Mermaid Party Baking - Layer Cake

Welcome back for our mermaid party baking details!  

Today I'm sharing all about these beautiful purple and blue layer cakes:

Supplies

For these cakes I used two boxes of Betty Crocker vanilla cake mix, two containers of Funfetti purple icing, one container of  Betty Crocker blue cupcake icing and a selection of colorful sprinkles.

Note:  At this point I wasn't sure if I would use the colorful sprinkles or the metallic, but I like to have everything on hand when I start.  I find that when things are within my sight it helps me to visualize the creative possibilities.

Tip:  I knew I wouldn't be using the sprinkles that are attached to the Funfetti icing containers, but purchased them anyway for the ready to go purple color of the icing.  I find that this is a great way to build up your stash of on-hand sprinkles for times when the kids want to play/ decorate and you don't want to bust out your best stock 😉

Pans

My daughter requested that this time her cake have three layers of colors arranged in a gradient from darkest to lightest, so I used three round pans for each of the cakes.

Tip:  I like to spray my pans heavily with non-stick spray so that the cakes come out easily once baked.

Food Coloring

Once the batter was mixed I divided it into three bowls.  In the first bowl I put 20 drops of purple, in the second bowl I used 10 drops of purple and in the final bowl I used 20 drops of the blue.  This ended up creating two shades of purple and one shade of blue.

Divide & Bake

Once I was satisfied with the shades of color I divided the batter between the six pans, making sure that each size of pan got one of the colors.

Layers of Color

Starting with the mini cake first, I layered the cake going from darkest to lightest starting at the bottom.  You could do this in reverse in you choose, but visually it makes sense to have darker (heavier) shades at the bottom.

In keeping with the under the sea mermaid theme, I chose to use my Jadeite colored cake stands for this party.  You can read more about these by clicking  here.

'Crumb Layer'

Now hear is a total game changer.  I was over at Just a Girl and her Blog by Abby Lawson when I came across this cake baking post.  In it she describes applying a 'crumb layer' to a cake before completely icing it.  

What does that mean?  Well you know how often times when you first start to ice your freshly baked cakes a bit of the surface will pull up creating a mess of crumbs?  Well if you gently apply a thin layer of icing and then pop the cake into the fridge or freezer, the icing will 'seal' the cake.  Then you can apply the rest of your icing without having to deal with all of the annoying mess.  Abby recommends using the fridge overnight or at least for a few hours.  I didn't have that much time to spare so I tried out the freezer (about 10 minutes) and it worked well for me.

Shout Out:  You know when you find a blog so good that you have to go back through the archives and start at the very beginning even though it's 5 years old? That's this blog, trust me!  So far I've made it to about May of 2014, and I'm loving every post.  Abby shares tips about decorating, organizing and blogging, as well as moments from every day life.  Head on over and check it out sometime, you won't be disappointed:

Just a Girl and her Blog

Unexpected Tip

Unsure of exactly how I would use the cupcake icing, I decided to try the star shaped tip and practice on a small plate.  This was a good decision because even though I had shaken the can of icing really well, it still came out separated and runny for a bit.  I would have panicked if this runny mess had ended up on the pretty cake!

Note:  These cans of icing come with four separate tips allowing various designs with the icing.  I think the star shape is my favorite 😊

Stars & Sprinkles

I ended up placing a row of stars around the base of the cake and topped it off with blue sprinkles on top.  Remember all those sprinkles I had out to begin with?  I only used a little bit of blue 😁

Storage

A couple of days to go until the party meant that the cakes needed to go into cold storage.  Usually I would just put the glass dome on top, but this particular set of cake stands runs a little smaller than my clear glass sets.  Not a problem though, just insert a toothpick (or several for a larger cake) and lightly drape plastic wrap over the cake.  Any smudges to the icing that occur can be gently smoothed out at the time of the party.

Guest Cake

I assembled the guest cake in the same way as I did the miniature cake and popped it into the freezer.  Why the freezer?  Because with all of the party food prep I ran out of fridge space in the house and in the garage.  The freezer is great if you want to store your cakes a little longer, just make sure to take them out earlier on the day of the event so that they have time to thaw.  Also, frozen cakes tend to condense once they meet room temperature.  I wasn't thinking about that when I placed this large stand on top of a decorative paper napkin and by the time the party began there was a bit of moisture at the bottom of the stand.  Not a super big deal, but something I would have avoided if I had thought of it beforehand 😉

Ready to Party!

I'll have posts coming up with the rest of the details from our mermaid birthday party including those adorable clamshell cookies you can see in the photo above😍

Want more party fun right now?  Check out these birthday baking links:

Strawberry Shortcake Party
Hunting Themed Birthday
Frozen Birthday Party
Construction Themed Birthday
Lalaloopsy Birthday Party
Pirate Themed Birthday
Candy Birthday Party
Thomas the Train Themed Birthday


I hope you enjoyed this party baking post, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer

© Studio 27 - By Jennifer Adams 2018