It is sunny and warm in LA!! We are in LA again for a week of filming and workshops at YouTube Space LA, and it has been so nice to escape the dreary winter weather we’d been having up in Canada. It feels like paradise right now . . . short sleeves, bare legs . . . American Target. Life is good! All I need now is a sprinkle covered cupcake and it would be complete. As I alluded to last post, it’s not all happiness right now, my friend on-screen and off, Beth from the YouTube channel CookingandCrafting, is going through some very challenging times with a sick family member. If you know Beth you will know how close she is with her family. They need your help. If you can donate any amount, please consider sending it to her brother Scott to help him on his road to recovery. The link to the medical fundraiser is here- http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-scott-get-better-/133503.
I’ve had a day to reconnect with YouTube colleagues who are now my friends I’m happy to say. It has been so exciting to be a part of something that has had this much time to develop real relationships. I think that if this had been a one week program instead of the 6 month/3 week program that it is, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to learn so much from each other. I’ll get to post more about that later as the week goes on! I’m even going to get to meet a real life cyber friend on Thursday! I’ve invited Miki from Miki’s Pantry to come and join us at our wrap party! She’s the soothing voice behind the YouTube channel Miki’s Pantry. We’re bound to like each other in person as we’ve been having conversation via computers since 2011 . I’ll post more about that later too. Anyway, that’s the update that is happening in LA . . . so . . . on to the cake!
I set out to make this cake in traditional black and white zebra pattern, but while I was practicing version one (there’s usually 3-4 versions of a cake prior to a video) something about it screamed PINK PINK PINK to me! The black and white looked too, well, black and white.
I started with putting a pink border around the outside. Yep, that definitely added the punch of colour I was looking for, but it still wasn’t PINK enough. When I sliced into the cake to see how the stripe effect worked out, I realized THAT was it!! I had to somehow get pink in the middle too! So I started baking version two . . . by the time it was ready for filming I had version three mastered as well.
Pink Zebra Cake
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups all purpose flour (300 g)
2 cups sugar (400 g)
¾ cups vegetable oil (180 mL)
1 teaspoon vanilla (5 mL)
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder (~11 mL)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup milk (240 mL)
white, pink, and black gel paste
vanilla buttercream
black fondant
pink buttercream
Wilton tip 1A
*white colouring is optional if you wish to have a lighter batter, you can use the batter as is
*you may also choose to omit the pink portion, and just use it as black
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350F/170F. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine, flour, sugar, baking powder, vegetable oil and vanilla on low/medium until ingredients are mixed together. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low in between additions. Slowly add the milk while the mixer on and mix until all ingredients are completely combined. Divide batter into three different bowls with one bowl having half of the batter and the other two have a quarter each. Colour the large bowl with white colouring, and the smaller two with black and pink respectively. Mix colouring until no light streaks remain. Spray two 8” pans with non-stick spray and line bottom with parchment/baking/wax paper. Place four tablespoons of white batter into the center of each pan. Then, directly into the middle of the white batter, place two tablespoons of black batter. Directly into the centre of the black batter, place two tablespoons of pink batter. Repeat white/black/pink batter additions until all the batter is used up or pans are ⅔ full. Place pans into oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire wrack.
Once cake is cooled, level, stack and cover in white buttercream. To cut the fondant pieces, roll fondant out very thinly and using a rolling cutter (pizza or pastry) slice long, narrow stripes and arrange on white cake as desired. To finish the cake off, using the pink buttercream with Wilton 1A tip, pipe a small beaded border along the bottom of the cake.
In the video you use scoopes for the batter to get the stripe effects what sizes do you need for this
You can just use different sized spoons.
You can use different sized spoons.
Hi im going to make this for my 50th birthday, it will be gluten free tho as I have Ehlers danlos syndrome (zebra is logo ) and i dont do well with wheat/gluten.im going to do a trial run NOW !!!!!!!
WISH ME LUCKS GUYS iM GOING IN
Have fun!
Hi
We dont eat egss.
Do you know how to convert this to an eggless version ?
Thanks
RUPA
Hi there…I have a video up on egg subs, so maybe this will help you out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4NauqMbGB4
Hi Jen !
Thank you soon much for this tuto.
I’ve made 3 cakes last weekend for my brother’s birthday and mine and to celebrate my niece driving licence… 2 of them were Zebra cakes … and they were delicious ! It was a complete success =)
I wish I could show you pictures ^^
Thanks again
That’s so awesome! You can send me the pics to our Facebook page, or Twitter or you can email them 🙂
First off, I love all your videos!
I’m wondering if I were to divide the batter into two (traditional zebra) would I be able to add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the dark half? The batter is already mixed so that’s why I’m skeptical. Thanks!
You’ll have to try and see as I haven’t tried that.
Where can you get the gel paste
Try cake stores, or craft stores that carry cake supplies.
I am baking the cake for my daughters birthday in 3 weeks. Can I bake it now and put it in the freezer and dekorate it on the day? Or will it become to dry?
As long as you wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, it should be fine.
I just made this cake tonight for my little sister’s birthday, and it turned out wonderfully! Thank you so much for the great recipe, it is bound to be a hit tomorrow! You’re instructions were super easy to follow, and the video helped to have, as well. Also, I’ve been searching high and low for a buttercream frosting recipe that isn’t too sweet, and I have finally found one! Your buttercream recipe is perfect, not too sweet and it’s smooth, too. Thanks, again!
I’m so happy to hear that! What a great sister you are 🙂
Hey my step daughter only likes chocolate cake so I am not going to make the inside I just want to decorate the outside like yours. What would I need to do?
Hi. I loved your video and tried to make this cake, but did not split it up in two cake tins. So i mixed it in one and all the colors were faded into each other. Looked more like a marble cake. How many times do you alternate?
Birgitte
Hi Jenn
Love this recipe, plan on trying it soon (waiting for food colours to be delivered) was thinking of flavouring the different cake mixes. Almond for the White, cherry for the pink and chocolate for the black. Would think work ??
It sounds like a great idea! Enjoy!
Could you cut the whole recipe in half and make just one layer? I’m 15 and I’m making this for a birthday party.
Yes, that should work.
Jenn,
I love this easy tutorial! If I wanted to bake a 9×13 cake, would the same amounts of ingredients work?
I’m glad you like the tutorial! I haven’t personally tried it in a different shape, but lots of viewers have and it’s worked out for them! Good luck!
espectacular!!
Hi! I am a girl from China, I love your baking so much, and i am going to try this zebra cake. H ere i have a question：We always use whipping cream to put on the cake, is that work if i change the butter cream to whipping cream? And How much pastry i should put into the pattern?
Hi! You can use whipping cream if you prefer. I don’t know what you mean by “pastry” in regards to this recipe. Sorry.
Hi Jenn,
When you say ‘milk’, is it whole milk, or skimmed milk ?
I used 2% but you can use any of them.
Hello – I tried this idea (but with my own recipe) and it utterly failed, the cake turned black with little to no pink or white, let alone stripes; I then noticed, after scrolling through the comments, that you said it was necessary to use your recipe to get the stripe effect, do you know why that it is? Also, could you describe the type of cake you get with this recipe? Dense, moist, light/fluffy, sweet, etc? I have a friend (who is not a baker) that really wants this cake and asked me to make it for her, but we do so love my normal vanilla cake recipe, so I’m wondering how they compare.
Thanks!
Hi there….I tried many different cake batter recipes before I settled on this one as the others were not successful. Other batters were too thick, or too thin. This one is the perfect consistency for striping the cake this way. It’s made with oil, so it’s lighter than a vanilla cake made with butter (in my opinion).
hie Jenn. how long can this cake last? Someone wants me to bake it for her on Christmas day and she wants to bring it to someone for New year’s day. will it stay fresh for that long. if yes how do i keep and store it?
It’s best eaten with 2-3 days.
Hi there! This cake is cooking in the oven right now… a question about the colour… I thought I heard this morning in your video that you used Americolor Deep Pink so I bought that one, but mine doesn’t look as vibrant and fuchsia as yours. Did you use a different pink or is perhaps the formulation in Australia just different? Thanks 🙂
Hi! You heard correctly…that’s the one that I used. Did you try adding more colouring? Sometimes that helps.
I added Deep Pink for the first one, then I rebaked it with Electric Pink. Neither gave the same colour result as yours but they are okay.
I don’t understand what I did wrong.. I am a reasonably proficient baker and can normally see where I have failed, but I made this cake twice in 2 days and both times the batter just ended up blending almost like a marble cake. I followed the recipe and quantities exactly. The second time I thought I would try to add less milk to get a stiffer batter, but this didn’t have any effect.
Do you know what I might have done wrong? Looking at the batter, it looked exactly like yours in the video.
If the colours aren’t as vibrant as you see mine are, just add more colour to the cake batter. As you can see, I didn’t have that problem with mine when I baked it, and if you followed the directions as they are, it should have turned out just fine. I’m sorry you had problems! Maybe your ingredients are different where you live?
Sorry, I didn’t write that clearly enough. The cake itself was lovely, perfect vanilla cake, great frosting, colours vibrant, etc. It all looked like it was going to be perfect. Then when I cut it, the stripes were ”blurry’, not defined like yours at all. It looked like a marble cake almost, or…. white noise. Lol. If I did this once I could say it was just an error, but I baked 2 batters, a total of 4 cakes. Both times the result was exactly the same. It looked fine on the top, but inside it was just a mess.
Hi, Sorry to hear that you had some problems. I’m not sure what you might have done wrong. I’m glad you tried again, but seem to have encountered the same problem. Is there any chance you could send me a picture?? That might help me figure it out.
Hi there, so was mine, very blurry, but I improvised. I made a double tiered cake for a girl’s birthday and when I saw the abstract painting inside I simply called it my Harlequin cake. NO harm done. THEY loved it and for some reason the tiers held up very well – that sloppy batter baked well makes for a mmm sturdier cake than I anticipated. I threw in a whole bottle of very expensive vanilla paste and now I just make it all the time – just for eating, sans the stripes. Have a little faith, I reckon and when the look isn’t perfect that’s alright – totally. Thing is for a quick cake when kids are around and you’re hot and bothered it’s super fine!
I baked this cake yesterday for my mom’s birthday and the only thing i adjusted was the sugar. I used 1 1/2 cups. it came out perfectly. She took it to her workplace and evryone loved it and is craving for more right now. we dont have gel pastevin zimbabwe so i used food colouring. For me this recipe is a keep. Thumbs up to you Jenn!
I’m so happy to hear that. I hope you had fun making it for your mom!
Hi, I made your zebra cake for my 2 girls birthday and it turned out perfect.
Thanks awesome! Thanks for watching!
Hi,
First one excuse me for m’y English i’m french Just i have one question my daughter loves your cake and she wants this for her birthday in school but I want to know it just one cake separate or two? Thanks
If I understand your question, you want to know if you can make this one cake, instead of two? Yes you can try it that way. Good luck.
Awesome, but I’m having a problem with the measurements. In Sweden, we don’t use “cups”, and according to wikipedia, there is a difference between different countries as to how much a cup is. Could somebody please let me know what it corresponds to in liters (deciliters)?
We have a conversion link for that on our site…here is the link http://cookiescupcakesandcardio.com/?page_id=3348 Hope it helps you out!
PERFECT! Thanks! (y)
Sorry if this has been asked before but does one batch of the vanilla buttercream icing (the one you have the link to) make enough to do the entire zebra cake (including the filling)? Or does it need to be doubled? I’m new to cake decorating so I am loving your instructional videos. Thanks for doing them.
I think it needs to be doubled, but I like to have lots of extra icing to play with in case an accident happens!
I made this cake and it was perfect! Just another question about icing – if I double the recipe and then do a crumb coat how do I stop the buttercream from drying out while I allow the cake to set? And do I keep it on the bench so I can spread it onto the cake later or does it need to go in the fridge? Before I have always made two batches of icing but I would really like to do this just once (and save time).
True buttercream will crust as the butter hardens. I always put mine in the freezer to quickly set the icing. It’s not drying out….unless you’re keeping it out for days at a time.
Do I have to use the gel color or can I use food coloring dye
Gel paste gives the bright, vibrant colour, and you won’t get that from food colouring.
I made this cake today with subtly chocolate-flavored black stripes! It’s a bit of a hassle because I made the black batter completely separate and i used 4:2:1 spoons white:black:pink so had to separate the ingredients into 2/7th for the black and 5/7th for the rest, but it came out really great! I just subsituted 2 tablespoons of cocoa for 2 tablespoons of flour (maybe try more next time for a deeper chocolate flavor) in the black batter and kept the rest the same. Raspberry-flavored buttercream and voila 🙂
Great to know! Thanks for sharing!
Okay follow up, 2 spoons of cacao is just great 🙂 I froze the cake because I made it ahead of time and after thawing and decorating it tasted great! a really lovely light chocolate flavor all over. Just don’t expect the white part to taste like vanilla, it’s chocolate all over but nice and subtle.
does it HAVE to be a stand mixer? can i use a mixerinstead?
Yes, you can use a hand mixer.
Hi Jenn
Can I get the zebra print inside the cake, if I use unsalted butter and self rising flour instead?
I will be using the soft gel paste for color;
Please advise
No, you need to follow the recipe using the ingredients are required.
Hi Jenn, I want to make this cake for my baby’s first birthday; I have a different recipe, where I have to use unsalted butter, instead of oil.
Can I use unsalted butter and get the same effect? Will that work?
Also, Americolor Soft gel is what I hope to use, in order to get the color separation effect, (black & white).
Please tell me how I could make this work; it’s my first time making a cake
Thanks
No, it will only work with oil. The cake needs to be runny like this in order to spread properly.
I love this! She makes it so simple and easy to understand with no problems.
I’m going to be making this tomorrow for my daughters pink/black Barbie party. Will be doing a different top design instead of zebra. I cant wait. Wish me luck!
Have fun with it! I hope your daughter likes it!
I did exactly tha, made the top in black zebra stripies (heart shaped) and the bottom tier in pink zebra stripes and the black one had a pink pearl border and the bottom one black pearls. For a girl’s birthday.
Hi Jen! I noticed this batter is made with oil and has a slightly runny texture. Does that help with the technique? I prefer cakes made with butter but wasn’t sure if there was a reason you used this recipe for this cake. Just curious if I could use a different cake recipe. Thanks!
Yes, the batter must be thin in order for this technique to work.
Hi, I just made your cake. It looked fine when I put it in the oven but then all the colours bled. Any idea what went wrong?
No, sorry…it might be your colouring? I’m using gel paste.
What is gel colour? I’m in the uk so what could I use as an alternative?
It is concentrated colouring. Google it to see where you can find it.
Hi lauren Tesco sell Gel colour in many different colour only £1.29 per tube
Hi Jenn,
I am from the Netherlands. I am backing this cake as we speak. I have used all the amounts in the recipe, but I think my batter is much thinner then the one you use in the video. Can I use less milk to make the batter less thin or should I use more flower?
I also see now that the colors on the outside of the cake are mixing. Is that normal? I have used icing color paste (Wilson).
Nice website and recipes.
Peter
If you followed the recipe exactly, there should have been no problem. Hopefully when it baked it worked out.
Fabulous Jen. Two questions:
Where will I find YOUR personal recipe for the Buttercream?
What make of Gel coloring do you use?
Do you color your own fondant black, or is available ready colored. Many years ago, I used to make my own fondant but ingredients here in the U.S. are different. I worked a lot in Royal Icing but In the past, I found black difficult to reproduce.
Thanks…I think your ideas are terrific!
I use my buttercream which you can find in the Recipes tab. I use Americolor Gel paste and I buy my fondant usually, unless its a colour that I don’t have on hand.
hi jen, i was planning to make this cake for my sister. I was wondering what kind butter cream did you use? Is it the american buttercream or italian buttercream? Thanks! 🙂
I use my buttercream which you can find in the Recipes tab.
Love your zebra cake and I’m planning to make it as my first cake to bake. =)
I’m just wondering if I could use a springform pan or it should be a round pan?
You can use either. Good luck!
Hi there, my elderly mom said to write you and tell you that she didn’t think she could still be surprised by anything. I made it for a birthday and my stripes inside didn’t come out as nice as yours so I simply called it the Harlequin cake. All I tweaked was, I filled up the cup with melted butter from the oil upwards and with the milk used half cream and half milk and threw in a LOT of real vanilla and my goodness – I baked it yesterday again, sans the stripes, since my Old MOM just craved this very very easy one mixing bowl cake. I reckon I should warn people not to open the oven too early – since the batter is rather loose it will fall a wee bit in the middle but still – you need congratulations! and THANK you for this. Am just worried that because it’s so easy, we may over-eat on CAKE!
I don’t know what I did wrong but I followed the recipe exactly and it came out with a HUGE dome on top, took 20 mins longer to cook and it smelled and tasted like nasty cornbread. I’m not down talking your recipe, but mine didn’t come out good at all..any possibility of what went wrong?
I wasn’t there with you unfortunately, so I’m unable to know what went wrong. It’s normal for the cake to dome though, as is an increase of baking time. Baking time depends on the oven.
Wow I wish I was her because she is a very good cooker
Love your zebra cake and made it this afternoon, but I had to add so much black foodcoloring for it to get really black! How much did you put in it?
Greetings from Holland,
Darlene Visser
Yes, getting black can be difficult. I found using Americolor Gel paste to work better as it is concentrated…you don’t need as much with the gel colours.
Hi Jenn,
I like watching your videos! You are amazing!!:)
I would like to make this cake for a 10 years old girl but i was wondering if your recipe will be enough for 10 people? if not what should i do? also what size of pan would i need? thank for your help.
Yes, this cake will feed 10-12…enjoy! Thanks for watching.
Hi Jenn! This is awesome! I was thinking of making this for my daughter’s first birthday. Can I substitute strawberry or raspberry puree for the pink food coloring and chocolate for the black food coloring?
Hi there….that’s a great question…I’m sure you could…but I’m not sure how it would affect the way the cake spreads out. I tried many different batters for this cake, and this was the most fluid for spreading. If you try it, let me know how it works! Good luck!
Hiya. I want to try amd make your zebra cake for my daughter but i cant find white food colouring anywhere. Please can u tell me the name of what colouring you use and where i might find some? Many thanks
Hi! I use Americolor white colouring. Good lucK!
love how your cake looks and was wondering if I need your permission to make the zebra cake. I know you might get asked this question a lot thanks. will keep a look out for more designs.
Hi there…thanks for asking. You’re welcome to use my design, just please give me/my website credit. Thanks!
Hey! I’m making a cupcaake cake for my best friends birthday, would this work for cupcakes?
Yes, definitely! I hope you have fun!
Hey… this video was made on my 17th birthday! Love the design.
🙂
Hi Jenn,
I absolutely love your videos! I love this cake and I have a baby shower coming up next month. Its a girl and the theme is pink/brown. I was wondering if this technique would work using a 9×13 pan. How would I scoop the batter? I was thinking I would also need to double your recipe? Would it be better to make a white and choclate cake batter and dye the white batter pink? Or just make the white cake batter and dye it pink and brown?
Thanks in advance!
Hi! Yes, this technique will still work on a rectangle pan, it just wont look as good. Still do all the piling of the batter in the centre of the pan, and let the cake work it’s way outwards. You can make it any way you choose, it probably depends on whether or not you want a chocolate and vanilla cake. Good luck.
We had a youth group cake auction, and I made your zebra cake for it. The cake went for $45 and was totally delicious, according to the buyer. Your Youtube video made this creation so easy for a first time zebra cake baker. Next week I am following the same method for a rainbow cake. My daughter is wanting a sandcastle birthday cake with a rainbow inside. You are totally awesome, and I will be frequenting your website for more great ideas. Be blessed!
That’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know.
I absolutely love this cake!! I am going to make this cake for my 4-H fair in a couple weeks and I need special permission to use your idea. Will you please give me your permission in written form so I can include it in my report?
I was also wondering how you made your white frosting so smooth. I tried it and I can’t make it turn out as smooth. If you can give me any tips that would be great!
As long as you credit where you got the idea for the cake from, you don’t need my permission to recreate it. That’s why its there….to recreate! Enjoy, and good luck! As for smooth buttercream, you need to use a straight edged spatula or scraper…it takes many thin coats, and time in the fridge/freezer between each coat.
Thank you so much for your help!
How many people will this cake serve? Im trying to figure out how many I need to make. Thanks!
10-12 people.
My son and I love watching your YouTube channel together! He chose the zebra cake for his grandfathers 65 birthday, and it did not disappoint! So far, the few cakes I’ve made with your guidance have been my favourites and I plan on trying more!
I have a picture, but I can’t see how to load it
I’m so happy to hear that!! You can email me the pic, or you can send it to any of our social media sites….they are linked in the description box below the video (and here on the blog).
How much white coloring to use to make it that white