Thursday, August 27, 2015

Frozen Party: Birthday Cakes!





I'm back today with a bakery update from Baby Girl's Frozen themed birthday party.  
Come in and have some kitchen fun!



My Instructions

Now let me tell you, never before have I been so nervous to make a birthday cake!  What was different this time you ask?  My instructions, that's what.  Not only did Baby Girl request a five layer cake (gulp!)  but she also drew up this 'schedule' for how she wanted it to look!

Now I knew I could probably manage the five layers as long as I made them with small cake pans, and the snowflakes would be easy since we had already found a ton in our treasure hunting haul.  The sprinkles were also non-threatening, but writing Frozen out in icing?  Nope, I do not currently possess those skills!  Baby Girl didn't mind though, especially since we found a few other cute things to add to the cake.

(You can click here to see the treasure hunting haul post)




Mixes

Since I was going to be baking several layers, I purchased a couple of mixes.  The cake was Duncan Hines French Vanilla and the icing was Pilsbury Fluffy frost in marshmallow flavor.



Cake Decor

Top:  Candy sprinkles and a sparkly #6 from Wal-Mart.  The beads and plastic snowflake are from our treasure hunting haul.

Bottom:  The star/ numeral candle pack and the Frozen figurines were all found at Dollar Tree.

(You can click here to read the Dollar Tree decor post)



Pans & Glassware

I used several pans for this cake, ranging from standard size round to miniature.

The glassware pictured is a round plate, tiered cupcake stand and a miniature cake dome.



Icing

The icing had to be blue, of course!



Layers

***Ok bear with me, my photos are slightly out of order in this collage (shudder!)***
Read the text below to learn what size cake pan I used and in what order.

Top Left:  One standard round layer topped with icing.

Top Right:  I added a second standard round layer with a bit more icing.  Remember, not only is icing between your layers pretty, but it acts a a 'glue' to hold everything in place.

Middle Right: Here is where I added one snowflake shaped layer.  I took the photo without the icing to help show the snowflake detailing.  Once iced it can look kind of like a blob but don't worry, the detailing that is added later will fix everything right up!  

Middle Left:  One 3" layer.

Bottom Left:  One 2' layer.

Bottom Right:  Complete with icing.



Beading

Remember those plastic beads I found for $1?  After sanitizing them in the dishwasher I used them to highlight the different layers of the cake.

This was a really simple process, I started at the bottom with the darkest shade of blue and worked my way up.  I also made sure to gently push the beads into the icing so that they wouldn't fall off.

You can see how the beading helps to visually define the different layers, especially the snowflake.



Snowflake Time!

These snowflakes also received a through scrubbing to make them food safe.  Once clean I attached a large one at the back by sticking one of the snowflake's 'arms' directly into the cake.  A couple of toothpicks helped to keep it from falling backward. 

I wanted a smaller snowflake for the front so I snapped off most of the longer arms.  I left one long arm remaining and used it to anchor the snowflake into the front of the cake.



Frozen Friends

After the snowflakes it was time to add our Frozen figurines!

Olaf was really easy, I just stuck his little feet into the top of the cake.

Elsa was also easy, her cape fit right over a couple of toothpicks that I stuck into the cake.

Kristoff was a bit harder, I ended up taping a toothpick to the back of his legs.

Anna was the most challenging (go figure, it's her personality!).  She has a solid angled base so taping any toothpicks would have looked funny.  I ended up just positioning her on the glass plate very close to the cake.



The Completed Cake

A few blue sprinkle candies and a sparkly number 6 finished off the cake.  

I breathed a great big sigh of relief and then popped it into the freezer!  Once the icing was good and frozen, I covered it with plastic wrap and kept it in the freezer until party time.



Mini Cake

I always make the kids an individual cake as well.  This one was layered to match the larger cake.  Personally, I would rather have had a blue #6, but this is what Baby Girl really wanted ;)

The candle pack came with a red star also, but I saved it to add to the cake I will be making for Baby Girl's actual birthday.

***********

And now.....it's cupcake time!



Icing & Mix

The cupcakes were made with a Betty Crocker lemon mix and vanilla Funfetti icing.

Tip:  I didn't need the included sprinkles for this party, but I always choose icing with free sprinkles if possible.  I add them to my stash and use them for topping smoothies, sundaes, Baby Girl's school lunch yogurt and sometimes, even other cakes!  :D



Blizzard Mix

Here are the sprinkles that I bought for these cupcakes, I love the little snowflakes!  This blizzard mix was a Wal-Mart find.

Since I had blue sprinkle candies left over from the big cake, I used some of them as well.  You will see that in the finished cupcake photo below.



Tins & Liners

A standard set of muffin tins and my white silicone liners were all I needed to create these cupcakes.

Sad News:  I lost one of my white silicone liners!  Of all the parties they have attended the past few years, one of them didn't make it back home  :( 

I've got my eye out for more though! ;)



Cupcakes!

Here you can see the mix of cupcakes that I ended up with.  I was glad to have so many of the larger sprinkles left over, I think the combination of sprinkles looks much better!

Those were our party treats, I hope you enjoyed the post.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

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