Welcome to yet again another installment of Betty Rocker where I toot my own horn about my amateurish cake baking skills. I have never thought of myself as domestic in the 'cake baking mom' sense of the word but I guess all the hours of reality cake baking shows I watched are finally paying off. Everyone always says the same thing, "You should open your own business!", and they say it with such enthusiasm as if I hadn't thought of that by now. Alas I am not even entertaining that thought ...just yet. But on to the cake I made.
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| Boba Cat |
A Star Wars Hello Kitty cake; Boba Cat to be exact. I got this idea from the recipient's Facebook profile picture. Well here let me back it up; I was throwing my son's 3rd birthday party and was getting comments left and right on the Kipper cake me and my husband worked on together. Missy, the friend whom I made the kitty cake for, lit up with great delight as she asked the question, "Will you make me a Star Wars Cake?" NOW we're talkin!
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| Kipper cake |
I immediately started thinking about star wars cake possibilities. I could do a scene from one of the movies! No, too complicated for my skill level plus too time consuming. A death star! No, too ..played. R2D2? No, that would be expected. Then as I was on Facebook and saw her Hello Kitty Boba Fett profile pic and I knew it was easy and personal to her...perfect!
I used pound cake this time since I knew I would be doing some carving of the helmet, butter cream frosting, and marshmallow fondant. I baked two 6x3 cakes the night before to allow plenty of setting time. When the cake is cold and firm, it's much easier to cut and carve as opposed to a hot moist right out of the oven cake.
To start, I cut the crown off one of the rounds so that one would sit on top the other without wobbling. Next I spread a thin layer of butter cream frosting atop the round I just cut and set the un-cut round on top of that. I then had a stacked cake, yay! Frosting the entire cake with a butter cream frosting can be overwhelming when it's finally time to eat it so I was careful not to spread it too thick...this time around. Ask the people in attendance of my first cake...I'm pretty sure everyone left completely drunk on sugar. The next part is applying the fondant. I mix marshmallow and confectioner's sugar until I get the right consistency. Add a little vanilla for flavor and a very small quarter size dollop of shortening. Sorry I don't use a recipe for this! I used to but ..meh. So after I mix it up I ask my wonderful supportive husband to mix in the color and roll it out. I must say he's great at this!
From here I covered the cake in green and molded two ears out of the same green. Using toothpicks and some water, I stuck and glued the ears in place. Adding the visor was super easy. I just cut the red part first and set it in place using water; then I cut and applied the black visor onto the red. The bow was as easy as cutting two long diamond shapes, folding them in half and putting them end to end then adding a quarter sized flattened ball for the middle part. Before I knew it the cake was complete!
My one regret with this cake is that I ran out of time to make his cool helmet attachment. Oh well...next time.
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| making black fondant is one of the hardest colors to achieve |
