Kinda. I mean, in all honesty this cake was inspired from some ice cream I saw at the grocery store. But when I saw it the first thing I thought was… Neapolitan Cake. I need to make this “spumoni” into my Neapolitan Cake!
So I did. I mean, kinda. I got the colors right… but I think that’s about it. The ice cream container says that it is chocolate, pistachio and amaretto ice cream with mixed fruit.
I made a chocolate, pistachio and cherry almond cake. So it’s basically the same thing, right?
My saving grace of this dessert is the flavor. Everything works so amazingly well together.
To make this cake I baked two separate cakes, one is the “white” cake and I will share the recipe below. The other is the Best Chocolate Cake. I prepared the chocolate cake as directed and had 2 layers in 8-inch round cake pans. One layer is used in the spumoni cake, the other layer I snacked on for 2 days. But you should freeze yours for a later date.
I then made up a small batch of cherry buttercream, of chocolate buttercream, and of pistachio buttercream. I recommend printing off each of those recipes if you want to make this cake.
I have a post on how to make the rosettes here, and a video showing how to make the Rose Cake here.
Ok! Now for recipes.
As I mentioned, click here for the chocolate cake. You will use one layer for this Spumoni cake.
There are definitely a lot of steps in this cake. I have made it both from scratch and with cake mix, and while the cake mix is faster, it was not as flavorful. However, it will definitely work in a pinch!
Tips for how to make the Perfect Rose Cake:
Put your 1M tip (or any large open star tip) into an empty pastry bag. Then fill up two 12-inch pastry bags with Pistachio Buttercream, one pastry bag with Cherry Buttercream, then one pastry bag with Chocolate Buttercream.
If you have an appropriately sized coupler you can use that, or you can just insert the tip into the bag and cut off the excess.
(Starting with the Chocolate Buttercream on the bottom layer) To make your rose, start in the center, then slowly move your tip in a circle around the center point.
Try to end in the same place each time; I prefer to end my roses at the top. When you go back in to do the next layer (Cherry Buttercream in this case), slightly overlap the cherry buttercream over the chocolate roses and all the “ends” will be covered. It’s by far the neatest way to make a rose cake. (And my original method!)
Finally go in with your pistachio buttercream. Do a layer of roses around the cake, then start with the top. Remember to slightly overlap your roses here as well. (This is the secret to the PERFECT Rose cake!!)
spumoni cake
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 c all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 c white sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 3/4 c unsalted butter room temperature
- 5 egg whites room temperature
- 1 c whole milk
Cherry Cake
- 1/2 c finely chopped maraschino cherries
- 2 tbsp. maraschino cherry juice
- 1 tsp. almond extract
Pistachio Cake
- 1 pkg pistachio pudding 3.4 ounces
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In a stand mixer cream butter.
- Add in egg whites, one at a time, until fully incorporated.
- Add 1/3 cup milk at a time, alternating with dry ingredients.
- Remove bowl from mixer and halve the batter. It is approximately 4 cups of batter, so remove about 2 cups and place in a bowl.
Cherry Almond Cake
- To the batter left in the stand mixer add finely chopped cherries, cherry juice and almond extract. Mix by hand until fully incorporated. Pour into prepared 8-inch round cake pan and bake at 350 for 20-24 minutes.
Pistachio Cake
- For the 2 cups of batter in the separate bowl, add in pistachio pudding mix and vanilla. Stir by hand until fully incorporated. Pour into a prepared 8-inch round cake pan and bake for 22-26 minutes.
- My pistachio cake needed to bake for a bit longer than the cherry cake, but you can certainly bake them at the same time and just remove the cherry one first.
- Prepare chocolate cake. (recipe linked to above) Bake as directed when the other cakes are done.
- Allow all cakes to cool for about 5 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack.
- Prepare chocolate, cherry and pistachio buttercream. (recipes linked to above) Place buttercream each into a pastry bag fitted with an open star tip.
- Once chocolate cake is cooled, level the chocolate cake, the cherry cake and the pistachio cake to the same height.
- To assemble cake, place chocolate cake on cake stand and cover in about 1/2 cup of chocolate buttercream. Place cherry cake on top of chocolate and cover in cherry buttercream. Place pistachio cake on top of cherry. (I did not do a crumb coat.)
- Starting at the bottom and with chocolate buttercream, cover bottom layer with rosettes. (video and picture tutorial linked to above). Next do a row of cherry buttercream rosettes. Next a row of pistachio buttercream rosettes. The entire sides of the cake should be covered.
- Finish covering the top with pistachio rosettes and chill until ready to serve.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
And it’s kind pretty if I don’t say so myself. I know there were a lot of recipes and steps and directions in there, but if you have any questions please do feel free to ask! I am happy to walk you through it.
Your rosettes are beautiful and I love the color combination. It’s so light and airy. The cake layers matching the frosting color is a fun touch.
Wow, this cake is just stunning Amanda! I love your buttercream rosettes and all the different kinds of buttecream. That pistachio buttercream sounds heavenly! I’d love to make this one day – it would is definitely one super special cake that is sure to brighten up anyone’s day.
O.K. So I am going to attempt to make this cake today. The only question I have is why doesn’t your pistachio cake and frosting look so smooth and without nuts? All the pistachio pudding mixes contain nuts. Am I not seeing them?
For the frosting on the outside of the cake I used a generic pistachio pudding mix that had almost NO nuts in it! It was unintentional, but I do like to look of a smooth rosette. If you want to achieve the same look, simply sift the pudding mix prior to adding it to the frosting. 🙂
Stunning. Looks like it was created by a true master. Love the colors and details.
So a few days ago I said I was going to make this cake. Something went wrong with the cherry cake. I thought it was a goner. It actually took an hour to bake. The center of it was being stubborn but it cooked eventually. I put them in the freezer because I planned on decorating it tonight for my sister’s tomorrow. We were going to celebrate her trip back from Italy and I thought this cake was appropriate for the occasion. I took the cakes out of the freezer to defrost. The chocolate one defrosted no problem. The pistachio ditto. The cherry cake……ahhh….not so easy. Hmmmm….now what’s wrong? I waited and waited and waited. It was being stubborn defrosting now. Finally I just unwrapped it and I had to level it to be even with the other cakes so I figured I could see what the inside looked like and how it tasted. Well…..needless to say….all the problems that I thought I had with this cherry cake all out the window! It was absolutely DELICIOUS!!! i was so happy 🙂 I really didn’t doubt your recipe for one minute because I use a lot of your recipes. BUT….and yes…there’s a BUT!! My darling son was over with his dog Mozart watching the games with his dad. Now you have to understand Mozart. He’s a big bulky gorgeous 80 lb Bernese Mountain dog. Sweet as can be but has a horrible habit of taking food off the table. Yes…that’s right….I think you can start the next sentence. OF ALL THE THREE CAKES HE HAD TO GRAB OFF THE TABLE, HE TOOK THE CHERRY!!!! I screamed!! Too late….he ate half the cake. I cried like a baby. My son apologized profusely! Didn’t matter. that damned delicious cherry cake that I slaved over was gone. What was I to do?? Well, thank God I had a white cake mix. I substituted the water for cherry juice, added the almond extract and chopped more cherries up Walla! Cherry cake! I’ll let you know tomorrow how it tasted 🙂 Sorry this is so long but I thought you would get a kick out of it 🙂
OH MY WORD!!! I would have cried like a baby too!!! But my goodness you are good in a pickle!! Great recovery!
Your cake is beautiful and looks delicious !!
Thank you!
Hi.. I made your cakes.. just one question..mine came out kinda heavy ..is this the way its suppose to be.. im bringing it to my friends house..just want to make sure its right..havent cut it yet to make it even so i didnt taste it yet too
You should always be able to taste test a recipe the first time you are making it… if only to know if it meets your standards and requirements! I am not sure what exactly you mean by heavy or which cake you are talking about? I know the pistachio cake does seem s bit dense because of the pudding mix, but that is normal. I am sure your friends will love it!
This looks fantastic! Do you have the measurement for ingredients if I want to make this a 9″ cake?
I saw your video on vertical cake, and was wondering if it is stable enough for a 2-layer cake? Love your site!!!
Can I make the flowers with whip cream?