For Bryn's first birthday I decided to make a ladybug cake. I got the idea from
Cake Decorating Corner, but I couldn't find the right Pyrex bowls, so I searched ladybug cakes again and found
Jenny Cisney's blog post. I used her ideas for the body shape.
Here are some pictures of the cake, along with a basic idea of how I made it.
I used a 9" Pyrex bowl and a 9" round cake pan for the body, and a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup for the head. A double layer cake batch filled the bowl just right, and a second double layer batch was enough for the cake pan, the head (about 1 cup of batter, I think), and 6 cupcakes.
I used a half-batch of
Wilton's Chocolate Buttercream Icing to glue the body pieces together - I made it pretty stiff. I used
Wilton's Buttercream Icing with strawberry juice reduction instead of milk, to start the red colour and to give it a strawberry flavour. It took a lot of red food colouring (the good Wilton 'No-Taste' red gel) to get the colour so rich. It didn't look red at first, but it turned quite red as I let it sit. I made all the icing the day before.
I used black food colouring on another half-batch of chocolate buttercream icing for the face and spots.
I covered the body with a flat layer of red icing. I then piped on the white (eyes), black and more red using star tips (#16 and #17). It looked pretty neat with the flat red and just the spots and face done in stars. Next time I might make the flat red layer much thicker and just add the black with the piping bag. It would sure have saved a lot of time and my hand wouldn't have been so tired!
Thanks to Renee Bowkett for the first 2 pictures!
I used a 9" Pyrex bowl and a 9" round cake pan for the body, and a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup for the head. A double layer cake batch filled the bowl just right, and a second double layer batch was enough for the cake pan, the head (about 1 cup of batter, I think), and 6 cupcakes.
WOW!!! I would love to try making a cake one day... and you made it sound do easy. Great job, it looks amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteJolayne, I just might totally copy your cake next month for Brianne's birthday! I was thinking of doing either a lady bug cake or a butterfly cake, so we'll see!
ReplyDeleteYours looks AMAZING! Did it take you a really long time to do?
I considered doing a bumblebee - basically the same as the ladybug but decorated with yellow and black stripes instead. My sister made a butterfly cake for Rhiannon a year or two ago - if you're looking for ideas on how to get the cakes shaped.
ReplyDeleteIt did take awhile. I made the cakes ahead of time and froze them so that I didn't have to do the whole thing at one go. I took them out before church the morning of her birthday dinner and they were ready to decorate by the time we got home. I made the icing batches the day before as well. It took me 3 or 4 hours after church to decorate, but I had issues with some of the icing and had to remake a batch. Let me know if you want to borrow any of my equipment (bowls, decorating bags and tips, etc).