Cake and Syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease your two cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients except for the boiling water.
5. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then stir in the boiling water. It will be a very thin batter.
6. Pour into cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Begin checking for doneness at 28 minutes. Remember that larger cake pans will take longer to bake. Check every two-three minutes until done.
7. While the cake is baking in the oven, prepare the syrup: Add sugar to a small saucepan, fitted with a lid. Pour in water and stir. With the heat on medium, bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. The sugar will dissolve while the water boils. Turn off the heat and cover immediately and let cool. When it has cooled, stir in vanilla extract and honey.
8. When the cake is done baking, take out of the oven and IMMEDIATELY brush the syrup on top of the cakes. This will lock in the cake's peak flavors at this point and will keep it moist.
9. Make all other cake layers accordingly. Remember the multiple batches!

Buttercream

1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a stand mixer bowl and place it over (not on) simmering water. Heat mixture to 160 degrees F while whisking constantly.
2. Transfer mixer bowl to stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on medium high speed (speed 8 on a KitchenAid stand mixer) until mixture cools, doubles in volume and forms stiff peaks; about 10-12 minutes.
3. Add butter in one piece at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition. The mixture may appear clumpy and almost curdled looking at first—this is normal. Keep mixing and it will become even and smooth again.
4. Stir in the vanilla extract, almond extract, salt, and sesame seeds until combined.

Assembly

1. Once all the cakes have cooled, split each layer in half (that's going to be a lot of layers!). You should have a total of four 10-inch cakes, four (or more) 8 inch cakes, and three or four 4 inch cakes (I used only three because it looked proportionally better).
2. Attach the first bottom layer cake onto a cake board with buttercream. Continue to layer all the 10 inch layers with a HEAVY layer of buttercream (do not use sparingly!). NOTE: Make sure to have a gap between all layers. After layering, you can use a pastry bag filled with buttercream and pipe across the orders to create a full effect. Use the end of a knife to smooth out the edges.
3. Add straws for support (watch this youtube video by Laura to see the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bawdeAmPbr4)
4. Repeat #2 and 3 with the rest of the layers.
5. After the tiers are stacked, take your sifter and extra match powder and sift all across your cake to create a "powdered" effect. Do not overdo this step!
6. Now, take your red silk roses and make sure the stems are cut short. Take a straw and put through each stem. Attach to the top of the 4 inch cake. The straws will act as a barrier between the metal stem and the cake. Use your creativity to design the cake!