Purple Ombre Cake with Blackberry Compote

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease three 5-inch cake pans, and line bottoms with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Mix milk, melted butter and vanilla in another bowl. Set aside.

Whip the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of a standing mixer until pale and thick. This will take about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just incorporated.

Scoop out 2 cups of cake batter and add it into the milk and butter mixture. Whisk until well combined. Then pour the mixture back into the remaining cake batter. Fold until well mixed.

Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared cake pans and spread evenly.

Put pans into the preheated oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in a cake comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and set on a wire rack. Allow cakes to cool for about 10 minutes before inverting them out of the pans onto the rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the blackberry compote:
Cook 1 1/2 cups blackberries, cornstarch, sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the berries start to break down, about 10 minutes. Lower the heat and simmer until the compote is thick, about 5 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Let the berry mixture cool slightly before pushing the compote into a bowl through a fine sieve to remove the seeded pulp. Discard the pulp. Let compote cool completely.

For the buttercream:
Beat butter for a few minutes in the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add powdered sugar and turn your mixer on low. Beat until the sugar incorporates with the butter. Add vanilla and heavy cream and beat on medium speed for another 3 minutes or until buttercream becomes light and fluffy.

To assemble the cake, fill a pastry bag attached to a 1/2″ round tip with about a cup of buttercream. Place one cake layer on your serving plate, pipe a dam around the top edge of the cake layer. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the compote inside the dam, along with a few fresh blackberries and 2 tablespoons of the buttercream. Gently spread the buttercream around the top surface to seal the compote. Place another cake layer on top and repeat the same process. Place the last layer of cake on top. Smear a light coating of frosting on the top and sides of the cake. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Divide the remaining buttercream into 3 bowls, with one of them a little more than the other two. You’ll use the larger bowl to frost the top of the cake. Set that bowl aside. Tint one of the other two bowls with 4 drops of coloring paste to create deep purple color. Tint the other smaller bowl with one drop of coloring paste to create light purple color.

Take a teaspoon of the light purple buttercream, and mix it into the white buttercream, to create an even lighter pale purple color.

Remove cake from the fridge. Starting at the bottom, carefully smear the bottom third of the cake with the deep purple buttercream, followed the light purple buttercream on the middle part, and the pale purple on the top of the cake. Use a mental spatula to smooth frosting all over the cake, to blend the colors together and create rustic stripes effect.

Use an offset spatula to gently smear horizontal strokes against the sides of the cake. Cover and refrigerate the cake. Leave it out at room temperature for at least an hour prior to serving.