October 10, 2020

Toilet Paper Cake

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Toilet Paper Cake

October 10: National Cake Decorating Day

COVID-19 stinks! The global pandemic ruined many celebration plans so Islander wanted to make those “crappy” birthdays happy. She made this fake toilet paper cake for her friend, Karen B., renaming her “Karen-ovirus” on the quarantine birthday signs she also designed for the social distance celebration.

Islander picked up a real cake, a Japanese cream roll, from their mutual friend, Yukiko H., (who was pregnant at the time), at curbside, then drove to Karen’s house where her husband Ken allowed her inside their dining room to quickly decorate in a black and yellow motif, complete with caution tape, disinfecting wipes and real toilet paper. They sat on the opposite sides of the dining room, more than six feet apart, while Ken and Islander sang through their masks “crappy birthday” to Karen. She then fanned the flames from the candles—no blowing them out to prevent droplets—so everyone can eat Yukiko’s cake (she texted Karen her birthday wishes safely from home). After Karen opened her gifts from the quarantine-labeled bags, the “party” was over within half an hour. It was a short but sweet—and safe—social distance celebration.

How heartwarming it was to see a friend after several weeks in lockdown. But until there is a vaccine for COVID-19, we must continue to abide by CDC guidelines and help “flatten the curve”. When it is safe to socialize once again, then that will be a celebration in itself!

For now, make an easy toilet paper cake and learn a sugar arts skill during quarantine and on National Cake Decorating Day!

Recipe

Ingredients

  • White fondant
  • Black or dark brown fondant
  • Powdered sugar (for dusting the work surface)
  • Vegetable shortening
  • Water

Materials 

  • Styrofoam cake dummy (5 inches in diameter and 6 inches tall)
  • Black cake board (10 inches)
  • Rolling pin
  • Ruler
  • Nested circle cutters
  • Paint brush or water tube brush
  • Fondant cutter/embosser tool
  • Duct tape
  • Yellow alphabet stickers

Directions

Prepare a clean work surface and dust with powdered sugar. Knead and roll out white fondant about 1/8 inch thick. Use a 5-inch round cutter for the top of the toilet paper cake. Use a 1 ¼ inch round cutter to make a hole in the middle. Set aside and keep covered to prevent the fondant from drying out.

Knead and roll out a more fondant about 1/8 inch thick. Roll a long piece to cover the sides of the styrofoam (we rolled approximately 17-18 inches long), allowing for overhang. Use a ruler and cut 6 inches wide to fit the height of the styrofoam. Smear vegetable shortening on the sides of the styrofoam. Roll it on the fondant and smooth it down to stick.

Turn the styrofoam right side up. Use a water brush to attach the end of the fondant to the other, allowing a little bit of the fondant to drape down (we forgot to “square off the end” and left it rounded). Use a fondant embosser tool and a ruler to create perforated lines on the sides. Knead and roll out a small piece of black or dark brown fondant about 1/8 inch thick. Use a 1 ¼ inch circle cutter to fill the hole of the 5-inch white fondant circle.

Smear a little vegetable shortening on top of the styrofoam. Press the white fondant circle on top and then the middle black/dark brown circle in the middle. Smooth out all sides of the fondant with fingers dipped in powdered sugar. Using nested cutters, lightly press rounds on top to create texture. Place a piece of duct tape under the finished styrofoam and position it on the black cake board. Brush a little water underneath the overhanging fondant to stick to the board. Use yellow alphabet stickers to spell out a message. Surround the finish piece with real toilet paper and empty rolls.

Notes

  • Instead of a styrofoam cake dummy, bake a real cake using 3-4 round layers about 5-6 inches in diameter. Frost and fill between the layers and crumb coat the sides with vanilla icing before applying the fondant.

  • Islander was fortunate that she had all the cake decorating supplies already. Some were gifts from friends, others were already purchased from the shops and the rest were swag bag samples from the sugar arts shows that she had attended pre-covid. This toilet paper cake was meant to be a fun project to try during quarantine.

  • Search our blog for other cake decorating ideas.

 

 

October 10, 2014

Ruffle Cake

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Ruffle Cake

Ruffle Cake

October 10: National Cake Decorating Day

Islander is a member of the local cake club where she learns different decorating techniques using buttercream or whipped frosting, royal icing, gum paste and rolled fondant. Although the latter produces pretty yet pricier results on a cake, Islander still likes buttercream better. But sometimes it gets boring, so she experiments with different decorating designs once in a while.

At one cake club meeting, Islander learned how to pipe ruffles vertically and horizontally on the sides and top of a cake. She simply used a petal tip (Wilton 104) two different ways to give a cake a textured look. With a little practice, even those who do not have much cake decorating experience may be able to do this project.

Make a cake go from boring to beautiful and try a ruffle technique on National Cake Decorating Day.

Recipe

For the vertical buttercream ruffle cake

  • 3-4 round cake layers, favorite flavor
  • Buttercream frosting (enough to cover the cakes)

Directions

Bake and cool the cakes. Smear a bit of buttercream on the bottom of a cake board as an adhesive. Place one of the cake layers on the cake board. Generously spread frosting on this layer allowing some to overflow to the side of the cake. Place another cake on top of this layer. Continue layering the cakes, then crumb-coating the sides and tops. Cool to set.

Ruffle Cake

Using a petal tip (Wilton 104), pipe down with the wider end in the back and the narrow end in front. Make a back and forth motion no larger than an inch, layering zigzags of buttercream from the bottom to the top of the side of the cake. Pipe another column of ruffles next to the first one. Continue piping columns of ruffles until the side of the cake is covered.

Ruffle Cake

On top of the cake, starting from the outside and working toward the center, with the wider end of the tip facing opposite of you and the narrow end of the tip facing toward you, loosely pipe in a back and forth motion while rotating the cake turntable in the opposite direction. Continue piping the top ruffles until you reach the center. Let set before placing decorations/silk flowers on top of the cake.

Ruffle Cake

For the horizontal buttercream ruffle cake

  • 2-3 round cake layers, favorite flavor
  • Buttercream frosting (enough to cover the cakes)

Ruffle Cake

Directions

As described above, crumb coat the cake.

Ruffle Cake

Using a petal tip (Wilton 104), start at the top edge of the cake with the wider end toward the bottom and the narrow end toward the top. Make a back and forth motion to make the ruffles while turning the cake in the opposite direction. Pipe another row of ruffles beneath it. Continue piping rows of ruffles until the side of the cake is covered.

Ruffle Cake

On top of the cake, starting from the outside and working toward the center, with the wider end of the tip at the bottom and narrow end at the top, pipe in a back and forth motion while rotating the cake in the opposite direction. Continue piping the top ruffles until you reach the center. Let set before placing decorations/ silk flowers on top of the cake.

Ruffle Cake

Notes

  • Thanks to Suzy Z., a Wilton cake decorating instructor and talented cake artist, for demonstrating how to do the horizontal ruffle technique.
  • Substitute buttercream with a stabilized whipped cream frosting for a lighter weight cake.
  • Taller cakes (at least triple layers) show off the buttercream ruffles better.
  • Search our blog for more tutorials on cake decorating.
 

October 10, 2013

Petal Cake

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Petal Cake

Petal Cake

October 10: National Cake Decorating Day

Although Islander has taken cake decorating classes from the Wilton headquarters in Illinois, she does not consider herself an expert like the professionals in her local cake club in Texas. But she likes to learn new techniques from the more advanced members and decided to try making a petal cake herself for National Cake Decorating Day.

This blog post focuses not on a recipe but on a frosting technique. Islander baked a three-layered cake as a taller display works best to showcase the petals. After crumb-coating it, she used a large, round tip to pipe dots down the side of the cake. Then she got into a rhythm of using a spatula to swipe the petal design, piping dots and swiping with the spatula again and finishing the back of the cake with dots. She repeated this technique on the top of the cake, starting from the outside and working her way toward the center.

Frosting a layered cake in a petal design is a simple yet impressive way to decorate a cake. Try this technique for a birthday, anniversary or other special event and especially for National Cake Decorating Day.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 3 8-inch round cake layers (any flavor)
  • Whipped cream or buttercream frosting (enough to cover the cake)

Directions

Frost the cakes and stack the layers. Crumb coat. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to set.

Petal Cake

Pipe some dots down the side of the cake using a large round tip. Gently use a spatula to swipe lightly in one direction, wiping the spatula blade clean each time so the frosting does not stick. Move about half an inch over and pipe more dots. Use the spatula to swipe in the same direction as the others. Repeat until the entire side of the cake is done.

Petal Cake

End the back of the petal sides with dots. Pipe the top of the cake in the same manner, beginning from the outer edge. Pipe a dot, swipe it with a spatula, repeat towards the center of the cake and end with a dot in the middle. Refrigerate to set the frosting. Garnish with fresh fruits or candles.

Petal Cake

Notes

  • For this particular post about our petal cake, we made a strawberry-and-whipped cream cake and topped it with a trio of fresh strawberries. We just used a boxed strawberry cake mix and Cool Whip frosting for something fast and fabulous.
  • For another frosting technique, try decorating a layered cake with rosettes. See our photo tutorial here.
 

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