This cake was inspired by a video tutorial I saw on Instagram, for making a candle cake by stacking cupcakes on top of each other.
You'll need to use a dowel rod or something similar to keep them in place while you stack and ice them. Then you put a thinner, glaze icing over top to mimic melted wax.
Now, to step it up a notch, I made this with intention. In candle magic, black candles are used for hexing OR protection. They can represent both sides of the coin.
So for the cake, I used Devil's Food Cake. And then, for the protective aspect, I used my Rosemary Buttercream as the icing, and in-between the layers of cupcake, I added some Elderberry Jelly.
Rosemary, as I've mentioned many times, is one of the greatest protection herbs. It's even been used in wedding and funeral ceremonies for centuries due to that reason. Traditionally, it's used in spells of protection, exorcism, purification, and healing.
Elder has long been known throughout folklore and spells as a great plant of protection--from the leaves to the flowers to the bark to the berries, all are useful. It is used in spells of exorcism, protection, healing, and prosperity. It's said that it has the power to shake off and deflect any hexes cast against the user. Like rosemary, it was common in funerals and weddings, and there is a long history of protection and blessing spells involving elder. For these and many reasons, elder trees are incredibly sacred to witches. While the bark is often used in spells and wands, it is very dangerous to burn the wood--terrible things could happen should you disrespect the elder.
