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Whole rosette cake covered in pale pink buttercream roses.

Rosette Cake Recipe

With dense chocolate layers, glossy ganache, and smooth buttercream rosettes, this Rosette Cake balances rich cocoa tones with a soft, even texture that stays firm from the first slice to the last.

Course: Cake
Cuisine: International
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 1 double 23 cm - 9 inch cake
Author: Taste.com and Martha Stewart

Ingredients

Mud Cakes

  • 500 g – 1.1 lbs butter – chopped
  • 400 g – 14 oz dark chocolate – chopped
  • 900 g – 4 cups caster sugar
  • 480 ml – 2 cups cold water
  • 4 eggs – lightly beaten
  • 250 g – 2 cups self-raising flour – sifted
  • 380 g – 3 cups plain flour – sifted
  • 60 g – ½ cup cocoa powder – sifted

Chocolate Ganache

  • 400 g – 14 oz dark chocolate – chopped
  • 330 ml – 1 1/3 cups heavy cream

Sugar Syrup

  • 240 ml – 1 cup water
  • 120 g – ½ cup sugar
  • 1 shot rum – optional

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  • 5 large egg whites
  • 225 g – 1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 400 g – 1 lb unsalted butter – cut into tablespoons, room temperature
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • Food colouring – optional

Instructions

Mud Cakes

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C–160°C fan-forced (355°F–320°F). Line two 23 cm – 9-inch round springform pans with baking paper; grease and lightly flour the sides.
  2. Melt the butter over medium-low heat, then add the chocolate, sugar, and 2 cups of cold water. Stir for 3–4 minutes until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and cool for 10 minutes.
  3. Add the lightly beaten eggs and stir to combine.
  4. Add the flours and cocoa powder and mix until smooth.
  5. Divide the batter between the prepared pans.
  6. Bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs.
  7. Leave in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache

  1. Heat the cream to a simmer, then remove from the heat.
  2. Add the chopped chocolate all at once and let it stand for 3 minutes.
  3. Whisk until smooth and fully combined.
  4. Line the base of a 23 cm – 9-inch springform pan with baking paper and pour in the warm ganache.
  5. Set aside to cool completely and set firm.

Sugar Syrup

  1. Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Cool completely.
  2. Stir in the liqueur, if using.

Assembling the Cake

  1. Level both cakes with a sharp serrated knife. If frozen, let them half-defrost before levelling for a cleaner cut.
  2. Prick the surfaces with a toothpick and brush with sugar syrup. Add only as much as each layer absorbs without soaking.
  3. Unmould the ganache disc onto one levelled cake, then place the second cake on top, smoothest side up.
  4. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  1. Set the mixer’s heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and add egg whites, sugar, and salt.
  2. Whisk constantly by hand until warm to the touch and the sugar has dissolved.
  3. Fit the bowl to the mixer with the whisk. Start on low, then increase to medium-high. Whisk to stiff peaks and until the meringue is fluffy, glossy, and fully cool (about 10 minutes).

  4. On medium-low, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla extract once all the butter is incorporated.

  5. Switch to the paddle and beat on low until the frosting is completely smooth and most air bubbles are gone (about 2 minutes), scraping the bowl as needed.
  6. To tint, use gel-paste colours. Add the colour with the vanilla extract if you like.

Decorating

  1. Apply a thin crumb coat. Keep a separate bowl of buttercream for piping so crumbs do not transfer.
  2. Use a crumb-coat colour similar to your rosettes.
  3. Begin icing from the top, then move to the sides. Use a cake spatula to smooth the surface as evenly as possible. Once fully covered in icing, refrigerate the cake until firm.
  4. Once firm, begin decorating.
  5. Fit a piping bag with a Wilton 1M tip and fill with Swiss meringue buttercream.
  6. Twist the end and squeeze to push out any trapped air.
  7. Mark rose positions by lightly pressing a round cookie cutter into the frosting around the cake, leaving small gaps between circles.

  8. Pipe each rose from the centre outward to the circle’s edge; work around the sides first, then the top, leaving the centre of the cake for last.

    Note: If large roses leave empty areas, add a small swoop in the same direction as the neighbouring rose to fill the gap.

  9. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe Notes

I baked the cakes a week before the party and froze them. The day before, I levelled them, made the ganache, and assembled the layers with a crumb coat. On the morning of the party, I prepared the Swiss meringue buttercream and piped the rosettes.