You all have been asking for Disney themed fondant cake. I hope this is worth the wait! Stained glass hand painting is so beautiful, and I loved creating this for you while challenging myself with my sometimes messy royal icing piping. I wanted to create a cake that was simple and practical for any kitchen, per usual, and of course with a touch of Disney love.

Now I know homemade baking can be a scary thing for many people. This recipe ideally skips all of the typical fuss and stress around baking a dessert. A simplified cake base with a perfectly smooth buttercream is all you need. Now for this cake, you’ll also need royal icing, white fondant, and piping gel so be sure to check out the recipe below so you can make your own Beauty & the Beast stained glass cake.

Be sure to grab the full recipe & check out the full video tutorial in the recipe card below. And if you try this recipe (I mean you totally should be), tag me on Instagram @imancake and use the hashtag #BakingWithMANCAKE.

TIPS FOR THE PERFECT BAKE

HOW DO YOU MAKE A SIMPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE?

1. Sift and whisk dry ingredients together.
2. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
3. Add wet to dry mixture and mix until combined.
4. Bake in prepared pans until centers are springy to the touch.

Use Room Temperature Ingredients

Cold ingredients do not mix well with room temperature ingredients. As with any recipe that calls for dairy products, always be sure to take the time to bring ingredients to room temperature because it will result in a lighter, fluffier bake. 

Proper Measurements

Proper measuring of ingredients is key to perfectly baked cakes & cupcakes, especially when you are making them from scratch. Take a moment to kneel down, get face to face with your measuring cup, and measure liquids at eye level in standard liquid measuring cups.

When it comes to dry ingredients, measure by spooning the ingredient into a measuring cup or spoon, then leveling off the top with a knife or straight edge spatula.

Don’t Overmix the Batter

No matter what you will be placing into your oven, over-mixing the batter can lead to over-developing the gluten, which means your cake or cupcakes will come out dense and heavy.

Bake Immediately

Bake your desserts immediately after mixing the batter. Letting batter stand for too long can cause some of the air you’ve beaten in to escape, making for a denser bake.

No Peeking!

While it can be tempting, resist the urge to peek in the oven on your dessert’s progress. Opening or closing the oven door before the baking time is complete can cause fragile air bubbles in the batter to burst, preventing the bakes from rising. Even if you are gentle with the oven door, a rush of cold air can affect the bake while it is trying to set up, resulting in dense, deflated bake. Try to resist the urge to peek until your bakes are at least 2/3 through their baking time.

How to Test if Your Baked Treats are Done

Test your bakes for doneness while they’re still in the oven by inserting a cake tester or wooden toothpick into the center. Your bakes are done when the tester or toothpick comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs clinging to it; you should see no wet batter. You can also gently press down on the bake and, if it bounces back leaving no dent, then it is done. If removed too early, the bake will sink in the center as it cools and, if over baked, it will be dry.

Stained Glass Cake

prep time: 10 MINUTES cook time: 45 MINUTES additional time: 30 MINUTES total time: 1 HOUR 25 MINUTES

Ingredients

• 1 ½ sticks butter at room temperature
• 1 ¾ cups white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cup warm water or fresh brewed coffee
• 1 stick butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 4 tablespoons heavy cream at room temperature
• 4 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 5 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Lemon juice
• White fondant
• Red piping gel
• Green piping gel
• Edible cake write/food marker

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Chocolate Cake

1. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy on a medium speed for about 2 minutes.
2. Add eggs and vanilla.
3. Beat butter mixture at a medium speed for about 1 minute.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture while alternating with water. Be sure to start and end with the dry ingredient mix.
6. On a low speed, mix until creamy. You should not need to mix longer than a minute at most. With that said, be sure not to over mix.
7. Pour cake batter into a prepared pan.
8. Bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
9. Let cool for 10 minutes in pan. After, invert onto cooling rack and let cook entirely.

Chocolate Buttercream

1. Sift 4 cups of powdered sugar & set bowl aside.
2. Cream butter & shortening.
3. Add cocoa powder & vanilla.
4. Scrape down the sides.
5. Place your mixer on the lowest speed & slowly add in your powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time.
6. Do not worry if your buttercream looks crumbly & dry because we will fix that next.
7. Scrape down the sides one last time.
8. With your mixer on, slowly add in heavy cream.
9. Turn mixer up to a medium speed until you have light & fluffy consistency you are looking for (about a minute or so).

Royal Icing

1. Sift 4 cups of powdered sugar & set bowl aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and vanilla until frothy.
3. Add the powdered sugar a 1/4 cup at a time, mixing after each addition, to reach the desired consistency. I like to toss in an extra cup to stiffen my royal icing when I’m using it to outline a design. Add in a few drops of black food gel color.
4. Once at the right consistency, place into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.

Decorating

1. After your cakes have cooled, level your cakes. If you’d like to make this a 4-layer cake, half each cake.
2. Place your first layer onto your cake turntable.
3. Spread a generous amount of chocolate buttercream on top and spread evenly with your straight or offset spatula.
4. Place your next layer of cake, top with more chocolate buttercream, and spread evenly. Continue these steps for all of your layers.
5. To cover your cake in the remaining chocolate buttercream, start from the bottom, and while rotating your cake turntable, pipe on your chocolate buttercream in an upward motion.
6. Using a cake frosting scraper, straight spatula, or offset spatula you will want to smooth over your chocolate buttercream. The best way is to hold your smoothing tool upright and gently pressed against your cake while rotating your cake turntable.
7. You’ll want to continue this until you have a smooth coating. When you’re doing the final smoothing and you notice the texture of the buttercream become a bit ragged there’s an easy fix! Get a bowl of HOT water and dip your tools into the bowl to warm them up. pat dry and smooth. The warm metal will melt the buttercream and give you a nice SMOOTH finish.
8. Smooth the top of your cake with an offset spatula.
9. Set in the fridge and allow to chill for 5 minutes.
10. Remove you cake from the fridge and begin to roll out your fondant.
11. This part requires some quick movement so make sure your cake is frosted and ready to go before preparing your fondant. Fondant will dry out if left out for too long, so it will need to be placed on the cake immediately while it’s still fresh and pliable. If your crumb coat has crusted or the frosting on your cake is dry, lightly mist your cake with water before covering. You’ll need your frosting to be tacky so the fondant can stick to it.
12. Now comes the fun part, covering the cake! This part may seem intimidating, but the trick is letting the tools do all the work for you. Make sure your cake is close by before proceeding.
13. To start, place your fondant roller in the middle of your rolled out fondant. Using both hands, fold one side of the fondant over the roller. Pick up the fondant roller by both ends. Working from the back of the cake to the front, touch the edge of the fondant to the cake board and start draping the fondant towards you, trying to keep it as centered as possible.
14. Gently roll out the fondant, guiding it as it drapes over the rest of the cake. If the fondant doesn’t fully cover the bottom edges of the cake, don’t worry! As you smooth the fondant, it will stretch to better cover the edges.
15. If the fondant is not centered, you should be able to gently remove the fondant and re-center it. If the cake gets damaged once the fondant is removed, simply re-frost the cake and chill it until it’s firm. Re-knead the fondant, buttercream and all, and re-roll it and try again. You got this!
16. OK, the hard part is done! Now it’s time to smooth the top and sides. Use a fondant smoother to smooth the top first. This will prevent the fondant from moving around as you work the sides.To smooth the sides, pick up a section of the fondant. Gently pull and stretch the fondant away from the cake, using the edge of your hand (the pinky finger side) to smooth the sides and remove any creases. Using the edge of your hand also helps prevent fingerprints and ridges from forming.
17. Once the section is smooth, lightly press the fondant to the side of the cake. As you smooth the sides, move the creases to the lower edges of the cake.
18. Trim the bottom excess fondant with a fondant trimmer (a pizza cutter or paring knife works great, too), staying a tiny bit outside the edge of the cake. Remove the excess fondant.
19. Using your cake marker, begin to lightly sketch your stained glass window design.
20. With your piping bag of royal icing, trace your design with thin lines of royal icing.
21. Grab your piping gel and start to fill in your sections. Green for the rose stem and leaves and of course red for the rose bud.

Notes

• Room Temperature Ingredients: Be sure to allow your dairy ingredients to reach room temperature. Room temperature ingredients not only combine more effortlessly (no over-mixing needed) but they also trap air so much better. This trap air will expand and produce a fluffy texture during your baking process.
• Prepared Pan: There will always be the “next best way to prepare your pan” article. Simply put however, the most effective way i find in my kitchen is a light rub of shortening around the sides, parchment paper on the bottom of the pan, & a very light dusting of flour (cocoa powder for chocolate baked goods) all throughout.
• You can use this buttercream right away or place it in an airtight container in your fridge until ready to use. Just be sure to whip before using.
• If you’d prefer to skip the shortening, simply swap it out with 1 additional stick of room temperature butter.
• If you’d prefer a more white, stiffer, buttercream then simply omit the butter & replace with 1 additional cup of shortening. Also be sure to swap out the vanilla extract for clear vanilla extract.
• Make sure you sift your powdered sugar. This will help the sugar mix into the butter & shortening smoothly.
• When all your powdered sugar has been added in, the buttercream will appear dry. Don’t raise the alarms. When adding in your milk or heavy cream, your buttercream will start to have the fluffy texture it‘s known for.
• Keep in mind that your heavy cream should be added in 1 tablespoon at a time. I do this way to make sure I am not drowning my buttercream to the point of a soupy mess.
• Also worth mentioning, if desired, you can easily swap out the heavy cream for equal parts of your preferred milk such as whole milk or buttermilk.