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Home » Galaxy Cake Recipe Everyone’s Obsessed With – It Actually Looks Like Outer Space

Galaxy Cake Recipe Everyone’s Obsessed With – It Actually Looks Like Outer Space

The viral galaxy cake recipe with mirror glaze that went nuclear on TikTok in 2024–2025. Inside: full recipe, pro tips, and why your phone eats first.

I need you to stop scrolling for three seconds and picture this: You slice into a perfectly normal-looking chocolate cake. Then the knife hits the center and it’s like someone poured the Milky Way straight into your dessert. Swirls of deep purple, electric blue, bright pink, and shimmering silver spill out. Gold leaf floats on top like tiny stars. Your entire family gasps. Your phone flashlight comes out before anyone even grabs a fork. That, my friend, is the galaxy cake recipe that broke the internet.

And yes, I tried it. Three times. The first one looked like a toddler finger-painted with food coloring. The third one? Got 2.4 million views on Reels and my nephew still calls me “Space Aunt.” Here’s exactly how it happened (and how you can do it too without losing your mind).

Table of Contents

How the Galaxy Cake Recipe Took Over Your Feed in 2024

It started with one Turkish baker named Tuba Geçkil (@tuba.geckil on Instagram) back in 2016, but the real explosion hit in late 2023 when Korean cake artist @koalipops posted a reel slicing a galaxy mirror cake while “Interstellar” played in the background. 187 million views in a week. TikTok’s algorithm said “hold my glitter” and suddenly every baker with a phone was trying the galaxy cake recipe.

By summer 2024, #GalaxyCake had 4.8 billion views. Brides wanted galaxy wedding cakes. Kids demanded galaxy birthday cakes. Someone even made a galaxy gender-reveal cake (blue and pink nebula inside, obviously). The mirror glaze trend went from “fancy” to “if your cake doesn’t look like deep space, why bother?”

The Secret Behind That Insane Mirror Glaze (It’s Easier Than It Looks)

The magic isn’t the cake itself (though we’ll get to that). It’s the mirror glaze. That glass-smooth, galaxy-swirled topping that reflects your shocked face right back at you.

Here’s what 99 % of the viral galaxy cake recipes use:

  • Sweetened condensed milk
  • White chocolate
  • Gelatin
  • Gel food coloring (Chefmaster or Americolor – the cheap stuff turns muddy)
  • Edible glitter and gold leaf for the “stars”

The glaze gets poured at exactly 32–35 °C (90–95 °F). Too hot = runny disaster. Too cold = lumpy nightmare. Every pro baker I talked to said the same thing: buy a $12 digital thermometer or cry into your failed glaze.

My Step-by-Step Galaxy Cake Recipe (Tested Until My Kitchen Looked Like a Nebula)

I combined the three most-liked galaxy cake recipes on TikTok (from @koalipops, @sugargeekshow, and @joshuaweissman) and made it dummy-proof.

The Cake Layers (use 3 x 6-inch pans)

  • 2 boxes devil’s food cake mix (yes, really – the dark color makes the galaxy pop)
  • Replace water with buttermilk
  • Add 1 extra egg
  • Swap oil for melted butter (double it
  • Bake at 160 °C (325 °F) for 35–40 mins

The Buttercream (you need it bright white)

  • 500 g unsalted butter (room temp)
  • 1 kg powdered sugar
  • 100 ml heavy cream
  • 2 tsp clear vanilla
  • Pinch of salt Beat until it hurts your arm.

The Mirror Glaze (make this the day you pour)

  • 12 g gelatin powder + 60 ml cold water (bloom it)
  • 150 ml water
  • 300 g sugar
  • 300 g glucose syrup or corn syrup
  • 200 g sweetened condensed milk
  • 300 g white chocolate (chopped fine)
  • Black, navy, purple, pink, teal gel colors
  • Edible glitter + gold leaf

Steps:

  1. Heat water + sugar + glucose to 103 °C (217 °F)
  2. Pour over condensed milk + bloomed gelatin + white chocolate
  3. Blend with immersion blender (keep it tilted so you don’t add air bubbles)
  4. Split into bowls, color wildly
  5. Cool to 33 °C (92 °F)
  6. Pour in random order over frozen cake on a rack (catch drips underneath)

Pro Tips I Learned the Hard Way So You Don’t Have To

  • Freeze the frosted cake overnight. Warm cake = glaze slides right off.
  • Use a turntable and pour from at least 30 cm high for perfect drips.
  • If bubbles appear, torch them gently or accept them as “stars.”
  • Work in a cool room. I tried in summer with no AC. Glaze melted faster than my will to live.
  • Want sharper swirls? Drizzle contrasting colors with a spoon right before the final pour.

The Viral Galaxy Cake Moments That Made Me Scream

  • That Australian baker who made a galaxy cake with an edible glass dome on top (43 million views).
  • The gender reveal where they cut it and actual glitter exploded out (don’t do this indoors).
  • Joshua Weissman’s “$2 vs $200 galaxy cake” video where the $2 version honestly looked better.
  • The Korean wedding with a 5-tier galaxy cake taller than the bride.
  • My personal favorite: a grandma’s 80th birthday galaxy cake. She cried. Everyone cried. 12 million likes.

Why We’re All Addicted to Galaxy Cakes in 2025

It’s not just pretty. Cutting into something that looks boring on the outside and revealing an entire universe inside? That hits different. In a world that feels chaotic, people want magic they can eat. The galaxy cake recipe delivers.

Plus, let’s be honest: it photographs like a dream. Your friends don’t care about your sourdough anymore. They want to see space in dessert form.

Common Galaxy Cake Fails (and How to Fix Them)

  • Glaze looks dull → you poured too cold
  • Colors turned brown → cheap food coloring or overheated chocolate
  • Cake shows through → buttercream not smooth and white enough
  • Glaze cracked → cake wasn’t frozen solid
  • Too many bubbles → blended wrong angle or didn’t strain

Every single pro on Instagram has posted their fail reel. You’re in good company.

Where the Trend Is Going in Late 2025

Bakers are already leveling up:

  • Holographic glaze (it changes color when you move)
  • Galaxy cheesecake (no-bake version going viral right now)
  • Mini galaxy cupcakes with injectable glaze centers
  • Black cocoa galaxy cakes (void of space vibes)

I’ve seen rumors of a galaxy croissant next. Pray for us all.

Final Slice

I used to think fancy cakes were for people with too much time and money. Then I made my first galaxy cake. My brother-in-law took one look, whispered “holy crap,” and immediately FaceTimed his girlfriend to propose under it (she said yes).

That’s the power of this stupidly beautiful galaxy cake recipe. There’s nothing ordinary about slicing into a cake and watching an entire galaxy spill onto the plate. That moment turns dessert into theater. You feel the joy before you even take a bite. And when someone’s jaw actually drops? All four extra hours, the purple-stained sink, and the $60 worth of white chocolate suddenly feel like the best money you’ve ever spent.

So yeah, your kitchen will look like a crime scene. Your sink will be purple for a week. But when you cut that first slice and the galaxy spills out? You’ll get it.

Now go preheat your oven. The universe is waiting.