini cakestand
• food coloring gel (I used Americolor Electric Pink)
• your choice of a cake topper (I used a flower from Maisey’s Daiseys Little Shop)

STEP ONE – Place one un-iced cake layer onto cakestand

STEP TWO – Add two small drops of Americolor Gel Paste to white Buttercream frosting and stir until well blended. (see below)

STEP THREE – Prepare piping bag with french pastry tip and fill bag with pink icing.

STEP FOUR – After spreading a layer of frosting on first cake layer using your icing spatula, pipe a decorative edge of frosting around the edge of the first cake layer.

STEP FIVE – Place 2nd cake layer on top and repeat process until you have a total of three stacked cake layers.

STEP SIX – Take extra precaution on the final top cake layer when spreading the pink frosting. You don’t want any chocolate crumbs mixed in with the icing. (so make certain you add a good “blob” and spread carefully). Finish it off by piping a decorative edge of frosting around the cake.

STEP SEVEN – Add cake topper of your choice

I’ll admit that I’m no expert and that Miette’s version is absolutely more refined. However, you can’t beat the $5 dollars it cost to make it, the 15 minutes it took to assemble everything or the fact that the oven was never turned on. *wink* I like to call this cake “pretty in a pinch“…don’t you agree?

Photography: Pen N’ Paperflowers Studio & Design

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