How to Make the Iconic Melanie Martinez Cake (Cry Baby Edition)

How to Bake the Iconic Melanie Martinez Cake (Cry Baby Edition)

Let’s set the scene. You’re tired of boring vanilla cakes. You feel like the world is a playground, but for some reason, all the swing sets are broken. You want a cake that matches your perfectly curated, slightly strange, pastel-and-pain aesthetic. You need a Melanie Martinez cake.

Forget everything you know about generic birthday cakes. We’re diving headfirst into the dollhouse to create the ultimate tribute to the Cry Baby herself. We’re talking a heart-shaped declaration of delicious, dramatic, and slightly sad confectionary art. This is the cake you make for your own pity party, and trust me, you won’t be crying once you take a bite.

So, put on your favorite album, grab your apron, and let’s get weird. This isn’t just a recipe; it’s a whole mood. And it’s going to be delicious.

Why This Cake Is Your New Obsession

First and foremost, this cake is a statement. It’s an instant icon. Anyone who’s a fan will immediately recognize the reference, and anyone who isn’t will just think you’re a creative genius with a flair for vintage cake design. It’s a win-win.

Second, beyond the aesthetic, this is a genuinely fantastic cake. We’re making a moist, flavorful strawberry cake from scratch, covered in a dreamy vanilla buttercream. It’s sweet, it’s nostalgic, and it’s the perfect companion to a cup of tea while you contemplate the bittersweet symphony of life. Or, you know, just binge-watch a new show.

And the best part? It looks incredibly intricate, but the techniques are surprisingly simple. If you can frost a cake and hold a piping bag, you can pull this off. I’ll walk you through every step of becoming a cake-decorating Cry Baby.

The Secret Ingredients for Your Pity Party

To capture the true essence of Melanie Martinez, we need flavors and colors that are as sweet and complex as her music.

For the Strawberry “Cry Baby” Cake:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup strawberry puree (from about 1 ½ cups of fresh or frozen strawberries)
• ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• A few drops of pink gel food coloring (optional, to boost the color)

For the Pastel Dream Buttercream:

• 2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 6-7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• ⅓ cup heavy cream or whole milk
• 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract (to keep the frosting super white)
• A pinch of salt
• Pastel Pink and Baby Blue gel food coloring

The Tools of Your Crafty Trade

To create this masterpiece, you’ll need a few key items from your grown-up toy box.

• A 9-inch Heart-Shaped Cake Pan: This is the easiest way to get that iconic shape. (See the FAQ for a hack if you don’t have one!)
• Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer: For making fluffy cake and even fluffier buttercream.
• Piping Bags and Couplers: You’ll need two bags to handle the pink and blue frosting separately.
• Piping Tips: This is important! You’ll need:
  • A small round tip (like a Wilton #2 or #3) for writing “Cry Baby.”
  • A small star or shell tip (like a Wilton #21) for the vintage border.
• Offset Spatula: For getting that smooth, dreamy pink frosting base.
• Cake Turntable: Not essential, but it makes frosting the cake feel less like a chore and more like a graceful ballet.
• Food Processor or Blender: For making your strawberry puree.

Step-by-Step: Assembling Your Edible Art

Ready to play? Let’s bring this cake to life.

Step 1: Bake the Strawberry Heart

1. Prep Your Pan: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease your heart-shaped pan thoroughly and dust it with flour.
2. Make the Puree: Blend your fresh or frozen (and thawed) strawberries until smooth. You should have exactly 1 cup of puree.
3. Mix the Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
4. Beat the Wet Ingredients: In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the softened butter until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla.
5. Alternate and Combine: With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the strawberry puree and buttermilk. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Add a few drops of pink gel coloring here if you want a more vibrant pink cake. Mix until just combined. Over-mixing is a Cry Baby’s enemy.
6. Bake: Pour the batter into your prepared heart pan and bake for 35-45 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 2: Whip Up the Pastel Buttercream

1. Beat the softened butter in your stand mixer for about 3-4 minutes until it’s very pale and fluffy.
2. With the mixer on low, gradually add the sifted powdered sugar.
3. Add the clear vanilla and salt. Slowly stream in the heavy cream until the frosting reaches a stiff but spreadable consistency. Beat on medium-high for another 3 minutes until it’s super light and airy.
4. Divide and Conquer: Separate the frosting. Place about two-thirds in one bowl and tint it a soft pastel pink. Place the remaining one-third in another bowl and tint it a baby blue.

Step 3: Decorate Your Cry Baby Cake

1. The Pink Canvas: Once the cake is completely cool, place it on your turntable or serving plate. Apply a thin “crumb coat” of pink frosting all over the cake and chill it for 20 minutes.
2. After chilling, apply a final, smooth, and generous layer of the pink frosting over the entire cake. Use your offset spatula to get it as smooth as you can.
3. The Iconic Script: This is the moment of truth. Fit a piping bag with your small round tip and fill it with blue frosting. Practice piping “Cry Baby” in cursive on a piece of parchment paper first. Once you feel confident, carefully pipe the words onto the center of your cake.
4. The Vintage Border: Fit another piping bag with your star or shell tip and fill it with the remaining blue frosting. Pipe a classic, decorative border around the top and bottom edges of the heart. This touch is what really sells the vintage aesthetic.

Calories & Nutritional Info (For Your Pity Party Planning)

• Estimated Calories per Slice: Roughly 500-650 calories of pure, stylish angst.
• Nutritional Value: Contains high levels of sugar, butter, and the satisfaction of creating something beautiful.
• Disclaimer: The calories consumed during a Pity Party are emotionally necessary and therefore do not count. It’s science.

Common Mistakes to Avoid (Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk… or Smeared Frosting)

• Using Red Food Coloring: To get pastel pink, start with a white base and add pink gel coloring drop by drop. If you use red, you’ll likely overshoot and end up with a garish, angry pink instead of a soft, sad pink.
• Piping on a Warm or “Wet” Cake: Your blue letters will bleed and smear if the pink frosting base isn’t properly chilled and set. Let the crumb-coated cake get cold and let the final pink coat “crust” over for about 15 minutes at room temp before you write on it.
• Free-handing Without Practice: I know you’re excited, but please, practice your piping on parchment paper. It will save you from the heartache of having to scrape off wonky letters.
• Bad Font Choice: Look up the “Cry Baby” storybook for reference. The font is a sweet, almost childlike cursive. Don’t try to pipe it in Times New Roman. 😉

Variations & Customizations

Feeling creative? Let’s give it a twist.

1. “K-12” School Bus Edition: Bake a sheet cake instead of a heart. Frost it pastel yellow and use your blue and pink frosting to pipe details that look like the K-12 bus. This is for the advanced Cry Babies.
2. “Portals” Earthy Vibe: Ditch the pastels. Use the same heart cake but frost it with shades of moss green, mushroom pink, and earthy brown. Instead of words, pipe on some cute little mushrooms or fondant fairy wings.
3. Flavor Swap: Not a strawberry fan? This cake design works beautifully with a vanilla, funfetti, or even a light chocolate cake. Just tint your vanilla buttercream to get the right colors.

Frequently Asked Questions (From My Fellow Cry Babies)

H3: How do you make a heart-shaped cake without a heart pan? Easy! Bake one 8-inch square cake and one 8-inch round cake. Cut the round cake in half. Place the square cake like a diamond, and place the two half-circles against two adjacent top sides of the diamond. Voilà, a heart!

H3: What’s the secret to getting neat piped letters? Use a stiff consistency buttercream, a small round tip (size #2 or #3), and maintain consistent pressure on the piping bag. Lift the tip slightly off the cake as you pipe, letting the line of frosting fall gracefully onto the surface. And again: practice!

H3: Can I use fondant for the “Cry Baby” letters instead? Totally! If you’re not confident in your piping skills, you can roll out blue fondant very thinly, use a craft knife to cut out the letters, and gently place them on the cake.

H3: How do you get those perfect, soft pastel colors? The key is gel food coloring and restraint. Gels are super concentrated. Start with your white buttercream and add the color with a toothpick, a tiny bit at a time, until you reach that perfect dreamy shade.

H3: What flavor is the “official” Melanie Martinez cake? There is no official flavor! Her aesthetic is all about the visuals, which gives us creative freedom. I chose strawberry because it naturally fits the pink color scheme and has a sweet, nostalgic taste that feels very “Cry Baby.”

H3: My buttercream is too soft to pipe with. What do I do? Your butter might have been too warm, or your kitchen is hot. The quick fix is to pop the frosting in the refrigerator for 15-20 minute intervals, stirring in between, until it firms up to a pipeable consistency.

H3: How should I store this cake? Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator because of the buttercream. However, for the best flavor and texture, let it sit at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes before serving. Cold cake is sad cake.

Final Thoughts

You did it. You took a feeling, an aesthetic, a whole musical universe, and you turned it into a cake. This isn’t just dessert; it’s edible art. It’s a little sweet, a little sad, and 100% you.

So go ahead, put on your frilliest dress, light some mismatched candles, and have your very own Pity Party. You deserve to cry if you want to… but with a cake this good, I have a feeling you’ll be smiling.