Starry Night

I was inspired to make this Van Gogh cake from a wonderful book named “Hello, Cupcake!” by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. If you are considering making a Starry Night of your own this book is extremely helpful. They make their design on 24 cupcakes instead of a single layer cake as I did, but it was such a wonderful idea I could not wait to give it a try myself.
A few helpful hints I would suggest before attempting this project is buying the plastic throwaway pastry bags. I used the Wilton brand. There is no need for pastry tips in the bags so when you are done with your cake clean up is easy. Another suggestion would be to mix the nine colors used to make this particular cake in paper bowls with plastic spoons again you can throw away the mess when you are done. To serve the cake I bought an inexpensive eleven by fourteen inch frame and the cake I baked in a nine by twelve inch pan and it worked out perfectly.
Like the book suggests the technique is so forgiving there is no need to sweat making an exact copy. I used Swiss meringue buttercream because that is my frosting of choice and I was afraid the yellow tinge of the frosting would affect the colors but it was fine. For the blue colors I mixed in a small amount of purple with the royal blue to keep it from turning blue green when I was done with the mixing. Remember to always start out slow and add your color a little at a time. Each filled bag in the photo was enough to finish the top of my cake no more than approximately a cup and a half of colored frosting was needed for each bag.

Easy disposable bags.

I brought my finished masterpiece over to a good friend who was having a birthday party luncheon and the cake was enjoyed by everyone however the guests were sporting blue lips and tongues after having their slice of Starry Night. After few laughs and a few sips of water the blue was gone, not to worry. If you feel inspired to make art and you like working in different mediums I would suggest giving this type of cake a try. There are so many paintings you could copy or of course you could always do something of your own creation.