If you've never tried to bake and decorate a cake for a four year old, you haven't lived...said with tongue firmly in cheek.
I dabble in a bit of cake decorating now and again, mostly for my daughter and granddaughters.
Each year, they ask for something that usually, at first glance, appears beyond my capability. But hey. Google and Pinterest and Bloggers are your friend, right?
So when my now four year old Granddaughter requested not one, but two cakes...a Frozen (as in the Disney animated film, not icecream) cake, and a rainbow cake, I had my work cut out for me!
I found Chica & Jo on Pinterest, and pretty much slavisly copied their idea for the Frozen cake. Thankyou ladies.
I was very happy with the result, pictured above and below, but I wished I'd added a touch more blue to the toffee and buttercream. It should have been turquoise, but it turned out more 'mint'. It's okay. My darling girl was thrilled to bits anyway. Lit with candles, it was an absolute picture!
It's a four layer vanilla butter cake, sandwiched with buttercream, and iced with the same. The snowflakes, I made freehand with melted white chocolate. I just spooned melted buds into a ziplock bag, snipped off a teen corner, and drew fairly substantial squiggles to form the star/snowflake shapes. They were left to harden on baking paper, and carefully applied to the buttercream icing once done.
The staircase was sourced at a Cake Decorating Supplier. These are traditionally used for those gigantic wedding cakes where the layers are connected by the stairs, much like bridges. It was under $15.
The toffee 'Ice Palace' was formed by making a traditional sugar-water toffee, tinting it, and pouring into a cookie sheet lined with baking paper. Once hardened, I carefully broke it into long pointed shards, arranging them like Elsas Ice Palace on the top of the cake. I painted them with silver edible pearl dust to give them some shimmer.
An Elsa figurine finished the cake, and it certainly looked very 'Disney'!
Cake number two was meant to be a very sedate affair as you see here.
A pretty, but fairly plain looking ivory iced cake, dusted with edible gold glitter (thankyou to my lovely friend Annabel for the edible glitter and the vellum wrapped around the cake!), tied with lemon organza ribbon, and topped with some dried Colombian roses.
But inside....a surprise!
This was done by dividing the cake batter into four bowls, and tinting each a different electric colour. The four colours were then added in layers to the prepared cake tin, as below, and baked as normal.
The urge to cut into the cake to see the result was overwhelming but I resisted...lol!
My Little Miss was thrilled with both cakes, and again, it just goes to show, that a cake baked by a beloved parent, grandparent, sister, brother, or other person of significance, will be loved with all it's imperfections! It doesn't have to be perfect, to be memorable.
You can do it too!
...Mimi...
Dear Mimi, What absolutely beautiful cakes you made. I can imagine how excited your granddaughter was. The rainbow cake looked delicious. Best wishes Lyn
ReplyDeleteBoth your cakes were lovely! Your grandchildren are so blessed to have you as their grandmother. I'm thinking I will follow your lead and make a multicolored cake as a surprise for my grandsons. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other comments, beautiful! and Im sure my 4 yr old grandson and 2+ grnad daughter would love both cakes :-) Love Maria xx
ReplyDeleteHi Mimi
ReplyDeleteWell if only you were at my house to hear the "ohh and ahh, what pretty cakes they are mummy". DD5 is seriously in love with both the Frozen and Rainbow cake and has already asked which one I will be making for her birthday...................hmmmmm
The cakes all look stunning and better than any shop bought cake I have ever seen. Recently I saw a bakery cake of Frozen and it was basically a transfer on top on the cake and cost a fortune.
I can only imagine how excited you Grandaughter was. Job well done
Aly xxx
Granddaughters are special little people Mimi
ReplyDeleteNow I regret getting rid of my staircases! You did a lovely job with the cakes and I can appreciate all of the work that went into them. We would love for you to share this at Celebrate Your Story link party. Here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thesweetsensations.com/welcome-to-celebrate-your-story-link-party/. Hope to see you there!
The cake is sweet, Mimi! I know a little someone who would love it! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Sandi
Oh, my goodness! I love them both! The ice palace is brilliantly done. I'd have been a nervous wreck working with the toffee.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Leigh
Both cakes are wonderful, Mimi! My grandgirls love Frozen too. I understand another Frozen movie is in the works, so I suppose there will be a whole new frenzy about that! Our whole family is very much in to Disney and we love visiting Walt Disney World so, needless to say, we do a lot of Disney celebrations too!
ReplyDeleteRgar i just adorable! Both of them are, I loved that when you cut it open it has such vibrant color in it. Makes me want to stab it with my fork. lol
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
Your cakes are just too fun! I'm not a grandma yet, but I don't think I could do what you do. I hope my grandchildren will be content with cupcakes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for Sharing Your Cup!
Mimi, I love the cakes. I watched Frozen again on Sunday. It was good. I like the shards of transparent colored ice. The best was the surprise in the second cake. Sylvia D.
ReplyDeleteYour cakes are so nice Mimi! I love the multi color inside.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining and sharing at Cooking and Crafting with J & J.
Wow! My elder daughter won't eat cake, unless it's ice cream, so I hope I never need to show my terrible baking skills!
ReplyDeleteSo nice to see you. I let my SS membership lapse but did think twice about it since I would miss your posts. So glad to find your blog. 'Dragon'
Wow, wow, WOW! What a fantastic cake, my friend! And I bet it tasted oh-so-good :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with Roses of Inspiration. Love to you!
What fun cakes! Your creativity is inspiring! Thank you for linking with the Art of Home-Making Mondays! :)
ReplyDeleteSo cute! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
What a lucky girl to have two gorgeous cakes. I love the Frozen inspired one, you have done such a good job here. But I adore the rainbow one. I have seen people make these before and they are so amazing. I love the way you wouldn't know until you cut into it. I'd love to give it a try, but I don't bake as often as I should!
ReplyDeleteSally @ Life Loving
#LifeLovingLinkie
This post has been pinned to our Thursday Favorite Things group board.
ReplyDeleteShellie
www.thefabjourney.com
Great cakes! Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!
ReplyDelete