Happy birthday to Madelyn! Madelyn turns 5 this month and had an adorable birthday party last Saturday. She requested a Rapunzel cake, which immediately sent me into a slight panic because the story of Rapunzel involves a TOWER. But no challenge is too big and the cake turned out great. I need to give a HUGE thank you to my friend Meghan for all of her help – she made the tower… and rolled and dyed all of those fondant “stones”. She’s always so willing to help me with these cakes and it’s much appreciated. Here are the details about how I made the cake:
- I used The BEST Chocolate Cake Recipe from Kevin & Amanda and the White Buttercream Frosting recipe from the Repressed Pastry Chef. I made a double batch of both the cake the the frosting.
- I used a 10″ square cake pan.
- I used Wilton Leaf Green gel food coloring; using a little for the pale green and more for the darker shade of green.
- The green “leaves” were created by using a Wilton star pastry tip.
- The sugar flowers were purchased from Vanilla Bean here in Madison.
- The Rapunzel figure belonged to Madelyn and I’m not sure where her parents purchased it.
- The base of the tower is a cardboard center from a roll of paper towel. We cut the roll down in size a bit.
- Meghan covered the roll in gray frosting (use black food coloring to achieve the gray color); she covered the gray frosting with bits of fondant that she rolled out to look like stones, windows, and shutters. When finished, the tower was placed on the cake and pushed into the cake about 1.5 inches.
- The roof of the tower was created by using a waffle cone covered in purple candy melts. The candy melts were purchased at Vanilla Bean (though I know stores like Hobby Lobby sell them). Once melted, I brushed the candy melt material onto the waffle cone using a pastry brush and set it on a piece of waxed paper to dry.
- We placed a wooden dowel, that was significantly taller than the tower, inside of the tower. We then set the waffle cone roof on the dowel so it appears to be sitting on the tower. You could also “glue” the roof to the tower with frosting.
- Here are a few more photos. As always, let me know if you have questions.
Gorgeous! Well done…I love the tiny little flowers!
I LOVE this cake! It’s so pretty. Did you have to double the cake recipe? What size pan is that?
Thank you both!
Heather: Yes, I doubled the cake recipe and used a 10″ square pan. I added that information to the post :)
Thank you! If I get brave enough, I’ll attempt some version of this for my daughter’s birthday.
Give it a try! It really was one of the easier cakes that I’ve made, even though it doesn’t look it. And don’t be shy about contacting me if you need more information or help :)
Such a cute cake. Came a week too late for me though. My granddaughter wanted a Rapunzel cake. I was able to purchace a Rapunzel figure from a bakery in a store and just kind of did my own thing. Wish I had seen the castle. Would have made her cake so much more real.
Thanks, Denice! Sorry that the post was a week too late for you :)
Love this cake! So pretty! I think I might attempt it for my daughter’s birthday next week! Any tips to get that tower looking so great? Thanks for the great photos.
Thanks, Michelle. The tower is easier than it looks. Just dye fondant various shades of gray (using black food coloring) and shape it into flattened stones. We covered the entire roll in frosting and then layered on the stones. I hope that helps! Good luck!!
Can you please tell me if you made the tower in advance? I was hoping to make it the day before the birthday but am worried the fondant and frosting would harden and crack. Fantastic cake – am hoping to replicate.
Was wondering if the tower was made ahead of time. Wanting to make it the night before…
Yes, we made the tower the night before and assembled it on the morning of the party
would you be able to make this cake for my little girls birthdays its a week today and she is in love with rapunzel and so hard to find many thanks x and how much
No. I run a blog, not a bakery! Sorry!
Thanks for the idea. LOVE IT. I will be making this Friday for my best friends little girls 3rd birthday :-)
This cake is beautiful! Will definately be attempting this for my daughters 5th. Can you tell me what number tip you used for the leaves? Thanks don’t want a big smudge of grass!
Hi Saffy — I’m almost positive that I used a Wilton #16 star tip. Hope that helps!
Hi, amazing cake! Did you use buttercream or a special kind of icing to make the green leaf effect? Thanks.
Hi Leisa – I used buttercream for the entire cake. :)
That’s great, thank you for replying so quickly Annie – it really is a gorgeous cake :-)
hi!so i was looking at cakes for my little sisters 5th birthday and i just fell in LOVE with this cake i really want to make this cake for her birthday so i was wondering if you could give me some tips to make this job easier since well im only 13 :)
Hajra – Thank you for the comment. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to tutor you one-on-one or give you special instructions. If you have a specific question, I’m happy to answer. Good luck with the cake!!
Hi we live in Australia and my daughter wanted a repunzle cake for her 5th birthday now as I like to try and make whatever type of cake they want thought omg!!!
Googled found your amazing cake and handy hints and this is what I’m making – thanks hope it looks as good as yours
How many did this cake feed – I know it was a 10″ cake and you doubled the receipe however is it a single cake or did you stack them
Thanks again
Kath -one very happy mum!!
Hi Kath,
You know, I’m not 100% sure how many this cake fed. I dropped it off at a birthday party that included 10 little girls and 3 adults, so I’m guessing it was more than enough cake. It’s a layered cake — I stacked two layers on top of one another, so it was a tall cake. I hope that helps – let me know if you have other questions. Happy baking!!
hi,i have a question…what is inside of the cake?does it have any sort of filing?
Hi Sonia, The cake did not have a filling. It was just a two-layer cake with frosting in between the layers. Hope that helps!
thank you annie for answering my questions.was it filled with regular butter cream on the inside?im asked to make this cake this weekend,a little nervous.
Yep – I just used the same green icing on the inside as I did on the outside.