Giant Squid Cake - Easy

1. Bake a box cake mix in a 9x13 or other sheet cake pan. 

2. Frost the cake with blue-tinted Buttercream icing. I swirled some extra blue in after it was done to get a variegated color, and use big stokes to make the cake look wavy. 

3. Tint fondant a very light pink or light gray.  Use gray and rose colors to tint fondant so that it's streaky with color, mixing lightly to get the variegated effect.  (See picture.)

4. Roll a piece of fondant very thin, and large enough to cover a “sugar” ice cream cone.  Fondant should be longer than the cone, so you can make a triangle at the top.  Trim excess fondant from the bottom at the back of the squid or tuck it inside the cone.  In the front, trim the excess fondant into a triangle, for the base of the body, as pictured.  Position it on the cake, nestling it into the blue icing waves.  Note - rub the fondant on the cone to pick up the texture.  It looks very good.

5. Add fondant eyes, covering with a band of the colored fondant as shown. 

6. Roll fondant “snakes” for the tentacles, flattening the ends as shown.   

7. Position the tentacles as you like around the squid. 

See post on Working with Fondant if you have any questions.

Gator Cake - Easy

1. Bake a box cake mix in the Wilton Football pan.   

2. Bake another cake using regular round pans (8” or 9”), so you have 2 round layers.  Do not level - the rounded tops are good.

3. Frost the “football” with green-tinted Buttercream icing using Wilton #16 open star tip.   

4. Cut head from one round layer, position and cover with stars.  Be sure to put a layer of frosting between cake pieces when you attach them to each other.  Can just use a knife or spatula to spread some frosting between the pieces.  This holds the pieces together. 

5. Cut a tail from the other layer, position and cover with stars.   

6. Cut 4 legs/feet from left over cake, position and cover with stars. 

7. Make teeth and eyes from fondant.   (Eyes are 2 white fondant spheres, with a small nonpareil in each, as shown.)  To make teeth, roll a bit of white fondant out thin, then cut triangle shapes.  See my earlier post on Fondant.

8. Tint a bit of fondant green.  Roll 2 small pieces to make eye lids.  Roll a long "snake" for the jaw.  

9. Position jaw and add teeth.  

10. Position eyes (with eyelids) on top of head.  

11.  Add jelly beans (or use fondant) for claws on the 4 feet. 

Imperial Chocolate Chip Cookie

1. Spray round cookie pan with non-stick spray.  (I use a round 9x13 Wilton cookie pan.)  Prepare batch of chocolate chip cookie dough or use 2 tubes of refrigerated dough.  (I use Publix brand chocolate chip cookie dough, as it contains no trans fat.)  Bake in 350^o F oven for approximately 22 minutes or until cookie is set.  Ovens vary widely, so check cookie at 18 minutes and every couple minutes thereafter.  Let cool, then unmold onto tray or serving platter.

2.  Enlarge the logo below so that it fits your cookie pan.   Print.  Carefully cut out the white spaces, so you just have the black outline and logo.   

 3.  Lay the logo on your cooled cookie.  Using a sharp paring knife, gently trace the logo spaces on your cookie, to transfer the pattern to your cookie.   

4.  Outline the pattern then fill the pattern spaces with homemade or store-bought icing, to create the logo.  Cookie decorating icing works well.  If you use homemade icing, thin it with a little milk and pipe it one using a #3, 4 or 5 Wilton tip or similar round tip.

Great Highland Bagpipes - Very Easy

My oldest son is an aspiring member of the 501st Kilted Trooper Brigade.  This cake was for his bagpipe camp.  The kids really loved this because it had cake and brownies together.

1.  Make batter from 2 box cake mixes, same brand/flavor.  Bake in the largest Wilton Paisley cake pan.  See: http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=2105-4039  Tip:  this cake pan set is dead useful - I've done tons of cakes with this shape, including the scuba cake, Holidays on Hoth, Death Star base, artist palette, etc.  Love these pans!  

2.  Bake a double batch of brownies is a 9x13 or larger rectangular pan.  I use Betty Crocker Original Supreme Brownies - add an extra egg for "cake like" brownies. 

3.   Place cooled cake on a large cake board.  Do not level.  (The rounded nature of the cake looks great.)

4.  Make standard Buttercream icing, tint color of your choice.  I went for a burgundy, but green or blue would be good too.  Cover the entire cake with open stars, using a Wilton No. 16, 18 or similar tip.

5.  Cut the cooled brownies into stripes.  Tip: for perfect cut brownies, use a plastic knife.  (The kind that comes in a box of plastic cutlery at the grocery store or a fast-food place.)   Arrange the brownies for the drones, blowpipe and chanter as shown.  Shape ends of blowpipe and chanter as shown.  For the chanter, use a Wilton tip to cut 7 depressions, for the holes.  Put the tip about 1/4" in and twist to extract a bit of the top of the brownie.

6.  Using a Wilton No. 3 round tip or similar, pipe the chords around the tops of the drones as shown.  You can either pipe the tassels or use a bit f fondant tinted to match.  (I tinted a bit of fondant and squeezed it through my garlic press to get a group of stands that made the tassels here.) 

Sailboat Cakes - Very Easy

1. Bake box cake mix in 8” or 9” square pans.  Each mix does 2 layers; each layer is a boat. For the cake picture, I did 2 mixes, using 3 9" square layers for the sailboats and 1 6” round for the sun.) 

2. Cut and assemble on your cake board as shown below.  (Pattern by Betty Crocker).   

 www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/sailboat-cake/1ab59ca2-376b-4fc7-bcad-2f56d9917dc3      

 

(Note: the pattern calls for a 9x13 cake, but I prefer to use the square pans and make 2 boats.  Cut the square cakes just as shown here.) 

3. Frost with Buttercream tinted as you like.

4. Decorate with licorice for the mast, life savers, and other candies, or use Wilton icing tubes with round tip to hand-draw patterns on the sails. 

Tip:  this is a good design for when you want different flavors of cake or if you need to do a special recipe.  One of the boats is made without eggs, as we had an egg-allergy to accommodate. 

Geode Cake - Super Easy

For this cake, you need the Wilton Sports Ball pan, plus rock candy in your choice of color. 

1. Bake a box cake mix in the Wilton Sports Ball pan according to pan instructions.  

2.  When cooled, set on cake board or serving plate.  (I used a clean, new flower pot saucer.)  Cut a bit of cake out of the center of each layer.  

3. Frost with Buttercream icing, tinted light brown.   (Crumb coat, let set, then frost again.)  

4. Fill cavities with purchased rock candy.   

5. If desired, dust with graham cracker cookie crumbs. Mash a package of graham crackers to make crumbs.

Rebel Alliance Rice Crispy Treat

Spray round cookie pan with non-stick spray.  (I use a round 9x13 Wilton cookie pan.)  Prepare batch of Rice Crispy Treats as directed on cereal box and allow to cool in the cookie pan to set. When firm, unmold onto tray or serving platter. 

Copy and enlarge the logo below so that it fits your cookie pan.   Print.  

Cut strips of strawberry Froot by the Foot (or similar product) and overlay them on the logo.  Trim so that only the logo is covered.  (Tip: trim with a  sharp paring knife or a pizza cutter.)   

Using a small roller or a glass, gently roll the Froot strips so that the edges stick together.  They will not adhere perfectly, but they will stick - if you have trouble rub the edge with a damp finger.)   Move the paper with the logo to your treat, and gently slide the Froot logo off onto the treat.  Smooth the logo onto the treat.