Return of the Birthday Cake

Last year it was Elmo, this year princesses.  We celebrated Carol’s third birthday last weekend and the goal, a cake that hopefully resembled a castle.

As of a week ago, I had not planned, purchased or cleaned a single thing in preparation for the party.  I had only sent out invitations, so I was committed.  I started brainstorming cake ideas with some friends and decided I would either do a princess or a castle cake.  I had scanned pictures of both on the internet and neither looked that difficult.  Carol is in love with the iconic Disney castle, so we decided that was the way to go.

The party was Saturday, so I took Friday off.  I had a lot of work to do, but I still hoped to sleep in, just a little.  At 6am Carol (not Brianna) was up, bright eyed and bushy tailed.  What!?!  The same kid I have to drag out of bed at 7am most days and lounges in bed until 8am on the weekends.  Okay, I’m up.

After grabbing some coffee I get the kids off to daycare and start working.  The castle was two tiers (never done a multi-tiered cake).  I used a 9x13 Pyrex for the bottom tier, a 5x11 for the top and cupcakes for the turrets.  After whipping up two boxes of cake mix and dying them pink (only required ~5 drops of dye – see how ElmoBecame Red) I popped all three pans in the oven and waited.  Thirty minutes later, I had cake, a lot of cake.

I had purchased two cans of frosting, that morning as I went about my errands I grabbed one more just in case. (This is foreshadowing..can you just feel the suspense)  Got ice, balloons, plates, I was ready to party.

After letting the cakes cool for several hours on the counter, the carving commenced.  I cut the 9x13 in half and stacked it.  No problems.  Then I started frosting and it came crumbling down, the cake was still too warm.  After several failed attempts, I popped some frosting in the microwave and warmed it to the point where I could drizzle it on and seal the crumbs in.  I trimmed and stacked the 5x11 and used the same approach to ice it and put everything in the refrigerator to harden.  At this point, I am down about 1 ½ cans of frosting.

A few hours later, I pull everything out to do the top coat on the cake, the cupcake turrets and used the remaining cupcakes to make some shrubbery. (Finally got a chance to use my green food coloring!)  The bad news was that I was out of frosting and hadn’t done any of the decorating.  It was also about 5 pm and I had to pick the kids up from daycare.  So much for getting the cake done.

I swing by the grocery store before getting the kids and they have a new pink lemonade frosting!  Jackpot!  After the earlier issues, I grabbed two cans, just in case.  That night, one more can and a few dozen toothpicks later, we have a castle.

The party was fun, Carol had a great time and the cake was delicious.  I wonder what Carol’s thing-of-the-moment that I can epitomize on a cake will be next year.  In any event, I am sure a harrowing tale will accompany the creation.