This is a 3 layer vanilla chai cake with chai spiced buttercream. The cherries play no role in the actual cake, I just love how they look as decorations!
This cake’s buttercream would not stop melting as I was piping it even though the cake was ice cold. This is the second cake I’ve ever baked so I’m still trying to get the hang of it. Any advice or critique is greatly appreciated as always 🙂
by fairynook
25 Comments
Cherries 🍒
Team cherries!
sounds tasty and looks great for your second cake!
team (stemless) cherries
Cherries, but without the stems.
It looks gorgeous, by the way!
Cherries but less of them. Like maybe outer rim then a group of two or three in the middle.
I don’t like things on a cake that aren’t edible. Cherry stems and pits fall into this category. Looks beautiful though.
The cherries look amazing on that cake! That said, some bakers don’t like to put anything inedible on their bakes simply because having to spit out a pit and stem on a slice of cake isn’t ideal. You may feel differently!
Team cherries without pits and stems for easy eating. Also the thyme decor is cute but eating thyme raw and with stem is not. Maybe for the future practice piping something similar or just using the leaves.
Does the cake have thyme in it??
Me? I’d remove the stems and halve the cherries. Then I’d put them cut side down. Bonus points for mincing a few and adding them to the filling.
To me the cherries look marvelous, but is that thyme draped around the sides? I am so averse to thyme, and it’s confusing me about what kind of flavor of cake is inside.
Maybe this is an old school view, but I personally don’t like decorations that introduce new flavors that aren’t present in the cake.
I would be so annoyed by the stems and pits if I was handed a slice of this. Or if I were the person in charge of cutting & serving this cake. It would be wickedly hard to keep the slices looking good if the knife hit a pit while slicing
Excuse me, this is your second ever cake?? And it’s a three layer, flat, smooth, well-piped masterpiece? Who are you trying to fool??
It’s beautiful,I’m jealous.
The garnish/decoration should be completely edible. Also,it should mirror the flavour of the cake.
It looks very pretty though!
No cherries
Cherries, but without stems, without pits, and [glazed](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2015/05/19/how-to-glaze-berries). I would be frustrated if I was eating a piece of cake and had to spit pits out from the cherry topping.
However, I personally do not agree with edible decorations that have no connection to the flavor in the cake. So for me, a mint leaf on a crème brûlée is not okay, because there is no mint in the dessert. The decoration should complement the flavor of the cake. So maybe if you like the cherries, add a layer of cherry filling to the cake? Or choose a different fruit that complements the chai flavor, such as candied orange? Or decorate with a couple of cinnamon sticks and star anise?
I was team stemless/pitted cherries until i scrolled back up and read vanilla chai. Nah.
No cherries. Since this is a chai cake, I would’ve put some parle-g crumbs instead as decoration hehe
I would not use the cherries, but now that they’ve been there, you may have a hard time removing them without messing up your piping.
Just raw cherries with stems looks super unfinished.
Edit: oh no I just noticed the thyme. Just slapping raw ingredients that didn’t have anything to do with the flavor of the cake is not a great move.
This maybe unwarranted but I’m not a fan of the leafy herb(?) on the sides. I keep thinking about biting into it (I’m sure it’s supposed to be removed) and how it would ruin the texture of everything. Agree with everyone about seedless stemless cherries though.
I’d agree with the sentiment that cake decorations shouldn’t add completely new flavours.
If you have whole cinnamon sticks and/or star anise you could use them and still have decoration. Though they are arguably not edible. Or even a light dusting of cinnamon to add a bit of colour to the top
I do think the version with no cherries is better, sometimes less is better.
The cherries look cute, but I would leave them off this cake. It’s deceiving the flavor.
I actually like it with the stems. Cake appears very unique and clearly very easy to pull off to give to somebody else if you don’t want cherries. 🍒
Cherries all the way.