Flower Pot Cake

My mother simply asked that the cake be chocolate and that the decorations be pink and purple, but other than that, I wanted to make her a particularly special cake for her birthday.  I wanted to improve the flower pot cake by making it larger!  I’ve shown you how to do it here, and you can too.

You’ll need:

• 3 6-inch Chocolate Cake Layers (Recipe included, or use a cake mix)
• Chocolate Frosting (Recipe included, or use 2 cans store-bought)
• Store-bought Fondant ~2 lbs
• Oreo or chocolate cookie crumbs
• Food Colouring in red/pink, violet, green and terracotta (Or, red, yellow and brown to create Terracotta)
• Royal Icing Flower Centers or Small Yellow Candies

So let’s get started!

Step 1: Step One – Bake Your Cakes

Three 6″ cake layers are needed for this cake, ideally chocolate to match the dirt-in-a-pot concept.  You can use a cake mix or your preferred recipe.

 I used this really simple recipe from an old Betty Crocker cookbook:

Black Midnight Cake

• 2 1/4 cups pastry flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2/3 cups cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

Fill a large mixer bowl with all of the ingredients.  Using a spatula to scrape down the edges, use a hand mixer on low for 30 seconds. Then, mix for 3 minutes on high speed, scraping down the sides every now and then.

 Divide the mixture equally among three 6-inch round cake pans.  Bake for 27 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Avoid overbaking otherwise the cake will come out dry. Cakes are done when a toothpick comes out nearly clean.

 Put aside to cool fully.

Step 2: Step Two – Make Your Frosting and Crumb-coat the Cake

Of course you can use store-bought frosting, but I think homemade frosting has a superior flavour and texture.  If you want to attempt my frosting recipe, I’ve provided it.  It’s better to have more icing than not enough, so you might need to double the recipe for this cake!

Easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter (use salted, it’s way too sweet if you use unsalted. Seriously.)
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 + tbsp milk

Mix the chocolate powder and room-temperature butter with an electric mixer until smooth.  To avoid covering your kitchen in cocoa, start slowly.  Add the two cups of icing sugar gradually.  Pour in the milk and vanilla.

 The next step is to gradually add more milk until you reach the consistency you want.  Simply test it after adding more milk until it’s spreadable but not runny, as this will vary slightly based on humidity and other factors.  After that, you can proceed!

To make the cakes as level as possible, trim them as needed after making the icing and letting them cool fully.  Next, cover the bottom layer with your chocolate frosting and place the second cake on top.  To add your third cake, repeat.

 Next, cover the entire cake with frosting using a big offset spatula or a large, straight knife.  Try to smooth it out as much as you can, but don’t worry about little blemishes because fondant will be applied.

Step 3: Step Three – Prepare Your Fondant and Cover the Cake

Tint a generous amount of your fondant in a terracotta shade, at least 1 pound.  If you can, use terracotta food colouring; if not, add a small amount of red, yellow, and brown paste or gel colour at a time, kneading well in between additions, until you achieve the hue you want.  I referenced colour with a real terracotta pot.

 Tint tiny amounts of fondant in the hues you wish to use for your flowers.  I chose pink and purple flowers with green foliage.  There is no limit to your creativity; you can use any hue and any shape of flower.

To return to the task at hand, roll out the terracotta fondant to a thickness of 1/8 to 1/4 inch after it has reached the desired hue. This will make it simpler to work with, but it will also result in more fondant on your cake, which not everyone like.  To wrap around your cake, cut out a broad rectangle.  Although I honestly simply eyeballed it for mine, feel free to measure it if you’d like!

 Since you can always cut off excess fondant, you actually want to apply a little more than you need.  A scarcity is far more difficult to conceal.

Anyway, it was a little challenging to wrap my sugarpaste around the cake.  You may need to try more than once; I certainly did.  After putting it on, quickly smooth it with dry, clean fingertips.  If you want to be fancy, use a sugarpaste smoother.

 To create the pot lip, roll out the leftover terracotta fondant and cut a long, broad rectangular strip to wrap around the top of your cake.  With a small amount of water rubbed on as an adhesive, adhere the pot lip to the ‘pot”s upper rim.

Apply brush strokes around the cake with a dry pastry brush dipped in icing sugar for an added touch. The actual pot I used as a model has such delicate markings, and I wanted to replicate them here. Although it’s difficult to see in the photos, it turned out really good.

Step 4: Step Four – Make Your Flowers

Cut out the petals using a tiny circle cutter after rolling out the fondant to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.  I used my fingers to push my petals into a thinner, more organic shape that wasn’t quite rounds.  Five petals should be arranged in a flower shape. To cement the petals together, dampen the areas where they overlap with a very small amount of water.

 If you want your flowers to look a little more three-dimensional, you can optionally arrange them in little bowls.  you keep it from sticking, make sure you add cornflour or icing sugar to the dish.

Roll out a piece of fondant that has been dyed green until it is about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.  I cut leaf shapes by hand, but if you have a leaf cutter, use that.  I made vein impressions in the leaves using the back of my paring knife.

Step 5: Step Five – Plant Your Flowers in Some Good Topsoil

Over the top of the inner layer of fondant, cover the cake with a thick, even layer of chocolate frosting.

Now, sprinkle Oreo or chocolate cookie crumbs over the entire frosting until it resembles a big pot of dirt! Delicious.


Next, attach each of your flowers and their leaves with a tiny dab of icing. If, like mine, there is a tiny opening in the centre of your flowers, use a tiny bit of frosting to stick your hardened royal icing or yellow candy flower centre through the opening.

And presto! A stunning springtime cake that will wow your loved ones and feed a large gathering! At my mother’s birthday party, we had 16 plates of this cake, and everyone was pretty pleased with how much they had.

So give it a shot! It takes a lot of time to make this cake, but it’s quite easy and enjoyable. Have fun!