This sweet and spicy cake is like a warm hug from the southwest.
With fall flavors like cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, and clove, it’s a great alternative to a traditional pumpkin or pecan pie.
My sister and I are an incredible team. She bakes. I decorate. Together we make the world’s okayest cakes. We work with a charity called Cake4Kids, which is designed to make sure no kid goes without a birthday cake. For Cake4Kids, we make birthday and celebration cakes for kids in foster care or children rescued from human trafficking. Needless to say, it’s an amazing organization and we are lucky to be a part of it.
Because we want to make sure the cakes we make for donation are the best they can be, we often practice with cakes for our family and friends. This month, it was my husband’s birthday, and was a perfect opportunity to practice our “caking” skills.
His grandparents lived in Los Alamos, New Mexico for decades, and his fond memories of visiting them there inspired him to ask for a “New Mexico” themed cake. While I initially planned an elaborate, multi-tier cake, we didn’t need that much cake, so I scaled back the design. Ultimately, I love what we ended up with. And best of all: it tasted AMAZING!
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The Bake
- We started with this recipe from Tasty Kitchen, and doubled it to make two 8″ rounds.
- We used a powered horchata mix and it worked fine.
- You can really taste the horchata in the cake! It was amazing.
Pro Tip: I highly suggest using Wilton Bake Even Strips
The Icing
- We used my favorite American buttercream recipe as the base. It’s great for piping, but not too stiff to use for covering a whole cake.
- We cut back the almond extract to just 1/8 tsp.
- We added:
- 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. all spice
- 1/8 tsp. clove
These additions really make the cake complete. It’s warm, inviting, and so delicious. My son literally gave himself a stomach ache from eating just the frosting.
The Decor
My original plan was to cover the cake in a red/white marbled fondant, a nod to the red desert hills of New Mexico. But my husband liked the look the the crumb coat so much, he asked me to leave the fondant off. He noted that it looked like sandy desert and liked the more natural appearance. Yay! Less work for me!
I hand sculpted the toppers, working off pictures from the internet. All the toppers were made from White Wilton Decorator Preferred Fondant
Pro Tip: Toothpicks are a cake decorator’s best friend! I dipped toothpicks to get the gel dye out of the container, and as my stir-stick to mix the colors together to get the desired shade just right. I also used them to help secure pieces together (like the horns on the skull), and secure pieces to the cake (like the saguaro).
Bonus Tip: If you want to connect two pieces of fondant, use “fondant glue,” a.k.a. a piece of fondant dissolved in water. Brush it on with a paint brush or your finger, and let it set for a more secure connection.
That’s it! I know this didn’t go into too much detail, so if you have questions about specific techniques, leave it in the comments below!
Happy baking!
