Birthday Cake Club: Lychee Rose Raspberry Party Dome

Fresh, floral, and fruity flavors to celebrate our June babies.

Hi Bakers!

I’m always a little biased towards our June birthday cakes because this month is when I celebrate my own birthday. This year’s cake is no exception and boosts the exquisite flavor combination of lychee, rose, and raspberry. 

The dome shape enhances the whimsy - giving Mad Hatter tea party vibes and I desperately want an invite. 

Happy Birthday my fellow Geminis! This one is for us.

It’s my birthday! Celebrate with a Bake Club subscription:

What is Lychee?

Lychee is a tropical fruit with a delicate, sweet taste. It is more commonly found in Asian cuisines, and often shows up in pastries, frozen desserts, and cocktails. 

With its hard, prickly outer shell, you might be surprised to find the soft fleshy fruit inside. The texture is similar to a skinless grape and has flavor notes like a floral, slightly citrusy pear. Eat them fresh (available more often at Asian markets) or canned.

Once I started toying around with a lychee cake and discovered Pierre Herme’s Isphan cake collection, I knew I had to create something with the lychee-rose-raspberry flavor trio.

The delicate taste of lychee pairs perfectly with tart raspberry and floral rose. Working together, this cake is light and subtle - a great choice for summer. 

I used three variations of lychee to enhance this cake: pureed in the sponge batter, the juice boiled down to a simple syrup, and whole fruit for filling. 

The rose buttercream is beautifully floral and silky. Use a light hand when measuring the rose water for the buttercream. You don’t want it overpowering the cake or taking on a soapy quality and can always add more to taste. A smear of tart raspberry jam bridges it all together. 

About the party dome - I’ve been seeing a lot of these rounded bespoke cakes with organic flowers and free-form squiggles and just had to make one of my own. The cake is baked in standard 6 and 8-inch round cake pans - only a serrated knife and some basic carving skills required.