First Day of School Cake – Top Forward Cake – Stracciatella Cake with Cherries

29. July 2022
First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake

Prep time: 3 hours

Serves: 12-16 people

Coming up with First Day of School Cake Ideas is really easy, especially with this Top Forward Cake design. For this 1st day of school cake with ice cream cone, I simply used an ice cream cone as school cone, it’s a German tradition to have this one the first day of school and it looks great. In addition, this Top Forward cake recipe is an absolute eye-catcher. And in terms of taste, this stracciatella cake recipe is very simple and delicious.

First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake
First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake

Happy First Day of School Ideas

This happy first day of school cake design can be used and adapted for girls or boys by simply choosing a specific color palette for the food coloring. The first day of school cake decorations are therefore very flexible, since only an ice cream cone, some white chocolate for the drip, buttercream and smarties are utilized. The white chocolate and buttercream can be colored to your preference.

Stracciatella Cake Recipe

This stracciatella chocolate cake recipe is very easy to make. But first, let’s clarify: Stracciatella cake what is it? It originally stems from Italy and means ‘minced’, it first appeared as an ice cream with chocolate pieces and then it was turned into desserts, cakes etc. Here I baked the Stracciatella cake layers with oil. Combine the eggs (room temperature) with a whisk and add the sugar and vanilla and whip until fluffy, then add the oil and stir in briefly, mix flour with baking powder and add to the batter with the milk and buttermilk and combine well.

Finally stir in the chocolate sprinkles. Line two 20cm / 8 inch diameter baking pans with parchment paper and prepare the sides with oil and flour, spread the batter in the baking pans. Bake at 150°C / 300°F for about 20-25 minutes. I always recommend wrapping the cake layers in cling film after they’ve cooled down and refrigerate them.

First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake
First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake

For the stracciatella frosting I’m making it with mascarpone. In a grease-free bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks. Mix the mascarpone with sugar in another bowl and fold in the whipped cream. Finally add the chocolate sprinkles. Super fast and it’s done!

To complement Stracciatella cake it goes best with cherries. I’m using pitted cherries as a condiment, in a glas or a tin. Mix the liquid or juice from the cherries with sugar and cornstarch and bring to a boil in a saucepan together with the cherries. As soon as it begins to boil and thicken, transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with cling film and allow to cool down to room temperature.

First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake
First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake

How to cut a Top Forward Cake Tutorial

What’s actually the top forward cake meaning? Some also call it arch cake or top front cake. It’s basically a cake, where one side is slightly cut off and then set up on the side. It looks so different and is so beautiful! I’m showing you how ot make top forward cake trend. The first few steps for a cake top forward trend are just like making a regular cake. 

Assemble the stracciatella cake with the Stracciatella frosting and cherries and cover it in buttercream. For the top forward cake technique it is important to cool the cake very well or even put it in the freezer for 15 minutes, because then the cake can simply be turned over. To do this, loosen the cake from the bottom with a knife and wrap a board with cling film or use cake board, place it on the cake and then turn over. Cover the bottom with buttercream as well. Repeat this step again in order to have two layers of buttercream on the cake to have it well coated on all sides.

First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake
First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake

Now we’re getting to the how to cut a top forward cake tutorial. After the cake is cooled well or has been in the freezer for another 15 minutes, cut off a small piece from one side and set up the cake on cut off side, creating the cake top forward design. There are many ways how to decorate top forward cake ideas, but here we can go ahead without fondant and make a super simple decoration with buttercream and more. 

How to make Top Forward Cake Design

For the cake carefully melt white chocolate, add coconut oil and food coloring of your preference and make a drip on one side of the cake. Divide the buttercream in three parts and use different colors for two parts of the buttercream. With various piping tips for the different colors, pipe some decoration from the chocolate drip, down to the cake. 

First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake
First-Day-of-School-Cake-Top-Forward-Cake-coucoucake
Print Recipe

First Day of School Cake – Top Forward Cake

  • Preparation time: 3 hours
  • Servings: 12-16 people

Ingredients

Stracciatella Cake Layers

  • 5 eggs, room temperature
  • 200g (1 cup) sugar
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • 100ml (1/2 cup) oil
  • 350g (3 cups) flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 100ml (1/2 cup) milk , room temperature
  • 100ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk, room temperature
  • 80g (1/2 cup) dark chocolate sprinkles

Stracciatella Frosting + Cherries

  • 250g (2 cups) mascarpone
  • 300ml (1 1/2 cups) heavy cream
  • 30g (2 tbsp) sugar
  • 100g (1 1/4 cups) dark chocolate sprinkles
  • 200g (1 1/2 cup) cherries, from glas or tin
  • 100ml (1/2 cup) juice/water from cherries
  • 25g (2 tbsp) sugar
  • 10g (2 tbsp) cornstarch

German Vanilla Buttercream

  • 500ml (2 cups) milk
  • 50g (1/4 cup) sugar
  • 50g (1/3 cup) cornstarch
  • 2 leaves (4 tsp) gelatin
  • 1 tsbp vanilla
  • 300g (1 1/4 cups) butter, room temperature
  • pinch violet food coloring

Decorations

  • 50g (1/2 cup) white chocolate
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • 1 ice cream cone
  • smarties
  • sprinkles
  • food colorings in green, blue, orange

Method

Stracciatella Cake Layers

  • Combine the eggs (room temperature) with a whisk and add the sugar and vanilla and whip until fluffy, then add the oil and stir in briefly, mix flour with baking powder and add to the batter with the milk and buttermilk and combine well. Finally stir in the chocolate sprinkles. Line two 20cm / 8 inch diameter baking pans with parchment paper and prepare the sides with oil and flour, spread the batter in the baking pans. Bake at 150°C / 300°F for about 20-25 minutes. I always recommend wrapping the cake layers in cling film after they’ve cooled down and refrigerate them.

Stracciatella Frosting + Cherries

  • In a grease-free bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks. Mix the mascarpone with sugar in another bowl and fold in the whipped cream. Finally add the chocolate sprinkles. I’m using pitted cherries as a condiment, in a glas or a tin. Mix the liquid or juice from the cherries with sugar and cornstarch and bring to a boil in a saucepan together with the cherries. As soon as it begins to boil and thicken, transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with cling film and allow to cool down to room temperature.

German Vanilla Buttercream

  • For the German buttercream, in a saucepan bring almost all of the milk to a boil, mix the remaining milk with the sugar and cornstarch and add to the milk when it starts to boil, stirring constantly with the whisk. As soon as it begins to thicken, pour into a bowl, add the vanilla flavor and gelatin here, stir and then press cling film onto the surface and let cool down to room temperature. Whip the butter (room temperature) until light and fluffy and the pudding spoon by spoon.

Top Forward Cake Assembly

  • Spread the stracciatella frosting on the first cake layer, put the cherries on top, but leave a finger-width rim free and then put the second cake layer on top and cover everything with German vanilla buttercream. For the top forward cake technique it is important to cool the cake very well or even put it in the freezer for 15 minutes, because then the cake can simply be turned over. To do this, loosen the cake from the bottom with a knife and wrap a board with cling film or use cake board, place it on the cake and then turn over. Cover the bottom with buttercream as well. Repeat this step again in order to have two layers of buttercream on the cake to have it well coated on all sides. After the cake is cooled well or has been in the freezer for another 15 minutes, cut off a small piece from one side and set up the cake on cut off side, creating the cake top forward design.

Decorations

  • Carefully melt white chocolate, add coconut oil and food coloring of your preference and make a drip on one side of the cake. Divide the buttercream in three parts and use different colors for two parts of the buttercream. With various piping tips for the different colors, pipe some decoration from the chocolate drip, down to the cake. Place smarties and sprinkles on the piped buttercream. With a sharp bread knife, carefully cut the ice cream cone in half. Pipe a strip of buttercream on the upper edge of the cone and roll in sprinkles. Then pipe a bit of buttercream on the cut edges of the cone and stick it to one side of the Top Forward cake. Pipe some more buttercream into the cone and decorate with smarties.

    Then add some food coloring to a bit of the buttercream and pipe the side decorations with different piping tips and decorate with some colorful sprinkles. Using a thin spatula or brush, dab buttercream onto various areas of the cake. Finally pipe ‘ABC’ and a bow with buttercream.

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