Hi Nina,
I made something along those lines for my then little DD. I frosted a sheet cake w/a vanilla frosting. I also made 6 mini cup cakes (no paper liners). I placed & arranged the minis a top the cake, pressing them in gently, so they're planted into the frosting. I then brought the vanilla frosting up around the CC, then each CC tops were frosted in various colors. The "Balloons" floated above the cake. I then mixed up small amount of frosting in w/a mix of colors to make dark color & piped the strings to connect each CC w/the ends coming together & made a bow towards the bottom of the string so that appear to be held together. It was adorable.

Lucy

There are a few sites that I go to when I decorate a cake, balloons are pretty simple I think. Wilton's site shows how to do a basic balloon
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/balloon.cfm
further in the site they show a few cakes with recipes & fillings I think
This site also has some cakes & idea
http://www.cakeworkscentral.com/scrapbook/index.htm
My kids at that age would have preferred just more icing as the filling, and still ask for "just a regular cake" for their birthday even now in their teens. Regular cake means white or chocolate with the frosting as a filler if I make a layer cake. If yours likes chocolate, I've never made a better or easier chocolate cake than the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake. I have a recipe for a white cake that is very moist too if you would like that recipe. I had a hard time getting a good moist white cake recipe. I am not really great at decorating cakes, but try to find a simple pattern like balloons & go with that. I'm sure you will get a lot of great ideas here too from better decorators & cooks that I am, but if you would like my cake recipes, let me know & I would be happy to share.
Good luck, I'm sure it will turn out great! Sorry I didn't make them clickable. I learned how to do it, then promptly forgot.

Oh Lucy I just love the cupcake balloons! I'll bet that it was adorable. I may have to "borrow" that idea.

ngraham, I should have thought of the Wilton site! It was a huge help, with basic instructions and pictures. When it comes to decorating & presentation I'm lost.

My little guy has very specific tastes. He's not a fan of chocolate, in fact prefers vanilla or strawberry. I was planning to make the traditional giant sponge cake in the giant pan (this pan is easily 60 years old & the recipe to fill it takes a dozen eggs) and I found a recipe for a cream cheese buttercream, which I think would be a hit. So since I've started this thread I've been thinking- how to add strawberries to the filling. It's a no brainer if I can find nice fresh ones but they've been looking kind of anemic lately. I have some gorgeous frozen ones. Could I thaw them, slice them & macerate them, then spread them on the bottom layer & top with the buttercream?

What do you guys think?

Nina

I was going to bake the cake tonight for Saturday. Will it be OK in the fridge, wrapped in plastic? Or should I stick it in the freezer? Or just throw relaxation to the wind, stay up really late & bake it Friday night?

Nina

Nina,
It will be just fine baking it tonight & wrapped in the fridge. Get to sleep early Friday, instead! ;-)

Lucy

I would bake several smallish cakes in metal mixing bowls, frost different colors and "tie" together with red shoelace licorice. Voila, balloon bouquet.
Couldn't be easier.
Good luck.
Jo

Or, you can make a "shortcut" strawberry cake using a mix and frozen berries and also make the cupcakes.

I've had this cake here at the office and it is very good, moist, lots of strawberry flavor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Strawberry Cake

Your post reminded me of these pans I have had for years...

Here is a link that might be useful: Balloon cupcakes

Well I love your idea of frosting and such..to "fill" it I'd use good strawberry jam. I always have a stash of homemade freezer..it's the only jam/jelly my middle son will eat. That way you wouldn't have to have fresh strawberries weeping after a few days, since you are making such a large cake, you'll probably have some leftover. But have a nice dish of fresh strawberries to serve alongside if you can find some good ones.

Or make a simple sauce by cooking down frozen sugar sweetened berries.

I googled "ballon cake" and found some darling ideas. One had large frosted sugar cookies as the balloons, each one a different color, and all were tied together with piped icing. The cookies were just placed on top of the frosted cake. You could buy the sugar cookies and ice them yourself...very simple and so cute!

Here's just a simple cake with an actual helium filled balloon attached. Another very simple and cute idea!

Michelle

Oh you guys have some great ideas! Kathleen, I love the balloon cupcake pans, they remind me of my cake egg pans.

But as spectacular as these are what my son wants is a simple white frosted cake with balloons piped on it, just like the one on TV. So. I printed up the instructions from the wilton site & picked up the necessary tips. Tomorrow I will attempt to pipe balloons!

Meanwhile, here's a photo of my little guy and the igloo cake that I made him for his very first birthday. Notice the neat icing job and immaculate presentation. You wonder why I'm worried about piping balloons?

Nina

Nina, if you're worried about piping the balloons, then don't.

Use other mediums like fondant or tinted white chocolate clay. Easier yet, go to the candy aisle of any grocery store, and pick up clay-type candies, such as Starburst. But there are many other brands of chewable candies that come in a rainbow of colors, and can be easily rolled out and cut out, using cookie cutters or an x-acto knife.

Sol

Come to think of it, I had a cake once where the balloons were made from cream cheese mints (homemade) placed on the cake with the string piped on. Quite cute & tasty.

How about using marzipan for making balloons? Kids love it.

Nina, I just made a cake with 8 cars on top for gson's 4th bday. I got the pan at WmSonoma. It wasn't too pretty, but he loved it, so don't worry!

I have the egg pans too. I make them every year for Easter, filled and dipped in choc. Those pans have been well used...

Here's a pic of the pan on ebay, by the way I paid 6 and change for mine at the WWS outlet.. I dipped mine in choc, made a rectangular cake underneath as a parking lot. I'd show you but Sol would be rolling on the floor laughing at me. I got out of a sick bed to make it, so I will do better next time, LOL..

Here is a link that might be useful: Car cake pan

My friend makes a delicious white cake with layers of strawberry "filling" and a cream cheese icing.

Here are her instructions...I think you could use frozen strawberries, sweetened w/ a little cornstarch, too.

(And, it's always easier for me to frost a frozen cake. You don't get as many crumbs in the frosting...)

Filling: cut the strawberries into small pieces... place in a sauce pan over med. heat (if they're really dry add 1 tbsp of water) ... smoosh them up add some sugar to taste and sprinkle enough corn starch to thicken. allow to cool in the frig before filling cake. (Remember this works with ANY fruit... mango, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry... anything)
*when ever i do a cake I always cut my layers in 1/2... adds way more flavor... i put the fruit or cream filling between the cut layers and frosting in the center where the 2 cake halves (that have been split and filled)
Cream Cheese Icing:
1 stick of butter
8oz cream cheese
4 cups or 1lb of confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon of milk (more if too thick)
I usually soften the cream cheese.. makes it easier to pipe too... it will harden when you put the cake in the frig...

sol, starburst, really?????? cool idea!

Sol...you're a genius! I picked up a sack of starburt during lunch. Easy & I can make sure that there's a "balloon" for each cousin.

Milwalt- marzipan's an excellent idea, too. I never thought of it. I had made some marzi-penguins for the igloo cake. Coloring the marzipan was a bit of a pain but the results were adorable. The cream cheese mints are a great idea, too! If only I had more time...

Kathleen, I have the car pan! I had originally thought that I could do a "cars" cake & decorate each one like the cars in the movie (stop laughing). Um, you really have to grease that thing well, don't you?

And I need to rub you before I go to the outlets again. I got my pan for 11.99 at WS online and thought that I got a great deal! Now if I could only find the train pan for a steal.

I will post my results after the weekend & you can all laugh yourselves sick. Stacy, I'm definitely going to use your friend's frosting & fruit idea. The responses to this thread have helped me immensely!

Nina

nina, here is a pic of a cake I made for my mom a few years back, using my friend's "recipe". I wish I had one of it sliced - the filling is great and it's a nice not sicky sweet cake with the fruity layers. ( disclaimer: I am NOT a cake decorator - lol!)

I can't wait to see how it turns out - I love the starburst idea - and sol's recommendations should not be taken lightly! :-)

{{gwi:1472762}}

Stacy

Your little guy is just adorable :)

Nina, I have the train too. They had a ton of them last week. If they still have them when I get there again, should I get you one??

Sol, I do that in the baking room in camp in the summer, with the starburst! The kids love them! Tootsie rolls and Laffy Taffy work well, too!

Cake looks good, Stacy!

Michelle, I am picturing that cake if I ever did that, just floating away :) or someone popping it!

Williams-Sonoma comes out with some really cool pans these days!

Nina, your little guy is adorable!

oh Nina, he is so sweet - and now he's 4? I can totally sympathize with trying to accomodate those requests - seems like Will is always doing that sort of thing.

How did the cake turn out?

Hi guys, I can't thank you all enough for your help! The cake came out beautifully, I'll see if I can get pics uploaded tonight.

The starburst was a big hit and the starburst balloons were great, and easy. I used scissors to cut them into the shapes & then piped the strings on. Then scattered colored sprinkles over the whole top of the cake. William was delighted with his cake, the cake itself was delicious.

Stacy- I made the strawberry filling from frozen berries and used your friend's cream cheese frosting recipe with twice as much cream cheese and butter but only the 1 lb of sugar (mainly because that's all that I had) and it was just the right amount of sweetness for the cake.

The starburt balloons prompted lots of discussion on what other candy would work...things like fruit roll ups (or do they still make those square sheets of "fruit leather"?) or airheads (which are supposedly like starburts only already flat). So now, if I've got to make another balloon cake for the kid's party on Saturday I'm not afraid! This sort of cutting out shapes as decorations will work out well for me because while I have a steady hand for drawing, painting or glass cutting I seem to be having some sort of fit whenever I try to decorate with icing.

Kathleen- I think that I'll try to get to the WS outlet this Sunday. I wonder if Woodbury will have them?

And thank you all for the compliments on my little guy. I can't believe he's 4! Still every bit as cute, just a lot bigger.

Nna

awwww - I didn't realize he was a William, too. :-)

Can't wait to see the pics!

Finally figured out what was wrong with my camera. Here are some pics of the cake.

here it is, taking up most of the oven while it bakes:

And here's the finished product:

Notice my awful handwriting. Just to give you an idea of the size, the yellow plate that the cake is on is a Fiesta 15" diameter pizza plate. And now, thanks to another thread, I know the trick about putting a metal core or inverted flower nail in the center while the cake bakes so that it cooks evenly. But how awesome are those starburst balloons? Easy as...um...cake & stress free. Thanks for all of your help!

Nina

Darling Cake!!! Love the colored sprinkles and starburst balloons are such a great idea too!!

You did a great job!

Michelle

Its beautiful, Sigh - just adorable and sounds delicious too - I'm impressed.

Nina, you're welcome. And I'm sorry I missed your penultimate post. But I'm glad I caught this one. Your boy is adorable and the cake is cheery and an absolute knockout; your little boy must've thought it was cool, mom!

Btw, I'm glad you liked the Starburst idea.
But, for future reference, there is another candy I prefer using, but I didn't mention it before because this particular candy is harder to find, and I didn't want to send you off on a wild goose chase.

Anyway, next time, try to look up Edo Candy Dough.. It's far more malleable than most chewy candies, and comes in all the bright, primary colors.
Who knows, it might be readily available in your area or maybe online.

Sol

Nina,
How adorable!! All that worrying & look at what you've accomplished! WAY TO GO!

Lucy

That looks perfect for Mr 4. He made a good request...
Well done Nina!