Violet Layer Cake with Violet Ganache, Violet Italian Meringue and sugared edible violets

Bubble turned 21 and we celebrated with a little party at home with friends and family. 

Over the years I have made some wonderful and fancy cakes for Bubble. Often she chose my strawberry flavoured cake recipe which has been a favourite for years.

But this being a milestone birthday I decided to come up with a new flavour based on Bubble's favourite macaron flavour which is violet.

The actual cake design was pretty, elegant and understated. which is a bit of a reflection of the amazingly lovely person Bubble has become (and really has always been).

Last year while traveling in Vienna we picked up sugared violets and I crushed these and added them to the Italian Meringue Buttercream which was flavoured with Violet essence. Then I covered the cake with a whipped violet ganache, lightened with a dollop of the buttercream and decorated it with gold splashes and more sugared violets.

It was exquisite. 

We also had a 4 layer chocolate cake cover with Lindt milk chocolate and topped with chocolate macarons plus raspberry and violet macarons (CLICK HERE FOR MY FREE RASPBERRY MACARON RECIPE).

#Note that violet extract/essence and sugared violets are speciality items and can be difficult to source. Here is a link to violet extract (CLICK HERE) and a link to sugared/crystalised violets (CLICK HERE). 

If you do not care for violet flavour or its a bit tricky to source, try using raspberry with freeze dried raspberries which would be delicious and just as pretty.

Happy Baking

XX

Linda M

Violet Layer Cake Recipe and Assembly Instructions

Ingredients (recipes below)

3 X 6" vanilla cake 

Violet Italain Meringue Buttercream 

Whipped Violet Ganache

extra crystallised violets to decorate (CLICK HERE FOR A LINK)

edible gold paint (link here)

1. Assemble the Cake

Trim cake as necessary to removed brown edges (optional you can leave it as is if you prefer)

Pop one 6" vanilla cake onto a 6"cake board. Secure the bottom with a little buttercream to hold it in place. Top with a generous 1/2 cup of Violet Italian Meringue Buttercream and then another layer of cake. Repeat the process adding another generous 1/2 cup Violet Italian Meringue Buttercream and then the final third layer of cake. 

Give the cake a quick thin crumb coat of reserved vanilla buttercream*

Place cake into fridge to firm up to make decorating easier.

*The sugared violets in the Violet Buttercream make it difficult to get a smooth finish, but it's all ok you will be covering in a layer of ganache soon.

Note - If it is warm you may need to do each layer and pop the cake into the fridge to firm up so it doesn't slide off.

2. Decorate the Cake

Remove the stacked cake from the fridge. I put my cake onto a cake decorating turntable. 

Using the violet ganache cover the edges and top with a reasonably thick coating of the ganache. I simply used a palette knife to cover the cake but use whatever process you are used to. 

To make the sides smooth I used a metal scraper held at a 45degree angle and turned the cake turntable while holding the scraper still. Fill any holes in the ganache with reserved ganache (or ganache that you have scraped off) and repeat the process until you are happy. You may need to pop the cake in and out of the fridge as required depending on the temperature. 

I use a metal scraper for tall cakes (CLICK HERE) which works best for me

Note - perfection is overrated if you are making this for your friends and family. Smooth until you are happy and ignore any dents and spots. No one will notice them.

Add gold splashes and crushed sugared violets randomly but sparsely. No need to go overboard. I mixed my edible gold dust with rose spirits and splashed on with a paint brush by lightly tapping the brush handle against my hand.

Fluffy Vanilla Cake makes 3 x 6" cakes

Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature, otherwise the butter will not mix in well.

80g (3oz) egg yolks (approximately 5 eggs)

225g (7+7/8oz)sugar (I used caster sugar or superfine if you only have regular white you can use that)

75g (2 + 5/8oz) butter melted and cooled

165g (5 + 3/4 oz) egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla essence

225g (7+ 7/8oz)plain flour (all purpose flour)

3 tsp baking powder

125g (4 + 3/8oz) milk

Preheat oven to 175C (350F) grease and line 3 X 6" round baking tins with parchment paper.

In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks with 1Tbsp of the sugar at medium high speed  light and fluffy. This will take a while and the mixture will become a lighter colour and very fluffy. It is important that the mixture is lightened/whipped enough at this stage.

Add the butter and mix until the mixture is thick and pale. If the butter solidifies (due to different temperatures of yolk and melted butter) keep on mixing until smooth.

In  a seperate bowl mix the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until soft peak stage. Gradually add the remaining sugar and mix until the egg white mixture is thick and glossy and reaches stiff peak stage. Mix in the vanilla.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and gradually fold into to the egg yolk mixture in batches. Add the milk and fold until just combined.

Take a generous heaped spoon of the egg white mixture and fold into the egg yolk batter to lighten it and then add the remaining egg white mixture folding gently to retain as much volume and air as possible.

Pour the batter evenly into the 3 baking tins. My tins had 295g in each of the 3 tins.

Bake for 20-25 mis until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. The sides will be coming away from the edge of the tin and it should lightly spring back when touched and be golden brown in colour.

Allow to cool completely before decorating (I made my cakes a few days before, double cling wrapped them, froze them and then removed from the freezer and defrosted in fridge the morning I decorated the cake.)

Violet Italian Meringue Buttercream

1 1/2  cup Italian Meringue Buttercream (recipe below)
1 1/2 Tbsp Crushed sugared violets (or to taste)
1/2 tsp violet extract (or to taste) CLICK HERE FOR LINK/SOURCE FOR VIOLET EXTRACT

Mix the violet extract into buttercream, taste and add more extract if required. Gently fold in the crushed sugared violets.

Whipped Violet Ganache Frosting(makes enough ganache to just cover a 3 layer by 15cm/6 inch cake)

330g (11 + 5/8oz) good quality white chocolate (I used Callebaut) 
110g (3 + 7/8oz) cream
1/2 tsp violet essence (violet flavour/essence varies add to taste)
few drops gel violet colour and pink
1/4 cup Italian meringue buttercream (recipe below)

Chop chocolate into little pieces if necessary then place with cream into a microwave safe bowl. I usually use glass/pyrex for heating chocolate. Mix the chocolate and cream around so the chocolate is covered with cream. Microwave on high for 1 minute, let sit for a minute, microwave for another 30 seconds, let sit for another minute and then stir with a whisk. I find that using a stick blender makes the smoothest most perfect ganache but I usually just use the whisk. 

If you have any little lumps try to mix them in. Your chocolate and microwave may be slightly different than mine so you might need to heat for another few lots of 30 seconds.

Add the violet flavour to taste and food colour to achieve your desired look. I added a few drops of violet which for me gave the ganache a greenish/blue tinge and then a drop of pink to achieve the colour in the pictures.

Allow to sit at room temperature or in the fridge until it has thickened. It should be like a thick custard that you can spoon.

In a stand mixer bowl whip the ganache until light and fluffy scraping down the sides as needed then add the buttercream and whip. Check the flavour and colour and add more if required.

Mini Batch of Italian Meringue Buttercream 
Your bowl and whisk need to be squeaky clean to whip egg whites. I use a stand mixer with a pouring shield to make this butter cream, the sugar syrup is very hot, make sure you take appropriate safety precautions when pouring the hot sugar syrup mixture. Not suitable for young children to make.

38g (1 3/8oz) water

150g (6oz) white sugar 

75g (2 3/4oz) egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
225g (8 oz - 2 sticks) unsalted butter cut into smallish cubes

Place sugar and water into saucepan over high heat and bring to boil. Conintue to  heat until the sugar syrup mixture reaches 115 C (240F). Brush down the the sides of saucepan with a wet pastry brush as required to stop sugar crystals from forming.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer (make sure the bowl is quite large). When the sugar syrup reaches 110C (210F) start to whip the egg whites at high speed.
Once the sugar syrup reaches 115C (240 F) carefully pour the syrup into the whipped egg whites whilst the mixer is still beating on high.

Continue to beat until the egg and sugar mixture cooled to room temperature (or the bowl feels cool to touch) and then start to add a few cubes of butter at a time. Add the vanilla and salt.

The mixture will probably become quite liquid, but continue to beat until it thickens and all the butter is evenly distributed. May take around 10 minutes.

Original photos and recipe from the Bubble and Sweet blog ©Linda McCubbin 2025. I love when people share my blog ideas and give credit. Please feel free to link back to my blog for non commercial purposes or contact me. Affiliate links and adds may earn me money, however all ideas and opinions are my own.

Linda Mccubbin is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US in 2011 (under my previous name Linda Vandermeer).

Soft Fluffy Gooey Cinnamon Roll Recipe

 

How is it possible to be gooey, soft and fluffy all at the same time?

These super fluffy, soft, pillowy cinnamon rolls have been perfected over 15 years of real home cooking and years of commercial cooking (when I owned the cafe). This is the actual small batch recipe I have used and tweaked over the years.

They are filled with the perfect amount of cinnamon filling and then topped with lashings of dreamy vanilla cream cheese frosting.

They can be frozen and defrosted in a microwave in 40 seconds. Plus you can partially make the dough the night before and finish a second rise and bake in the morning. 

This is the ultimate cinnamon roll recipe!

If you have never baked with yeast before don't be afraid, it's actually pretty easy as long as you follow the recipe and steps. I have found the following tips super helpful to ensure a consistent rise every time.

1. Make sure the yeast is within use by date. 

2. Proof your yeast - This is a process where you add the dry yeast to liquid and activate it (with sugar in this recipe) to see if it blooms. Imagine going through the whole process of mixing and kneading bread for 10 or more minutes, putting it in a warm place to rise and having a ball of dough that is hard and heavy instead of elastic and springy. Proofing your yeast is a surefire way to test that it is still active.

3. Don't overheat the yeast during the rise process. When I was young I remember my first try baking with yeast I used hot water and killed the yeast. I thought if gently warming yeast worked then hot could only work better and faster. Nope, uh-uh, No! Luke warm is the way to go here.

4. Use bread flour. This one is not essential but I find that my rolls hold up better with bread flour. When I use all purpose or plain flour the rolls collapse down on themselves a little during the cooling process. They still taste amazing and to be honest the slightly sunken tops are a good way to hold more frosting. But for perfect rolls which are softer and fluffier, bread flour will get a better result.

5. Knead your dough until elastic and it springs back. If you don't knead your bread enough it will be dense and not rise as well. If you have a stand mixer this is easy to achieve with a dough hook. If you are doing it by hand don't be tempted to skimp on this step.

6. Double rise but....don't over rise. Rolls that have been left to rise too long will result in a tougher texture roll. The taste may be overly yeasty and sour and the dough may collapse during cooking. It's another example of more is not always better.

*Bonus Controversial Tip - It is possible to use yeast that is past its best before date. If you follow Tip 2 and proof your yeast and it blooms it is ok to use. 

I follow these couple of tips and consistently get great soft fluffy inside and golden baked outside results. 

I think everyone should try cooking with yeast at least once. The feeling of pride when you take your first bite of home baked bread made from scratch with your own hands is pricelessly rewarding in so many ways.

Happy Baking

XX

Linda M 

Best Fluffy Soft Cinnamon Roll Recipe - makes 12 cinnamon rolls

170grams warm water (heat in microwave from 10-20 seconds until barely warm)

1 packet dry yeast (7g)

85g caster sugar

460g bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 egg

40g melted butter

Mix together water, yeast and 1Tbsp sugar and set aside to bloom. This usually takes around 4 minutes for me.

In a large bowl mix together flour, remaining sugar, salt, butter, egg and proofed yeast mixture and mix until just combined and then knead until smooth and elastic and the dough bounces back when pressed lightly. If you have a stand mixer this Will take around 10 minutes on low speed.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. It was winter for the ones I made in the picture so I covered my bowl with plastic wrap and set it in the oven on 50C (around 120F).

Dust the bench down with flour and roll the dough out into a rectangle of around 45 X 30 cm (18 by 12 inches).

Shape the dough into a rectangle as you roll it. I like to pick my dough up and at the start turn it so it does not stick to the bench and rolls out an even thickness.

Spread on filling (recipe below). Roll up into a long log then cut 12 rolls 1 1/2 inches each. 

(this picture only has 6 rolls the recipe is for 12 rolls as per below picture)

Put into greased tray and rise a second time for around 30 minutes.

Don't over rise - you want perfectly puffy rolls, they should not have large bubbles.

Bake at 180-190C for 12-18 minutes until the rolls are golden brown. If you tap them with your nails they will be hard on the top and sound a little hollow.

Frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe below). When I had the cafe I would turn the rolls out onto a tray lined with parchment paper and then flip back over onto a wire rack lined with parchment paper and allow the rolls to cool before frosting them for a neater looking finished roll. However you can frost them and eat them still warm fresh out of the oven and the result is a gooey delicious roll like the picture at the top of this blog post.

Cinnamon swirl filling

70g (2+ 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together, I use my stand mixer and beat until it mixes up fluffy like a frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

70g (2+ 1/2 oz) unsalted butter

70g (2+1/2oz) cream cheese

2 cups icing (powdered) sugar (In Australian can use Icing Sugar Mixture)

2 tsp Vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together for a few minutes until light and fluffy. I use a stand mixer.

Original photos and recipe from the Bubble and Sweet blog ©Linda McCubbin 2025. I love when people share my blog ideas and give credit. Please feel free to link back to my blog for non commercial purposes or contact me. Affiliate links and adds may earn me money, however all ideas and opinions are my own.

Linda Mccubbin is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US in 2011 (under my previous name Linda Vandermeer).

Pistachio Cream and Salted Chocolate Brown Butter Cookies

This might be a bit controversial but I don't particularly love thick cookies. Don't get me wrong, they look spectacular. For photography purposes who can beat a picture of a fat cookie, big as your hand stuffed with chocolate and topped with candy bars. And for video purposes the break and pull shot with oozy filling spilling out is hard to beat.

But I need more than pretty looks, I need substance, and soul, and layers of flavour and texture instead of dense sugary propped up dough.

Enter these pistachio and salted chocolate brown butter cookies. Caramel undertones of browned butter, fragrant vanilla, crunchy chopped pistachios, smooth creamy pistachio butter, melt in your mouth dark chocolate, crisp cookie and flakes of salt weaving together to produce a harmoniously satisfying experience with every bite.

I made quite a few versions of this cookie while creating my favourite, adding a few grams extra flour here, taking out some butter to come up with the most pleasing mix between buttery candy like texture that was firm enough to keep it's shape and hold up to cookie like treatment. 

In the final version I have melted the butter with a tablespoon of milk powder which results in a crazy amount of browning in the butter. If you are not keen to brown the butter, you can just melt the butter and you will still end up with a lovely cookie, if you are not browning the butter and just melting it, reduce the amount of butter to 130 grams(4 5/8oz) to account for evaporation during the browning process.

As these cookies are soft and buttery, they need to rest on the trays to cool. 

\I shaped my cookies after baking using a round cookie cutter, by placing the cutter over the cookies and swirling them around in little circles. If are not quick enough or bake the cookies too much this technique will not work.

I bought my pistachio cream from Costco - I have seen the exact same brand on Amazon (CLICK HERE). If you don't want to buy pistachio cream you can save yourself some money and time, leave it out and the cookies will still be delicious. While I was making the cookies I thought they would make be amazing with Nutella and hazelnuts in place of the pistachio.

Happy Baking XX

Linda M

Pistachio Salted Dark Chocolate Brown Butter Cookies

makes 10 cookies x 10cm (apex 4") in size (60gram or 2oz uncooked dough). Store in an airtight container up to 3 days. Uncooked dough can be portioned into cookie serves, frozen wrapped in plastic wrap and defrosted for baking. 

I shaped my cookies after baking with a circle cookie cutter around 10cm (4 inches) across .

140g (4 7/8oz)salted butter

1 Tbsp dried milk powder

170g (6oz) plain (all purpose) flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 baking powder (baking powder)

120g (4 1/4oz) brown sugar

50g (1 3/4oz) granulated white sugar

1 egg room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

120g (4 1/4oz) dark chocolate cut into chunks - reserve some for adding to top half way through baking as mine was chunks I reserved around 55g (1 7/8oz) if you have chips reserve a few chips per cookie

45g (1 5/8 oz) or 1/3 cup shelled raw pistachios chopped (reserve 1 Tbsp of finely chopped nuts) 

70g (2 1/2oz) pistachio cream

1 tsp flaky salt

Prior to starting to brown the butter have a heat safe container which can hold 2 cups of more ready to pour the hot butter into. 

In a saucepan heat the butter over medium heat until melted. Stir with a rubber spatula or whisk so the butter cooks evenly. When the butter is melted add the 1 tbsp of milk powder. Continue to cook until the milk solids start to brown and immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and pour into the heat safe bowl. Make sure you scrap all the browned milk solids from the saucepan into the melted butter.

Allow the butter to cool a little while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar and white sugar into a large bowl.

Add the melted brown butter, egg and vanilla to the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix until combined using a large spoon or spatula. Make sure all the ingredients are wet and mixed in.

Add the chopped chocolate (making sure to save some to add later to the top during baking) and the chopped pistachio and mix until distributed evenly. Pop bowl into fridge to chill around 30 minutes.

Cover 2 cookie trays with parchment paper or silopat mat* Divide the cookie dough into 10 equal portions of about 60g (2 1/4 oz) each. Shape into a tall cylinder and poke an indent into the top of each cookie. Add pistachio cream into the middle indent of each cookie. Chill the dough for at least another 30 minutes. You can chill for longer up to overnight if you like but keep the cookies in an airtight container if chilling for longer than an hour.

Preheat oven to 175C (350F) fan forced. Once oven is heated put cookies in oven and bake for 6 minutes. Remove from oven, add extra reserved chocolate on top of cookies, rotate tray positions and return to oven to bake further 6-7 minutes until the cookies start to brown around the edges.

Remove from oven, if you are shaping the cookies using the round cookie cutter, quickly do so by putting the cutter over the cookie and swirling it around if a small circle lightly to result in an even shape, Sprinkle the reserved finely chopped pistachio and flaked salt onto the top of the cooked cookies.

Allow cookies to cool on tray until set.

* I trialed baking the cookies on both a silo pat mat and parchment paper. The silopat mat ended up a more pleasing shape as they spread more evenly, the parchment paper lined trays ended up a crispier cookie, both were very good, I will probably use the silopat mat for aesthetic purposes in future.

Original photos and recipe from the Bubble and Sweet blog ©Linda McCubbin 2025. I love when people share my blog ideas and give credit. Please feel free to link back to my blog for non commercial purposes or contact me. Affiliate links and adds may earn me money, however all ideas and opinions are my own.

Linda Mccubbin is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US in 2011 (under my previous name Linda Vandermeer).