White Chocolate Poinsettia Cake
This elegant dessert showcases the delicate sweetness of white chocolate in three delicious ways: moist cake layers, smooth mousse, and velvety buttercream. A shimmery poinsettia made of petal- shaped cookies crowns the whole thing.
Gallery
Recipe Summary
Ingredients
Directions
Garnish How-To
MAKE THE POINSETTIA COOKIES: Roll out 1 (16.5- oz.) pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut the dough into 12 large petals with a 3-inch leaf cookie cutter. Cut 3 small petals from dough, using a 2-inch leaf cookie cutter and the center of the poinsettia using a 1 1/2-inch flower cutter. Bake at 350 ̊ for 7 to 9 minutes.
DECORATE THE COOKIES: To make Royal Icing, beat 16 oz. powdered sugar, 2 tsp. meringue powder, and 5 to 6 Tbsp. warm water with an electric mixer on high speed, 5 minutes. Pipe the icing onto cooled cookies. Top the center poinsettia cookie with gold dragées, if desired. (Remove before eating.) Let the cookies dry. Use a paintbrush to paint the cookies with edible ivory luster dust and gold luster dust.
PIPE THE CAKE: Make another batch of Frosting. Spoon it into a ziplock plastic bag, and snip 1 corner of the bag. Pipe a column of 4 (1-inch) dots of frosting down the side of the frosted cake. (The dots should touch.) Place a 1-inch-wide spatula on the center of the first dot, and drag the frosting outward, creating a petal-like shape. Repeat with the remaining 3 dots, wiping the spatula clean. Pipe a second column of dots on top of the swiped edges, and drag the frosting outward. Repeat, covering the cake, ending with 1 column of dots.
EMBELLISH THE CAKE: Arrange the cookies in a flower shape on top of the frosted cake.