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Jill Levenhagen

…faith, creativity, humor and real life

How to Make and Decorate a Sunflower Cake

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I’m so excited to share with you this sunflower cake I created!  I actually made this back in 2009.  My son was just 4 1/2 and he just really had a thing for sunflowers.  So, when it came around to my mother-in-law’s birthday, I knew that my son would love making a Sunflower Cake for grandma!  And she really loved it!

You aren’t going to find a recipe here…I make cakes from BOXES! [gasp]  They taste good.  That is a fact.  Frosting is better when you make it homemade, but again…I made this with a 4-year-old.  It was ALL ABOUT THE LOOKS!  You know what I mean.

So, I made two cakes, one yellow, one chocolate.  I think it works better to do this just because of the frosting colors.  When working with little kids, you should try and reduce the margin of error.  You can certainly make whatever flavor cake you want, but that is my recommendation.

I made the yellow cake in a 9×13 pan.  You need to use that size pan in order to use my template for the petals.  For the round chocolate cake, I actually used a 8″ round pan and then cut it down to 6″ round.  I did this because it will end up making the center cake just a little “higher” than the petals.

I made a template to cut out the petals that you can download here. There will be 2 pages of petals to cut out and when you put them on top of the cake it should look like this:

Next, use food coloring to tint your white frosting yellow.  Frost all the eleven petals without adding the decorative “divots” yet.

Cut out your chocolate cake into a 6″ round.  Frost it with chocolate frosting.  Use chocolate sprinkles and don’t be afraid…coat the whole top of the cake in sprinkles.

Assemble the cake on a large pan.  This cake will be about 15 inches wide!  A large pizza pan is ideal…or just cover a piece of cardboard with butcher paper.

After it is assembled, then use the tip of your frosting knife to make the divot lines in the petals.

This cake is SO EASY and looks so impressive, especially for the sunflower lover in your life!

Every recipe here is my creation. The only ones I publish are those that you can’t find anywhere else!

I love cooking, and believe that technique is the key to making all food better! I was a basic “meat and potatoes” cook until I actually started being brave enough to taste foods I thought I didn’t like. That has inspired my desire to bring more flavor to all the food I love, and use more ingredients I never ate before!