All about Cakes

I had a wonderful time making the birthday cakes for my nieces combine birthdays. This new found hobby is lots of fun but I am quickly learning how pricey and time consuming it can be. You just can’t rush this! Or, I’m just slow. Nevertheless it is bunches of fun and I can’t wait until the next one I do. I have some friends who also like to play around with cake decorating so I had them over for a cake decorating party. Gaining experience is, as with most things, how you get better. Practice, practice, practice. However I don’t have the money to be making cakes for no reason every week and I also don’t want them at my house because yes, skinny ol’ me would eat every last piece. (Working on the self control department there.) Anywho, to avoid these problems when we have cause to get together and make a cake we do. We call it “Cakes for Causes”. Catchy, I know! This cause was a birthday party and a princess and a strawberry shortcake cake were on the menu. I had a blast looking at cakes on line and getting a billion ideas. I love online tutorials! I have always claimed to be a non creative person on every level. I still claim this and I am ok with it but I wanted really bad to be creative. I have discovered I am quite good at being a copy cat in many areas and it has been so much fun!


So here is the cake run down:

I used this pan to bake the cake in. I bought it in the glassware section at wal-mart. I looked up the brand online and came to the conclusion that I thought it was oven safe. The only way to know for sure...put it in the oven. There were no explosions or cracking so I’m going with…it’s oven safe enough for me. It was a bit challenging to get the middle done without over cooking the outside. I was afraid the middle would be to gooey but it was perfect, moist, and delicious!

 I also made one small (I think 6inch) round cake to add height to the dress.

I make the fondant using this recipe http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm. It is better to let it sit overnight for sure and sifting the sugar is also key in my, oh so unprofessional opinion.
Under the fondant I put a thin layer of butter cream. This is good for two reasons. 1.) It works like an adhesive for the fondant and B.) The fondant is really sweet and not that tasty. Most people just peel it off the cake like the peel of an orange. It comes right off but they still have some yummy icing to be the…well...icing on the cake. Hehe.

I undressed the doll and then wrapped her in swaddling clothes, err plastic wrap, to protect sensitive body parts. Seriously how rude to put a nude doll in the cake. Sheesh, that would be a horrible childhood memory for a four year old! I cut a small hole in the cake before covering it with fondant. Then I put on the rolled out fondant and sliced and “X” where the hole in the cake was. After that I stuck the doll inside the cake and began to mold the fondant to look like a flowing gown. One of my great assistants made the extra doll decor.

The back of the pretty little princess.

As for the strawberry shortcake I did nothing more than have the idea and bake the cakes. My other sidekick was the total skill behind this one. I baked two 9inch rounds then we stacked them with icing in between and all around. I had printed a picture of strawberry shortcake and we (meaning she, but I would love to get in on part of the credit) placed the paper on the cake then traced it with icing. After that it was sheer talent of looking at the picture and copying it to the cake. This was done with buttercream icing. Homemade of course!

She looks a little spooky here without any eyeballs!

  

The strawberry on the hat was made out of fondant. I do believe my friend did an amazing job and I am not sure if I could achieve such excellence…but I can’t wait to find out! Maybe next time we have a cause to make a cake I shall give it a whirl!

So yeah, that is pretty much it. Two successful cakes, for which I was very grateful, two INCREDIBLE helper friends, for which I was VERY grateful, and two happy nieces, which made me smile.

A good days work put behind me.

Rachael