I was looking for the perfect way to celebrate Ramadan with my family when I came up with this simple to replicate cake design, one that I hope will help even the most beginner of bakers to recreate in their own home. Whether you're making this for Eid, Ramadan, or as a galaxy moon and stars cake, whatever the occasion, my goal is to help you achieve this same look!
The cake itself can truly be any flavor you desire. However, given the occasion I was baking it for, I had to use one of my all time favorite recipes for a classic Rasmalai Cake (click here for recipe).
You can use any frosting recipe you'd like for this. There's of course the timeless Georgetown Cupcakes inspired Cream Cheese Frosting, or my personal favorite, the Afghan Cream Cheese frosting. If you're nervous about making frosting, don't worry, you can use store bought frosting as well, whatever you're most comfortable with. I've used the Afghan Cream Cheese frosting here for this cake and it was perfect-- whichever recipe you're using, make two batches, one for the cake, and one for the crescent moon. If you're using store bought frosting, I estimate you'll need 3-4 of the 16oz jars.
All of the materials I used for this project are linked here. Check out my video below to watch as I assemble and frost the cake itself.
Instructions:
Once my cake was baked and assembled, I refrigerated it for an hour to lessen the likelihood that cake crumbs would get mixed into the frosting process.
Split the frosting into two equal amounts. Use one to frost your cake until it is completely covered in white or beige frosting.
Refrigerate your frosted cake while you assemble your piping bag.
Add food coloring of your choice to the second half of the frosting. Mix well until the color is evenly coated into the frosting.
I used the teal colored Wilton food coloring for this cake.
To get a deeper color, slowly add more food coloring, a few drops at a time, mixing well before adding more to ensure you get the desired color. A few drops have an immense impact, so start slowly.
Grab a small angled frosting spatula (like the 9" one here). Using a tall glass or a vase, grab a piping bag and cut off the tip.
Drop your Wilton #125 frosting tip inside so that the pointed end is emerging out of the bottom of the piping bag.
Place your piping bag into the vase or tall glass for support, and fill your piping bag with colored frosting using your angled spatula.
Fill only to the max fill line, then twist the top of the piping bag to keep it closed
Print a clip art image of a crescent moon. I've included the image of a moon I've used for my cake below, you can use any image of a crescent moon you find online or in Microsoft Powerpoint or Word.
I utilized my Cricut machine to do a cut and print of the moon image. If you do not have a Cricut, don't worry. Simply print the image, then cut it with an Exacto knife or carefully cut the black outline of the moon with scissors.
For a 9" cake, I printed a 7" moon
Bring your frosted cake out of the refrigerator and place on a rotating cake plate for easier frosting.
Place your paper image of the cut out crescent moon on top of your cake gently. Using a sharp edge like a knife, gently draw around the shape of the crescent moon into the frosting to create an outline of the image. Remove the paper image when you have completely drawn its outline, this is the template where your frosting will go.
In order to make frosting easier, wrap the excess empty part of the piping bag around your index finger while you hold the piping bag in your hand. Aim the piping bag at a 30 degree angle on to your cake, starting with one tip of the crescent moon, frosting from left to right in a row motion, completing from edge to edge of the moon, then moving to the next row and repeating until the moon is filled in entirely.
For this cake tip, make sure the larger part of the mouth of the tip is aimed at the bottom and the skinny part is at the top. This video tutorial (start at 6:30) demonstrates how to pipe with this tip
Once you have completely frosted the interior of your moon, you can do a second layer of the same exact technique on top of the first layer to create a more 3D looking crescent moon (this is optional)
After your moon has been frosted, sprinkle your edible stars on top of your cake. Refrigerate the frosted cake to ensure your design stays in tact, and serve when you're ready to eat. Noshejaan!
