Tequila Sunrise Cake with an Isomalt Sail
This tequila sunrise cake is so stinkin’ pretty! I was so reluctant to take that isomalt sail off and slice into it, but I’m glad I did. The cake is light and flavored with orange juice, orange zest, and a smidge of tequila. That beautiful frosting is split into two flavors: tequila and orange, and tequila and grenadine. But don’t worry, if you want to skip the alcohol, I’ve got notes for that!
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This recipe & post was originally published on March 28, 2019. It was republished on June 29, 2023 with updates.
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March Challenge 2019: Isomalt
When I first made this cake in 2019, it was part of the monthly Sweet Arts Guild challenge. I loved doing those challenges because I always learned something new and tried a technique I never would have otherwise. In that group, I learned about drip cakes, gelatin bubbles, and isomalt!
Isomalt is a sugar substitute derived from beets that’s used for sugar work in cake decorating. It is technically edible, but our bodies can’t digest it, so it can cause intestinal discomfort. You can pull it, sculpt it, and melt and mold it. Isomalt comes in two forms, raw and precooked. I always stick with precooked.
Tequila Sunrise Cake
Once I knew what the challenge was, I needed to figure out what cake was going to feature my isomalt decoration. Chocolate didn’t seem like a good choice, so I decided to go with a Tequila Sunrise Cake! I found this recipe for cupcakes from The Cake Blog. The pretty pastel frosting sold me, plus I like boozy cakes because you don’t get buzzed, but the booze adds complex and unique flavors.
This cocktail inspired cake features three layers of orange and tequila cake that is filled and frosted with tequila buttercream that has been split into orange and grenadine flavors. To top this stunning cake, we’re creating a super easy isomalt sail. This tequila sunrise cake is truly beautiful, but very simple to make.
Top Tips for Cakes
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help everything blend nicely and give your cake a nice texture.
- Scrape down your bowl often. Butter and sugar can hide out at the bottom of your bowl. Make sure everything gets blended!
- Do NOT over mix. Once you add the wet and dry ingredients, keep the speed on stir and only mix to combine.
- Wilton baking strips will give you a flat top and prevent the edges from caramelizing.
- Use an electronic scale to divide your cake batter into the pans.
Beautiful Pastel Frosting
Whip up a basic American buttercream and add a splash of tequila. At this point, the frosting is super thick, but don’t worry. Split the thick frosting and beat in orange juice, orange zest, and some orange food gel to one half. With the other half, beat in grenadine to get that gorgeous pastel pink frosting.
To fill the cakes, I lined on half of a piping bag with the tequila/ orange frosting, and put the tequila/ grenadine frosting on the other side. This gave me a nice swirl of buttercream between the cake layers. You could also pipe concentric circles of alternating buttercream, which I did back in 2019.
Related Reading: Boozy Black Cherry Cupcakes
Top Tips for American Buttercream
- Beat the butter alone on a medium speed for 8- 10 minutes to get it super pale and fluffy.
- Warm up your liquid (cream, milk, water, etc.) slightly to get a smooth buttercream. Cold liquid can curdle the frosting.
- Once you begin adding the powdered sugar, never go above a medium speed to avoid too many air bubbles.
- Add a pinch of salt to cut the sweetness.
Ombre Frosting
I decided this tequila sunrise was going to mimic the gorgeous pink to orange ombre effect of the cocktail (and hence, an actual sunrise). To nail this blurred ombre, I covered the top of the cake in orange buttercream, then added a layer of pink to the bottom. For the center, I mixed equal parts of the two colors.
If you’re not digging the ombre vibe, I think this tequila sunrise cake would be really fun with stripes! Should you choose to go this direction, check out my tutorial for buttercream stripes on YouTube. Ironically, it is also topped with isomalt decorations.
Alcohol Free Alternative
The tequila bakes out of the cake, but it is still in the frosting, so you cannot serve this cake to anyone avoiding alcohol. If you’d like to skip the alcohol for any reason, I got you boo. Basically, just swap out the tequila for water.
In the cake, the orange juice, water, and tequila will all equal 6 fl oz. Instead of using tequila, do half oj and half water. For the buttercream, you can use water, milk, or cream. OR you could not add any liquid before dividing the batch and just use more orange juice and grenadine.
PS – Grenadine is alcohol free, but you can use pomegranate juice instead. Ya see, grenadine is basically a pomegranate simple syrup.
Melting the Isomalt
When you melt isomalt, it’s going to get to around 300℉, so you need to be safe! I wore nitrile gloves (found mine at Target) and an apron and melted the isomalt nibs in silicone bowls set on a plate. Melt the nibs in 30 second bursts until fully melted and bubbly.
Now you can add any pearl dust or gel food color and stir with a toothpick. I did gold pearl dust in all of them, orange gel color in one, and pink gel color in another one. It will hiss and bubble, so don’t worry.
Making the Isomalt Sail
Wait for the bubbles to subside and do NOT stir. Pour the molten isomalt onto a silicone mat. Since I used three colors, I kinda swirled them about. Then, lift the mat up by the edges (this shiznaz is HOT!) and carefully tilt and swirl the isomalt around. You want an irregular blobby circle in the center of your mat. Keep tilting and moving the mat around until the isomalt is beginning to set and no longer moves much.
Pull the edges of the mat up and into the center. Place the mat into a smallish mixing bowl and clip the top of the mat together (holla to my hair clip). Now all you have to do is wait for it to set. This will probably take 30 – 60 minutes. You can pick up the mat and touch the bottom to see if it’s cool. If it’s warm, check back in 15 minutes. Watch the video tutorial for this isomalt sail to get see exactly how I made mine.
Related Video: Isomalt Disc Cake Toppers
Isomalt Tips and Tricks
The great thing about isomalt is if you mess up, just remelt and start over! I always make a sail that is too small first because I forget that I need a bigger circle of molten isomalt. No biggie. As soon as it cools enough to touch, break it up and melt again.
Make sure it is mostly set before you place it in the bowl. If you put it in there too soon, it will all pool on the bottom and the edges will be super flimsy.
If isomalt gets on your counter, any utensils, or whatnot, just cover with a damp paper towel and let it sit for several minutes. The water will soften it so you can clean it up.
Enjoy!
The beautiful pastel orange and pink frosting on this Tequila Sunrise Cake is as fun to look at as the cake is to eat. Orange and tequila cake is layered with a tequila frosting that is flavored with orange and grenadine. But don’t let the tequila scare you! This “boozy” cake has just enough to add some flavor without the hangover. Top it with an isomalt sail for a stunning presentation.
Tequila Sunrise Cake with an Isomalt Sail
Ingredients
Cake
- 6 oz all- purpose flour
- 2.25 oz cake flour
- 3 Tbsps dried buttermilk
- 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 10 oz sugar
- 5 oz unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 Tbsps cake enhancer optional
- 1 Tbsp orange zest
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 3 fl oz orange juice freshly squeezed
- 2 fl oz water
- 3 Tbsps canola oil
- 2 Tbsps tequila
Buttercream
- 16 oz unsalted butter softened
- 32 oz powdered sugar sifted
- 2 Tbsp tequila
- pinch of salt optional
- 1 Tbsp orange juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tsp orange zest*
- 4- 6 drops orange gel food color
- 1 Tbsp grenadine
- 2- 3 drops magenta food gel
Isomalt Sail
- 15- 20 nibs pre-cooked isomalt (depending on size of sail)
- gel food color optional
- pearl dust optional
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325℉. Spray three 6 inch cake pans with Baker's Joy and line with parchment rounds. Set aside.
- Sift the flours, dried buttermilk, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In a stand mixer, add sugar, butter, cake enhancer (optional), orange zest, and vanilla. Beat on a medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5- 8 minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Scrape the bowl down and beat the eggs in one at a time. Scrape the bowl down after each addition and beat until combined before adding the next egg. After the eggs are all combined, scrape the bowl down again.
- In a measuring glass, combine the orange juice, water, oil, and tequila. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer and mix on low until just combined. Add half of the liquids and mix until just combined. Scrape the bowl down and repeat with another third of the dry and the remaining liquids. Scrape and mix in the last bit of dry ingredients.
- Divide the batter among the three prepared pans, about 12 ounces in each. Bake for 50- 53 minutes. They will pull away from the edge of the pan and spring back when poked once they are done.
- Cool in the pans for 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Cool about 30 more minutes before double wrapping in plastic wrap. Store in the fridge up to 24 hours before assembling cake.
Buttercream
- Beat the butter until pale and fluffy, about 8- 10 minutes. Add the sifted powdered sugar in 3- 4 additions, beating well to combine after each. Scrape down the bowl as necessary.
- Add the tequila and beat, starting on low and going to medium, until combined. Taste and add a pinch of salt if it is too sweet. The frosting will be thick. Divide the buttercream into two equal portions (about 24 ounces each).
- Add the orange juice and orange zest to one half of the buttercream. Taste and adjust flavor and consistency if needed. Add orange gel color and beat until smooth.
- Add the grenadine to the other half of the buttercream. Taste and adjust flavor and consistency if needed. Add magenta gel color and beat until smooth.
Assemble the Cake
- Smear a bit of frosting on your cake board. Place your first layer down. Fill a piping bag with orange frosting on one side and grenadine frosting on the other. Pipe a layer of buttercream onto the cake layer and smooth. Top with the next layer and repeat until you reach the final layer.
- Place your final layer upside down. Cover the cake in a thin layer of buttercream. Smooth and chill the cake in the fridge until firm, about 15- 30 minutes.
- Apply a final layer of buttercream. For the ombre look, cover the top third of the cake with orange and the bottom third with grenadine. Mix equal portions of the two frostings and use that for the middle of the cake. Smooth and fill in any blemishes as needed. Chill for 30 minutes.
Isomalt Sail
- Melt isomalt nibs in silicone bowls in 30 second increments until melted and bubbly. Use a toothpick to stir in any gel color or pearl dust. Microwave for another 10 seconds.
- Wait for the bubbles to subside. Pour melted isomalt onto a silicone baking mat. Carefully lift it up by the edges and tilt and swirl the molten sugar to cool it down. Aim for an irregular blob in the center off your mat.
- Once the isomalt is beginning to set, gather the edges of the mat, causing the isomalt to form a wonky bowl shape. Place in a bowl to hold the shape and clip the top of the mat.
- Wait for the isomalt to set, about 30 - 60 minutes. You can pick up the mat and touch the bottom to check. If it's still warm, it's not done. Once the sail is set, gently peel the mat away from it.
- Add a small amount of fresh buttercream to the top of the cake and place the isomalt sail on top. Press so that it adheres. If there is any frosting splooging out, use a small offset spatula to smooth it out.
Notes
- Orange zest adds a ton of flavor to the buttercream, but it will show in the frosted cake. If you prefer a smoother look, you can skip this.
- You can make the isomalt sail in advance. Store it in an air tight container. Humidity can soften it.
- Don't place the sail on the cake too far in advance because the moisture will cause it to change and potentially melt if left on long enough.
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Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
6 Comments
Mocktailgirl
My sister loves tequila sunrises! I’m excited to try this out for her. Can I use regular liquid buttermilk instead of dried?
Colleen
I have not tried using regular buttermilk, but it should work. Omit the dried buttermilk completely and replace the water with an equal amount of buttermilk.
GiveItAWhirlGirl
This is a decadent work of art!
Colleen
Thank you! I’m super proud of how it turned out 😀 And it tasted phenomenal, so bonus points!
Kelly @ Kelly Lynn's Sweets and Treats
Oh wow! What a beautiful cake! I have never worked with isomalt before, but you totally make it look do-able! GORGEOUS!!
Colleen
Thank you so much! It turned out to be easier to work with than I expected. Just be careful and remelt if you mess up.