Another birthday, another cake, but this one came out well, I was pleased with myself. Before I started I had visions of tilting turrets and crumblings crenellations (remember that word?) but the trick is bamboo skewers.I used a regular triple-layer yellow cake recipe, ran bamboo skewers down through the layers, impaled Hostess Ho Hos lengthwise on the exposed skewer and topped each Ho Ho off with a sugar ice cream cone. It held securely even against the gale-force winds of a five year-old blowing out her candles. Holy Ho Hos Batman!
The drawbridge is a graham cracker, the doorway and flags are cut from fruit leather. There are graham cracker sticks as windows, M&Ms around the bottom, Good 'n Plenty's around the top and Dots on the upper edge.
If you're going to have a castle cake for a little girl, better make it pink.
And here's another trick to decorating oddly-shaped children's cakes: freeze the pieces before frosting them. They'll hold their shape better and shed fewer crumbs.
Technorati tags: Wordless Wednesday, birthday cakes, castles, birthday parties
That is a great cake!
ReplyDeleteVery cool cake, Publix (regional grocery) does stuff like this now, but the homemade stuff is so much nicer.
ReplyDeletewow, what a beautiful cake!! Yum
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I bow to your cake decorating prowess. Very nicely done!
ReplyDeleteVery artistic and YUMMY cake!
ReplyDeleteHappy WW! :-)
Isabelle aka Tricotine
http://tricotine.typepad.com
Wow, that looks like heaven...but HELL to make. Great photo.
ReplyDeleteSkewers are a cake decorator's friend! I use them all the time in my 3-D cakes! Skewers and dowel rods.
ReplyDeleteOMG that is soo cute!! I love it and McKenzie is standing behind me ohhing and ahhing, that and asking me to make one for her now too....
ReplyDeleteGreat job. The cake is beautiful . Thanks for sharing and Happy WW.
ReplyDeleteSmiles,
Angel Mama():)
Really cute cake. Love the Twinkies on skewers idea.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I am going to show my sister who is the cake maker in the family. She's done some great ones--but never a castle. Love it.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to make my own cute cake like that. It sounds so easy but I'm sure mine wouldn't turn out as nice!
ReplyDeleteyou are very talented!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! I'll definitely have to remember the skewers trick.
ReplyDeleteLooks very original with the conses on top !
ReplyDeleteI love the freezing tip, I'll be sure to try it.
ReplyDeleteAnother tip I've heard is to frost a primer layer of frosting.
Beautiful cake!!! I wish I can make one like that.
ReplyDeleteI am SO impressed! My daughters wanted a cake like this for their birthdays, that they had seen in aphoto shot, but didn't know it was doable.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to mommy, and best birthday wishes to the birthday girl!
Bravo! Thats really great - I bet that gets a huge smile from the birthday baby! Happy WW, I played too.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! How did you get the drawbridge to stay put?
ReplyDeleteAnother fabulous cake! It's a great idea. (yet another, which I shall be stealing)
ReplyDelete:)
my husband said: "a kid would love to have that cake." I say: I would love to have that cake! It's absolutely beautiful, Michelle. Great job.
ReplyDeleteLove that cake, just might have to make that one...
ReplyDeleteGreat cake! I made a castle cake for my daughter's princess party seven years ago. Didn't have Ho-Hos on hand so I used small cans of V-8 juice. Pre-freezing is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done. Congrats. I've made several castle cakes myself, mostly for the twins. (Works for boys and girls too, as long as you DON'T use pink icing) I made two cakes--a bundt, and 2 loaf pans. (also this way each kid gets to choose a flavor) I cut the bundt in half and laid each in a rainbow shape, connected them with the loaf cakes, and then frosted the whole thing. If you can get choc cones for towers, that works nicely too. I used choc bars for windows since I can't get graham crackers, and either Easter grass or coloured sugar for the platter.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! I love the ice cream cone turrets.
ReplyDeleteLoved it: Holy Hos Hos Batman!! Wish I were witty enough to have a comeback!!
ReplyDeleteOh, it is a great looking pink castle cake ;)
I use skewers even for a regular layer cake. It makes it so much more secure to frost.
ReplyDeleteCutest cake ever. ;) Can I eat a hoho?
ReplyDeleteI love that - what a great idea. My kids are older but my sister usually has me do her kids cakes and I can definitley use this idea for her daughter's 5th birthday. So far I've done a couple of barbie cakes and a dump truck cake for my nephew.
ReplyDeleteLove the freezing tip! I'm doing a cake for my son's grad party and I need to cut the cake in order to put custard inside. Do you think freezing would help that? Last time I did it, I had to cut the top piece in half so it wouldn't break before I could put the custard in between the layers.
Very cool cake. I could never do something like that. Good job!
ReplyDeleteWhere were you last year when I attempted one of these on my own? Ugh. It did not turn out as darling as yours. Will try that one next year for sure. As I'm sure the princess will no doubt beg for another castle cake. Because she is just mean that way.
ReplyDeleteThat looks awesome!! I want some:)
ReplyDeleteIt's perfect. Thanks for the tips (ho hos and bamboo sticks).
ReplyDeleteI wish someone would make me a cake like that!
ReplyDeleteLove it! - bet she was pleased :D
ReplyDeleteHoly MOSES!! Now THAT is a cake! Nice work, woman. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteGah! You and your beautiful cakes! You set the cake bar so HIGH, friend.
ReplyDeleteOMIGOSH. YOU MADE THAT!? And, you ate it? Tell me the icing tastes like strawberries? Yum.... Or that it tastes like those really sugary icings...? mmmmm.... Salivating.... And, it's GORJ!!! Look at you! I'm WAY impressed.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I had to click away quickly before my kids saw that :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, that is a FANCY cake! it will take quicker to eat it than it took to make it!
ReplyDeleteCute, cute, cute!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a little girl. :)
how adorable! so much work must have gone into that masterpiece! looks too beautiful to eat!
ReplyDeleteOh, you with the cakes. It's good. Very good.
ReplyDeleteI SO needed this post back in January!
ReplyDeletewow, my daughters would love this!
ReplyDeletewow, my daughters would love this!
ReplyDeleteooops!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeletethat is adorable
ReplyDeletei feel like living there! ;)
ReplyDeleteAWESOME!!
ReplyDeleteYou are one good mommy! My Lego cake for A's birthday was a mess; shoulda stuck it in the freezer first. How hard is it to mess up a rectangular cake? Pretty darned easy!
ReplyDeleteThat cake is wonderful! I always struggle with getting it to all stick together and I love your idea to freeze it first. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteOn another note...I found your post and thought I’d reach out to say hello and ask if you’d like to receive a free Maya & Miguel DVD. If you’d like to receive the DVD just email me at Kerri at boldmouth.com with your address and I’ll have it shipped it out to you.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with Maya & Miguel, a show on PBS in the afternoons -- http://pbskidsgo.org/mayaandmiguel -- that emphasizes cultural diversity and language learning but I’m reaching out to talk to parents about the program as part of a marketing project I’m working on with Scholastic.
If you do choose to blog about Maya & Miguel show or episodes on the DVD, please make it clear how you received the information. Our goal is to be open and honest with everyone we reach.
Kerri Roberts, BoldMouth
Oh, I wish PunditGirl was still in that phase ... that's a GREAT cake!
ReplyDeleteNice job!
ReplyDeleteFound your cake one a Google search of "castle cake"; of all the cake ideas that came up, yours struck me as the most original/doable/interesting-
ReplyDeletelooking/fun! Thanks for the frozen cake and skewers ideas - I'll definitely remember them! Love the creative use of HoHos
pretty! yum yum!
ReplyDeleteWow - very cute - I am really impressed!
ReplyDelete