A lot of (obsessive) thought went into the creation of this beauty. I wanted to make sure all the components of a mojito cocktail came through. The mint, the lime, and the rum all had to be there but not with one overpowering the other flavor. I a took a gamble on coming up with my variation of this cake and I even surprised myself on how well it came out. My friends absolutely went gah gah over it and it was made for one of my dear friends’ birthday. I make her birthday cake every year and we usually have a pool party at her house to celebrate. It was a huge hit. I wanted to find the perfect green flower to a adorn the top of the cake and keep the decorations to a minimum. When using fresh flowers there are a few different ways to keep them safe. I always start by washing my flowers gently and thoroughly with cool water, and let them dry in my Arizona hot patio until dry. I then wrap my stem generously with plastic wrap and poke the cake with the wrapped flower. There a product called Safety Seal by Ingenious edibles that is a food safe wax that you heat up in the microwave and then dip your flowers in it and wait for it to dry before you pierce the cake. You can also wrap your cleaned and dried flowers with floral tape as well. If I only have one main flower or two; I usually like to use the plastic wrap technique as I’m in the kitchen already and have plastic wrap readily at hand.

I portioned out a bit of my buttercream and tinted with gel food colors two different tones to swish a quick tonal color after my final base coat of buttercream was done.

I decided to use a mint and lime zested enhanced sugar as a final gentle pat along the bottom portion of my cake; I felt this really enhance the overall experience, as you can also smell it when presenting the cake, one notices the smell of a mojito. I also liked the gentle crunch or texture of the flavored sugar on just the bottom as when you are eating the cake you get that subtle texture and flavor. Overall I was so happy with how this turned out. I hope you try it! if you do make sure to tag me on Instagram with a photo of your cake!

Enjoy!!

Mojito Layer Cake {Lime, Mint, and Rum flavored cake}

(4 layer 6 inch cake)

2 1/2 C all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

3/4 C unsalted butter, room temp

1 3/4 C granulated sugar

2 limes, zested finely

5 Lg. egg whites, room temp

2 tsp. rum “bakery emulsion” (Lorann brand)

1 tsp. butter vanilla “bakery emulsion” (Lorann brand)

1/2 Cup sour cream, room temp

3/4 C whole milk, slightly warmed

1/4 C fresh lime juice

2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint leaves

Before you start the cake make the rum simple syrup recipe below and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare four 6 inch baking pans with greasing, pan spray or a thin spread of cake goup*. Line the bottom of the pans with a parchment circle. Note; you can change this recipe to a 3 layer cake if you want; you’d have thicker layers, and it would also just work as a two layer 8 inch cake as well; keeping in mind to watch and bake the cakes longer as necessary.

*If you don’t know what cake goup is; it is a cake pan release mixture that you can whip up in your stand mixer which I will link here; the recipe is by Liz at The Sugar Geez Show website.

In a bowl combine the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and whisk to combine. Set aside.

In a stand mixer bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; around 2 minutes. On medium speed with the mixer running, add in the egg whites a little at a time until combined; stopping occas. to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add in the flavor emulsions until combined. In a liquid measuring cup combine the milk, sour cream, lime juice and whisk together with a fork. Starting with the dry ingredients add in a third of the flour mixture until combined, followed by half of the liquid mixture, and alternate starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to mix with a spatula and un mixed bits. By hand fold in the chopped fresh mint leaves.

Portion evenly the cake batter into your prepared pans. Tip; a great way to portion evenly without weighing on a scale is use an ice cream scoop and portion a scoop individually into each pan, but placing the pans in row on the counter; scoop into each pan one at a time until your have used up all the cake batter. Rap the pans gently on the counter once to release any air pockets. Place evenly in the oven and bake at 350 for about 23-24 minutes or until the cake just starts to release from the sides and a wooden toothpick returns clean or with a few moist crumbs.

Place the pans on a wire rack and allow to cool until still slightly warm. Turn out onto the rack and let cool completely. While you make the buttercream. If you want- you can also make the buttercream a day ahead and rewhip with a paddle attachment to fluff up the buttercream.

Side note: I recently found out by weighing my Fat Daddio 6 inch pans empty in grams; that they all weighed a bit differently they were not the same exact weight empty as one would expect. This is why I love the scoop method; and when I worked in a commercial bakery this is how we used to portion our cake batter when placing in cake pans.

Vanilla “Easy Buttercream ”

(recipe from the sugargeekshow.com website)

(mock swiss meringue buttercream)

24 oz. (680 g) unsalted butter, room temperature.

24 oz. (680 g) powdered sugar sifted if not from a bag

2 tsp. clear vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

6 oz. (170 g) pasteurized egg whites room temperature

Place egg whites and powdered sugar in a stand mixer bowl. Attach the whisk attachment and combine on low and whip for one minute until cohesive. Note; you don’t need to whip it to a meringue stage. Add in the vanilla and salt and combine.

Add in the butter by generous tablespoons at a time and whisk until combined. It may look curdled but that is normal , just keep whipping it until it comes together and looks smooth. I stop and scrape down the bowl from time to time as I go. Switch to the paddle attachment and mix on low for 15-20 minutes to make it super smooth and remove any air bubbles. This isn’t required but if you want a really creamy frosting, you can choose to do this. I personally don’t but it’s part of her recipe notes.

Portion out 6 ice cream scoop size of the buttercream in a medium bowl. This will be for flavoring the lime buttercream filling portion of the cake.

Lime Buttercream Filling

6 ice cream scoop sizes of the vanilla buttercream from above

1 tsp. fresh lime juice

2 limes zested finely

Mix the components together until combined and set aside until ready to assemble the cake.

Rum Syrup

3/4 C granulated sugar

3/4 C scant of water

2 Tbsp. golden rum

In a small saucepan bring together the sugar and water to a boil until the sugar dissolves. Add in the rum off the heat and let sit until ready to use.

Mint~Lime Sugar Mix

1/4 C granulated sugar

1 lime zested (~ 1 tsp. of zest)

1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint leaves

In a small bowl place the sugar and the zest and lime and with your finger tips rub the mint and lime into the sugar to release the oils and flavor the sugar. Set aside at room temp until ready to decorate the cake.

Cake Assembly:

Place a small dollop of buttercream onto a cake drum or cake board that you will be serving on. I suggest a cake drum as the cake is heavy and you’ll want something sturdy for the cake to be on.

Brush each top side of a cake layer twice with the rum syrup, and the bottom of each cake layer once. Place one layer of cake onto the cake drum and fill with 2 scoops of the lime flavored buttercream and level evenly. Repeat with the process with the next two cake layers. Top off with the last cake layer and spread a small crumb coat layer of buttercream ; either with the lime or vanilla doesn’t really matter. Spread a crumb coat layer of vanilla buttercream on the sides of the cake and place the cake in the fridge to chill until firm. Finish spreading a final vanilla buttercream layer onto the chilled cake.

Portion out a small amount of buttercream if you want like I did for 2 different colors of green.

For the green colored buttercream: I used electric green gel colors Americolor, and mint green for the other color until desired color reached.

Spread a thin layer of darker color green along the bottom of the cake and the lighter green along the top half of the cake and spread until smooth. Chill the cake until the green color is mostly firm but not super tacky. Place the mint lime sugar along the bottom of the cake drum and with your hand scoop up and press with the help of an offset spatula onto the bottom portion of the cake; going up about 2 1/2 inches worth.

I had some buttercream leftover and used to tint one more darker color with the mint green and placed on a piece of plastic wrap the 3 colors next to each other and rolled the plastic together into a log and placed in a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip to place a row on top of the cake and a few pressed flowers onto the sides of the cake. I think it was a large 1M tip. tbh I don’t remember. I sprinkled Just a tiny bit of some extra lime mint sugar on top of the stars on the top of the cake.

Serve the cake at room temperature so the buttercream does not taste like a hunk of butter; this is key when serving with this type of buttercream.