Some context: My youngest brother (whose birthday is in July) is currently fixated on the 2nd Wreck It Ralph movie, Ralph Breaks the Internet. Specifically, the character of Knowsmore (a minor character appearing in less than 2 minutes of the movie). But, nevertheless, he wanted a Knowsmore cake for his birthday. So I decided to use it as an opportunity to experiment a little! I’ve never seen this interior before online so I’m not sure if anyone else has tried it. My brother wanted “Internet and Mr. Knowsmore flavored” so this is my attempt. So without further blathering here’s the recipe. Scroll to the bottom for my post-baking thoughts!

SUPPLIES:

  • 2 6 inch rounds
  • 2 small rectangular pans (I used disposable 8×4 pans from Walmart)
  • Parchment Paper
  • Cooking spray

CHOCOLATE CAKE:

MULTI-COLORED CAKE:

*feel free to use your favorite buttercream frosting instead!*

PURPLE FROSTING: (you might need to make two batches of this)

  • 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter 1 1/4 cups, softened to room temperature
  • 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Purple gel food coloring

“BLACK” FROSTING:

  • 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter 1 1/4 cups, softened to room temperature
  • 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder (as dark as you can find)
  • Black gel coloring (I used this one from Walmart)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In two separate bowls make the cake mixes according to their instructions, substituting milk for the water and adding an extra egg to each. In the chocolate bowl, you can add some of the black food coloring to make it closer to a black color (like Knowsmore’s jacket).

3. Divide the white or vanilla cake batter evenly into three small bowls. Add a generous squirt of gel coloring (I used the purple, teal and magenta from this pack). Mix each thoroughly.

4. Cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of the 2 round pans and 2 rectangular pans. Spray each pan with cooking spray and place the parchment paper at the bottom.

5. Use a 1/4 cup measure to add a scoop of chocolate cake batter to each pan. Then add 1/4 a cup of magenta to the middle of each. Add chocolate followed by teal and then chocolate again followed by purple. Repeat this process until you run out of cake batter making sure to spread it evenly to each pan and alternate chocolate between each colored layer. If you feel like you have already added too much batter to the pan, you can use the extra for a cupcake.

6. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Check every 5-10 minutes after 30 minutes.

7. Allow the cakes to cool completely. After about 10 minutes, you can tip them out of the pan and peel off the parchment paper. In the meantime, you can make your frosting and refrigerate it a little. You’re going to have to make this frosting recipe twice.

8. For “black” frosting: Cream the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the confectioners sugar. Mix on low speed at first, then increase the speed until combined. Add in your heavy cream and vanilla extract, and mix on medium to high speed for 8 minutes until light and creamy (the recipe I used says to be sure to do the full 8 minutes). Add the cocoa powder. Let combine fully. You want the frosting to be as dark as possible. Add a generous helping of the black gel. (This is the part where I ran into trouble. I couldn’t get the frosting dark enough so it’s more of a grey.) Mix to combine. Place frosting in a bowl in the fridge and clean your mixer.

9. For “purple” frosting:Cream the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the confectioners sugar. Mix on low speed at first, then increase the speed until combined. Add in your heavy cream and vanilla extract, and mix on medium to high speed for 8 minutes until light and creamy (the recipe I used says to be sure to do the full 8 minutes). Set aside a small portion of the white to become the yellow for the tassle. Add the purple gel coloring. Mix to combine.

10. When cake is cool, you can start to arrange it. At this point, if you’re not going for the Knowsmore look, you can break away into your own personal design. But I’m going to keep walking through my steps. I started by drawing out my cake design. (Something I’ve taken to doing lately! I’ve probably been watching too many cake design shows on the Food Network.) I based my design on this screenshot of Knowsmore from Ralph Breaks the Internet.

11. Place one of your 6 in rounds in the bottom half of a cake spinner or on whichever display dish you are using.

12. Cut two identical cross sections out of the rectangle. This will be his cap. Judge for yourself how big you want it to be. From the remaining cake cut two small squares to be the connecting part. Cut side at a diagonal to form a right triangle. Move this triangle of cake to the other side of the rectangle to make a parallelogram.

13. Place the small square and parallelogram on the cake spinner to form the basic shape. Frost the top and add the second layer. Frost the whole thing with the vanilla frosting for your crumb coat.

14. Chill the cake until the frosting is a little hard and crunchy.

15. Frost the circular part of the cake with the purple and the cap part with the black chocolate buttercream.

16. Add some black chocolate buttercream to a piping bag and use a round tip to pipe Knowsmore’s glasses, eyes, mouth and eyebrows.

17. Mix some yellow and a tiny drop of orange gel food coloring into the little bit of white buttercream you set aside. Add to a small piping bag and pipe the gold tassel on the cap.

18. Chill for a bit to set the frosting. Slice, admire your handiwork and enjoy!

MY TAKEAWAYS:

I am super happy with the way this cake turned out! I had no reference for the inside and no idea how it would look, but I love the inside and will definitely be employing this technique again. It’s very easy and looks really impressive. My goal with the coloring was that the black would be Knowsmore’s coat and the multicolors would represent the Internet. I think it worked out well! The cake itself was really yummy and the chocolate buttercream was subtle but delicious.

I wish the decorating had gone a little more smoothly. A lot of that comes down to time (my family was very impatient for cake and this one took a while) and the black frosting. I plan to continue my quest for a successful black buttercream. While it may not have looked super high end, my brother LOVED the cake so I count it as a major triumph.

If anyone has had any better success with black buttercream, let me know!

Here is the link I used for the black buttercream.

Leave a comment

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started