Coco Chanel Cake

“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” – Coco Chanel

I could say the same for cakes too. I’m so excited to share this Coco Chanel cake today because it’s definitely the prettiest cake I’ve made!

This cake was made for friend’s birthday, who is the most fashionable person I know. For my friends’ birthdays, I make whatever dessert they want.  She wanted either a Coco Chanel cake or Tiffany’s cake and showed me the most beautiful cakes on instagram. 

The cakes were so beautiful, I had to accept the challenge – I had never made fondant cake before, but this was as good a time as any to learn.

If you recall from this post, I talked about wanting to make my own wedding cake (which I’m so glad I didn’t haha) with this White Strawberry Almond Cake, but realized that making cakes on a large scale is pretty difficult. It’s even harder to make cakes that are both tasty and beautiful.

I went to buy fondant, and I’ve realized there’s a reason that good wedding cakes are so expensive. I kept thinking to myself, I can’t mess this up, because then I’d have to pay for more fondant. 

Youtube is pretty incredible and you can learn to make anything, and while it took a long time, it went fairly smoothly. Fondant is just like playdough.

Because I was so busy, this cake is more focused on the decoration than the actual cake flavors. The bake is very basic, in the future, it would be fun to add more creative fillings or even soak it with alcohol – I wanted to keep it simple and was afraid a very moist cake would not be stable.

For her birthday, we had a great girls night eating Chinese takeout, watching Crazy Rich Asians (which is just amazing), and eating this cake. Hope you enjoy!

Coco Chanel Cake

Ingredients
1 cake mix box or your favorite chocolate cake recipe
1/2 cup nutellla
1 can creamy frosting (I used duncan hines chocolate)
24 oz white fondant*
4 oz black fondant*
black ribbon

*for fondant, I used Sunny Side brand from Hobby Lobby

Directions
CAKE / FROSTING: Prepare cake and bake into two 6 inch rounds. Let the cakes cool for about 30 min (make sure the cake is fully cooled or the cake will tear during frosting). Using a knife, level the cake by cutting off the domes.

Stack the two cake layers to make sure it’s even. Fill between the two layers with nutella. Using a knife, apply a crumb coat the the cakes, which is a thin layer of frosting as a base. (youtube video: here). Set in the fridge and let it cool for about 30 min.

FONDANT: In the meantime, prepare your white fondant. Clear a large work surface – I laid out a roll of parchment paper on my countertop.  Dust the surface with powdered sugar to prevent the fondant from sticking – do not use flour.  Take your fondant and knead it for about several minutes to make it softer and easier to work with. It will be dry and crumbly at first, but it should be soft and pliable after kneading long enough.

Measure your cake diameter and height so you roll enough fondant to cover (mine was 6 inches diameter + 3 inches per side’s height so I needed to roll out my white fondant to at least a diameter of 12 inches).  Flatten fondant with hands then using a rolling pin, roll it to desired diameter. Make sure it is not too thin or it will tear as you lift it.

Take the crumb coat frosted cake out of the fridge when it’s ready – the icing should have crusted over so when you touch it, it doesn’t stick to your hand. Add another thin layer of frosting so it’s fresh and sticky, allowing the fondant to adhere. Lift the white fondant up and place gently over the cake, making sure it’s fully covered. Lightly press the fondant on the top and all around the sides (youtube videos: here, I used my hands since I didn’t have fondant equipment). Carve out the extra with a knife and smooth it at the base.

DECORATION:
To make the quilted pattern, I used a knife and carefully indented to make the pattern (you can measure to make sure it’s perfect but I just eyeballed it).

To make the Coco Chanel logo, I rolled out black fondant and cut it two C’s with a knife and interlocked it together. To make the Coco Chanel N°5  parfum label, I rolled some extra white fondant and cut a rectangle. I used a regular gel pen (FYI this part should not be eaten) to write the label since I didn’t have food markers. I rolled out more black fondant, plavced the white fondant rectangle on top, then cut the black fondant to make a border.

I wrapped a black ribbon around the base. Cake can be kept at room temperature (do not refrigerate fondant as there’s a risk of the cake sweating). Place on cake stand and serve!