Editors’ Note: Eleven-year-old Hannah Cook had a class assignment that was to show the layers of the Earth on a cake. Most of the students demonstrated this with an illustration, in icing, on top of a cake. Hannah’s creative version of this project went a step further.
The cake started off as a school project for extra credit. My teacher, Mrs.Wilson, gave us examples of what we could do. When I brought it to school everyone seemed so impressed by it because all of the other students made a square model.
The way to make the cake is actually pretty easy. First, you make some batter (see recipe below). Then you will need the right pans. We bought some different sized sphere pans off Amazon, with the largest one being a Wilton brand sphere pan. You will need to dye a small portion of the batter red and poor it into the mold/pan. Then, put it in the oven.
Next, you dye a slightly bigger portion of orange and put the first one (inner core) in the batter that will soon become the inner core.
Now, you repeat with the dye, but this time in yellow to create the mantle, then put the outer core and inner core in the mantle batter. Once you finish the baking part, you have the two halves.
Put them together with a thin layer of buttercream to keep them together. Next is the crust! For the crust we put a thin layer of butter cream aka torting, and then put a layer of fondant (either blue marbled or you can use white and airbrush it blue) on and use an edible printer for the countries, cut them out, put it on fondant, cut the fondant to match the countries, put them on the cake and you are done!
Making a cake is fun and easy, however it does take a lot of time. It took most of the afternoon to finish it completely! Baking is fun for me because I get to do it with my mom and she can teach me all of her tricks. Working with fondant is one of my favorite things because it is just like play-doh you can eat. 
World’s Best Vanilla Cake with American Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
For the cake:
- •240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- •297 grams (1½ cups) granulated sugar
- •15 ml (1 tablespoon) baking powder
- •113 grams (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- •2.5 ml (½ teaspoon) salt
- •118 ml (½ cup) milk
- •118 ml (½ cup) vanilla coffee creamer
- •5 ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla
- •3 large eggs, at room temperature
For the American Buttercream Frosting:
- •113 grams (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- •156 ml (2/3 cup) shortening
- •10 ml (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
- •2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) cream cheese flavoring*
- •1/4 cup milk, or as needed**
- •794 grams (1.75 pounds) confectioners sugar, or as needed
* Available where professional baking products are sold, and online at https://www.amazon.com/Oz-Cream-Cheese-Flavoring-Dropper/dp/B00KX4XD3Y
**In regions with high humidity, less milk may be needed
Preparation
- For the cake: Preheat the oven to 177°C (350°F). In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a measuring pitcher combine the milk, coffee creamer, and vanilla.
Using an electric mixer cream together the softened butter and sugar for a few minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing in each one before adding the next. Add about a third of the dry ingredients, then about a third of the wet, continuing until they are all added.
Spray the cake pan with baking spray. Pour in the batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
For the American Buttercream Frosting: Using a mixer, combine the softened butter and shortening for about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla, cream cheese flavoring, and a small amount of the milk.
Mix at the slowest speed and slowly add about half of the sugar. Add the rest of the milk followed by the rest of the sugar. When the sugar is fully incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and mix for 4 to 5 minutes. Add additional milk if the mixture is too stiff, more sugar if it is too thin; the more sugar, the sweeter the buttercream will be.
Frost the cooled cake as desired.
