My Easter Cake

annie1992

16 years ago

Finally, my computer at home is up and running. Well, a different one. My old one was obsolete and beyond repair so Elery replaced the tower with a refurbed unit from Dell.

Anyway, I got it all put back together last night and finally got my DSL connection back and can post pictures again!

I had decided that Easter was a good time to experiment with fondant, something I hadn't done before. Makayla wanted a cake that "looked like the Easter Bunny dropped his eggs in a garden". LOL Well, she's the boss, so we tried.

The recipe was 1 cup corn syrup, 1 cup shortening and 2 pounds of confectioner's sugar. It sounded pretty icky, and I sure wasn't going to make it by hand! Nancy's big Kitchen Aid earned its keep, making a nice spring green fondant:

I had already assembled the sugar egg. It took several tries before I successfully carved the window in the front, placed the Bluebird of Happiness in the back half with frosting, added the front with the window and glued it all with royal icing. Odd, I don't remember it being so time consuming when Grandma made them and I watched....

The remainder of the royal icing was tinted pink and green and used for flower decorations. Gotta have flowers in the garden, you know.

Finally I added some little friends to the front of the cake, just to keep that bluebird happy. A couple of bunnies and a duck did the trick.

Well, I don't know if I got the facsimile of the Easter Bunny dropping his egg in a garden, but I tried. Lots and lots of sugar, at any rate, and it was easier than I had anticipated. The kids were tickled to death and spent the day eating the royal icing flowers, ignoring the three layer fudge filled dark chocolate cake under the fondant!

Annie

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Comments (33)

wizardnm
16 years ago
WTG!!! Looks great and it sounds like the kids were thrilled. That's what it's all about.

Nancy
Tracey_OH
16 years ago
It's beautiful! And I'm very impressed with the homemade fondant. My sister in law does cakes and she makes a marshmallow fondant that doesn't taste too bad. I don't have the nerve to try making any fondant recipe yet! Maybe one of these days. You are such a good nana!

Tracey
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I have never made a lamb out of this....but it's dense, white and made with butter. ICE CREAM CAKE 2 cups sugar 3/4 cup butter 2 cups sifted flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1 cup sifted cornstarch 1 cup milk 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp almond extract the whites of 5 eggs beaten to stiff peaks Cream sugar and butter together. Sift the flour, baking powder and cornstarch together.Add to creamed mixture alternatly with the milk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until very smooth. Add vanilla and then fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in 2 greased and floured 8" round cake pans for 25 to 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. You will have to bake longer I think for a lamb.....but test with a tooth pick and bake until done. Frost with 7 minute frosting....the one with boiled sugar and egg white. And you can use the egg yolks to make lemon curd and hollendaise for your Easter asparagus! LOL! That cake baked as layers and filled with lemon curd is wonderful! Linda C
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jessyf
16 years ago
You know Annie, fondant has uses for things other than icing on the cake...
KatieC
16 years ago
Gee, Jessy, can you share your recipes?
khandi
16 years ago
Wow! Very nice!
mitchdesj
16 years ago
so cool, the kids must adore you !!!
jcrowley99
16 years ago
Fabulous cake! I would have gone for that fudge filled dark chocolate cake and let the kids eat the flowers and fondant. I bet it tasted as good as it looks!

Joanne
maggie2094
16 years ago
Totally worth the wait! "The Bluebird of Happiness" - love that. Great shade of green for the cake.

You make it sound easy - NOT! You rock, Annie:)
doucanoe
16 years ago
Wow, I am totally impressed! That is so darn cute!

I have "fear of fondant" so have never attempted anything of this caliber!

The kids must have been thrilled with that cake! How fun!

Linda
proudmamato4
16 years ago
Wait. You made the sugar egg? That cake is gorgeous and I am completely wowed!

Nancy
lackboys3
16 years ago
Linda, I share your fear of fondant. Annie, kudos to you for always being so willing to experiment with different cooking and baking techniques. I've seen the pre-made fondant packages in the store, Wilton brand I believe, and I wonder if they are any good? I love the piped flowers too:-) The cake sounds delicious, I probably would have given away my icing and just gone straight to the center of the cake like Joanne!

Good work and I'm so glad your computer is back up and running so you can post pictures again.
DONNA
shaun
16 years ago
That came out beautiful! I've never touched Fondant in my life. Scares me!
homesforsale
16 years ago
I'm so impressed!

I tried poured fondant this week..Oyoyoy..not pretty..I amde a mess of things..
Can you steer us in the direction of this recipe? Or is is it just like you said?

I think you are very good at piping and decorations too:)
eileenlaunonen
16 years ago
GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
User
16 years ago
WOW Annie, that's fabulous! I could never do that in a million years. You mist have the patience of Job.
Marigene
16 years ago
What a cute cake!
Solsthumper
16 years ago
I've been anxiously waiting to see this Easter cake and it was worth the wait. It's beautiful! And I know exactly how much patience it took to make it, but I'm willing to bet your little bunny wabbits hopped with joy when they saw it. Their grandma's baking and decorating is something they'll always remember and talk about throughout their lives.

Btw, AB, what you have there ain't Fondant, it's Rolled Buttercream. And it's a favorite medium with a lot of decorators because it's not as sickly sweet as fondant, plus it gives a nice, shiny finish to cakes. The only drawback is that RB doesn't hold up as well during the hot summer months and will tear easily, unless you'll be working in an air-conditioned room.
Now that you know how easy it actually is to work with this medium, I'll expect to see more cakes from you in the near future.

Did you take any pictures of the kids wearing their cake?

Sol
kathleen_li
16 years ago
You did a wonderful job! And I love the sugar egg!
annie1992
Original Author
16 years ago
Yes, Jessica, please share your recipes. And ideas. LOL

Nancy, that big ole' mixer just plugged along, it worked like a charm. My arm would have fallen off trying to do that by hand, so I wanted you to know how much I appreciate it.

Monique, the frosting was just like I wrote it. One cup shortening, one cup corn syrup, 2 lbs. powdered sugar. Beat up the shortening and syrup, add the sugar in three or four installments, beating all the time.

Proudmama, I did make the egg. I just packed 5 cups of sugar moistened with 4 or 5 tablespoons of water and a bit of food coloring. It should feel like damp sand. Pack it into a mold, I used one of those plastic eggs full of candy they sell at Easter that comes apart into two halves. Unmold the damp sugar onto a baking sheet and bake at 200F for 6 minutes. Take a knife (I used to have an x-acto knife, but I used a paring knife and a teaspoon) and hollow out the halves before they get cool. If they get too cool, they get brittle and break easily. I did the front part with the window a bunch of times, but I just kept wetting my hands, stirring up the broken sugar and packing and baking again, until I finally got it. Let it dry overnight on a rack and it's hard as a rock! I put green icing inside the intact half, added the bluebird, then glued the two halves together with royal icing and decorated it. Voila! A panoramic egg. You could put anything in there you liked.

Sol, I got the recipe from the internet. Rolled buttercream? It said fondant, so that's what I called it. It was intensely sweet, and it wasn't that easy to work with, it tore when I put it on the cake and I had to "patch" it. In several places, LOL, but those icing flowers cover a lot of mistakes. (grin)

So, how do you make fondant, and is it a little more "sturdy"?

And yes, I took pictures of the kids but they are on Elery's camera and my cord won't fit. It seems that every single camera has it's own cord. Grrrr. I'll try to remind him to bring it with him next week so I can get the pictures off his camera. And no, the memory card isn't the same either. Sigh.

You know I'm going to be asking you for pointers, don't you? (grin)

Annie
User
16 years ago
Wow Annie, I'm impressed too. Your cake is beautiful and I can just imagine how excited Makayla and Bud were. A cake to remember.

Ann
gardengrl
16 years ago
Way to go Annie! Your cake is gorgeous! I would have scraped off all the icing and ate the fudgy cake! YUMMMY!
Solsthumper
16 years ago
Can't wait to see the little simians' messy faces. In the meantime, I'll wait around for Jessica's recipes.

You know, I wish I could take a peek into Elery's camera. I'll bet there's a lot of good stuff stored in there. [wink, wink, jab, wink]
AB (as you've already discovered) rolled buttercream is not as sturdy as rolled fondant. I'm cheap, so I make my own most of the time, and I'll be glad to share it with you whenever you're ready for your next creation. Most decorators prefer to buy ready-made fondant, and I'll tell you which brands are preferred. Just promise me -if you decide to buy it- that you'll stay away from Wilton's fondant.

Sol
sigh
16 years ago
Annie, that is spectacular! I couldn't imagine making anything like it and having it actually look like that.

Amazing.

Nina
mustangs81
16 years ago
Now that's a good grandma! It is an outstanding project and I hope you were sufficiently rewarded with kiddie kudos.
artsyshell
16 years ago
Great looking cake Annie! You are a lady of many talents and extreme patience. You have some pretty lucky grandkids.

Shelley
teresa_nc7
16 years ago
Fantastic Easter Cake, Annie! I know it made the holiday special for the little ones. I truly admire your ability to work with fondant, sugar eggs, and cake decorating! For me? just give me a glaze to drizzle over the cake and I am completely satisfied. LOL!

Teresa
obxgina
16 years ago
Annie, what an awesome cake! You did a beautiful job. And then I read it was a fudgey chocolate cake! WOW! Thank you for sharing it with us! Gina
happytime_ca
16 years ago
You did a great job, what a happy cake! I can imagine the smiles on the kids faces, when they saw it....Thanks for sharing it with us.
Terri_PacNW
16 years ago
Annie, well done..That's alot of work and love!
lindac
16 years ago
Absolutely gorgous!
I had one of those sugar eggs I saved for a coupl of years. Unfortunatly a mousie found it and made all gone!
Linda C
granjan
16 years ago
That cake is adorable. I have made poured fondant years ago and although it's not easy it did make my cake look like a shiny space ship! And it tasted as good as the fondants I remember from little fancy tea cakes in my youth. (The chocolate fondant was wonderful.) But the fondant I see is thick and dull and truthfully not anything I wanted to eat. Is the stuff you make Sol good to eat? Is it thin and shiny and poured or the thick stuff you roll and drape? I would love a recipe for the poured, shiny and delicious chocolate fondant of my childhood.
lyndaluu2
16 years ago
Great cake!!!

I would have eaten the cake and not the fondant!! LOL

Beautiful cake and yes it look like the bunny dropped the egg in a garden.

Linda
canarybird01
16 years ago
That's a beautiful cake Annie! Really pretty.

I would also have just eaten the chocolate fudge cake part of it and left the icing though....sounds heavenly!

SharonCb

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