Starry night cakes are a beautiful way to celebrate an artist’s birthday or other special occasion. These cakes are all made of icing or frosting and feature the work of famous artists like Van Gogh.
To make a starry night cake, color decorator frosting with gel food coloring to match the colors of the painting. Place the colors into piping bags and trace on top of cake.
Ingredients
A large vanilla sheet cake with silky Swiss meringue buttercream, decorated to look like the famous painting, Starry Night. This handdesigned cake is a stunning addition to any special occasion. Please note that name/age customizations are not available on predesigned cakes.
For the cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line two half sheet pans. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter and shortening until creamy, then add sugar. Alternately add the milk and flour mixture to the butter, beating after each addition.
Color decorator frosting with gel food coloring to match The Starry Night palette. Place each color into a quart size freezer bag and cut off a tiny corner from each bag to trace on top of the cake.
Instructions
Using your reference photo, color buttercream with gel food coloring to match the colors in The Starry Night painting. Put the colors into piping bags. Frost the cake with the background colors of The Starry Night painting, covering flat with an offset spatula or palette knives. Roll out 4 strips of gold colored fondant and decorate with embellishments from silicone molds. Make a brown frame with a wide flat decorating tip around the top of the cake. Fill in the Cypress trees with grey (and/or brown) frosting in vertical lines.
Decorate the cake with the large starry sprinkles mix, arranging them as you like on the sides of the cake and on the top. Add a sprinkling of the small silver stars, brushed with a little cooled boiled water. If you wish, a personalized topper printed with your choice of name and age can be added. Large sprinkles could pose a choking risk, so please supervise children when handling.
Decorating
Use the Starry Night kit to bake a cake that is out of this world. This kit includes a perfect-sized cake pan, frosting mix, fabulous star sprinkles, cocoa powder and a handy decorating tool.
Color buttercream with food coloring to match the colors of Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting. Place all the colors into piping bags and trace the outline of the painting with a toothpick on top of the frosted cake. Fill in the background colors of the painting with a palette knife or offset spatula.
Roll out the icing or frosting (recommend preparing first) to 5mm thick. Cut out stars with a cookie cutter. Brush back of each star with a little cooled boiled water and stick onto base of cake. Use paper straws or skewers to hold the stars up if needed. You can also make a gold frame for the top of your cake using a piece of edible gold leaf or luster dust mixed with a drop of extract or vodka. Top with the painted topper and include any text if desired.
