How To Build A (Very Hungry) Caterpillar Cake
An Eric Carle Inspired Cake
My sweet friend
is having a baby! We celebrated her this past weekend with a farmers market themed party. I had the honor of making her cake inspired by her nursery theme (Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and her favorite smoothie! I have been playing with shapes to mix it up with my own love of long cakes. They are much more versatile than tiered cakes and in my opinion communicate so much more drama!It’s the Year of the Snake, so serpentine shapes have been slithering in my brain. This book is also one of my 11 month old son’s absolute favorite - only Brown Bear, Brown Bear (another Eric Carle classic!) has it beat.
I didn’t want to use any fondant or fake colors (I never do!) so I conceived the whole thing to be decorated out of fruit. The best part for me was punching out the holes in all the produce to mimic caterpillar’s path of eating. Rather than give you a recipe (feel free to use your favorite! or you could use the base for the cherry cake), I wanted to share some process with you.
DAY ONE
To achieve this two layer cake, I needed two half sheet trays of cake batter. While they were baking I made my orange syrup, orange curd and my lemon verbena mousse. Everything went into the oven to chill overnight.
Once the cakes were baked I chilled them in the freezer to make handling, cutting and building easier.
DAY TWO
I made my buttercream in a large batch, and split into three portions. I left some plain and then flavored/colored the other two.
Each sheet cake was cut into quarters widthwise for a total of 8 pieces. Cutting some of these quarters another time at 45 degree angles and flipping it over before rejoining is what allows for the twists and turns of the cake body. Make sure you cut in pairs, so you have matching pieces for the next layer.
I split my design across two white half sheet cake boards to mimic the pages of the children’s book. Once I had a shape, I decided on the head versus the tail and trimmed that end of the cake. I used unflavored Swiss buttercream loaded into a piping bag with a round opening, to run an outline along the cake border helping to bind the pieces together.
I soaked this olive oil corn gluten free cake with orange syrup and stuffed the buttercream moat with layers of orange curd, lemon verbena mousse and fresh sliced mango. I stacked the next set of cake layers on top and press slightly to join them together. I used some more unflavored Swiss buttercream to apply a light crumb coat to the entire cake to secure the structure of the cake. It chilled in the fridge for about an hour. You could do this overnight and do the following steps on a DAY THREE if you wanted/had time. I did not!
I loaded my flavored buttercreams into piping bags with pastry tips. I used this tip (#201) to achieve the body with a mix of Matcha Swiss Buttercream and Spirulina Swiss Buttercream. I piped an abstract pattern of the two buttercreams in a shingle design across the length of the body. I decorated the head with raspberries, eyes were made of lemon slices of kiwi rounds and two perky purple asparagus for ears. I decorated the length of the body and the board with produce from the market. The holes in the produce were punched out with a metal straw. I wanted to include everything the caterpillar eats in the book but it was an outside party on a hot day. If I was making this in the moment I would have added a cupcake, pizza, cheese, ice cream you get it. It chilled in the fridge again for about two hours before we travelled with it in the trunk to the party. I travel with large cakes in flat dough proofing boxes with rug gripper pad inside the dough box and underneath the cake so they don’t slide while I drive. This is a savior for onsite delivery across bumpy roads deep into the California countryside for some of the weddings I work with clients on! I crank the AC and hit the road.
Once I arrived I lined up the two boards to give the overall effect of the full caterpillar cake. I had packed extra buttercream in my purse (always!) to hide any seams but I didn’t end up needing it. The shingling lined up perfectly. See the party in action here:
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The cake was devoured! This was really so much fun to make! If anyone makes a caterpillar cake please tag me in your creations. It’s the perfect spring celebration cake for baby showers, kids birthdays and just plain old fun. I will make another in a heartbeat. Slide into my DMs if you want one.
xoXo
I need this for whenever I end up having a baby shower!! Literally the cutest, most creative thing I’ve ever seen 🫶🏼
Love the cake but esp love ‘buttercream in my purse (always)’. Words to live by!