Rainbow Bridge Memorial Cake

katefox3141

This isn’t the kind of cake I ever wanted to make. Last week, I said goodbye to Hank, my best friend, shadow, and soulmutt. If you’ve ever loved a dog, you know there are no words big enough for the hole they leave behind. They spend years weaving themselves into every part of your life…the routines, the quiet moments, the memories, and somehow become family in the truest sense of the word. Then one day, all that’s left is the love they gave you and the memories you carry forward.

So this Rainbow Bridge Memorial Cake is for Hank. It’s a small tribute to the very best buddy who filled my life with a loyalty that will forever be unmatched, the endless laughter he provided in his silly moments, and the comfort he brought to me every day of his almost 15 years. Because of him, I know what it means to love and be loved unconditionally, and I can think of no greater gift he could have given me. Making this cake was a reminder that love doesn’t end when a life does. It stays with us, in our stories, in our hearts, and sometimes in the little ways we choose to remember them.

This one is for the dogs who leave paw prints on our floors, fur on our clothes, and permanent marks on our hearts. Most of all, it’s for Hank. For the privilege of loving you, I will bear the burden of missing you, little dude.

“How lucky I am to have had something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

The cake & frosting recipe is below. You’ll need gel dye in your preferred colors (I used blue, purple, pink, orange, and yellow), silver leaf, silver star sprinkles, white star sprinkles, and blue pearl sprinkles if desired.

Use a small amount of plain frosting to crumb coat your cake & freeze 30 min.
Divide remaining frosting & dye while cake chills.
Either draw or print out and resize a paw print, tracing on Parchment paper.
Use an X-acto knife to trim out the paw print pieces carefully.
Lay your Parchment paper on top of the cake & gently press in so there are no gaps.
Smatter a bit of color all over the top & swipe a few times to blend the colors with an angled spatula.
Gently remove to reveal the pawprint.
Now place dollops of color all over the side of the cake.
Pass over with an scraper, and fill in color where there are any gaps.Take another pass with a CLEAN scraper until smooth.
Use tweezers to add silver leaf and remaining sprinkles.
I wanted it to feel very celestial, so I added a lot of stars.

Recipe and Instructions

Gluten free chocolate orange cake with cream cheese frosting

  • Servings: 10
  • Difficulty: Intermediate
  • Print

A rainbow bridge cake to celebrate the life of our furbabies.

If not gluten free, use any kind of cake mix. Monkfruit can also be replaced with regular powdered sugar for frosting. Protein powder can also be replaced with additional monkfruit or regular powdered sugar; note: you will need WAY less liquid in the frosting without protein powder.

Ingredients

CAKE
*1 box of gluten free chocolate cake mix (I used King Arthur GF)
*1 1/3 cup fat free or skim milk
*152 g (2/3 cup) fat free Greek yogurt
*4 eggs
*1 tsp orange extract

FROSTING
*112 g (1/2 cup) butter, softened
*226 g (8 ounces) 1/3 the fat cream cheese, softened
*12 ounces Lakanto powdered monkfruit
*4 ounces Quest vanilla milkshake protein powder (cuts the sweetness of the monkfruit and makes a nice, stiff, spreadable frosting; omit and use all monkfruit if desired)
*1 TBS clear vanilla
*1/4 tsp orange extract
*1/2 cup plus 2 TBS milk
*1/4 tsp citric acid if you like less sweet frosting

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease three 6-inch pans.
  2. Whisk cake ingredients together in a stand mixer on low for 30 seconds before switching to medium-high for two minutes.
  3. Pour batter evenly into pan and bake for 35-38 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the center.
  4. Allow cake to cool fully before frosting.
  5. To make frosting, whisk butter and cram cheese for 3 minutes before adding in half the powdered monkfruit, protein powder, vanilla, orange, citric acid if using, and milk.
  6. Add in remaining monkfruit mix fully.
  7. Once fully cooled, frost your cake and use the gallery above to decorate.
  8. Keep cake covered and in the fridge. It is best served at room temp, so remove from fridge 30 minutes before eating. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Macros
10 servings
344 cal/42.2 c/13.2 f/14.1 p per slice
To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.
I know you’ll find me again one day, Bubba.

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Published by katefox3141

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