If you’ve never worked with fondant before, I suggest you start with a simple cake like this one. The nice thing about fondant is that it takes on the shape of the cake on its own and gives it a professional look without too much effort. I used a Hello Kitty cake pan, but any flat character pan of your choice should work the same way. Since birthdays are all about surprises, I usually try to incorporate some surprise inside the cake. There’s nothing like that reaction you get when it gets cut open. In this cake I used an easy method to make a zebra stripe effect inside, which usually gets a “Wow, how’d you do that?”

Directions

Make the Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Beat eggs and sugars on high speed for a full ten minutes. Add remaining cake ingredients and mix on medium speed for another few minutes.

3. Divide batter into two parts. Mix a few drops of pink food coloring into one half of the batter.

4. Spray cake pan well. Using a small ladle, fill the pan, alternating between pink and white batter. First pour a ladleful of pink batter into the center of the pan, then a ladleful of white batter into the center of the pink batter. The batter will spread out as you work. Keep on alternating until the pan is three-fourths full.

5. Lightly tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles in the batter before placing it in the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer cake to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Make the Buttercream Frosting

1. Combine confectioners’ sugar, margarine, almond milk and vanilla extract. Beat with mixer on high speed for three to five minutes, stopping to scrape the sides until well mixed.

Assemble the Cake

1. Place the cake in the center of the cake board. Using the icing spatula, cover the entire cake in a thin layer of icing.

2. Working on a clean surface dusted with confectioners’ sugar, cut off a piece of fondant, a little bigger than the size of an egg, and set aside. Roll out the remaining fondant into a shape similar to the cake pan, leaving it one-eighth-inch thick. Keep in mind that the fondant needs to cover the sides of the cake too, so make sure there are at least two extra inches on all sides. If the fondant is too sticky to work with, add confectioners’ sugar as you would add flour to a dough.

3. Gently lift the rolled fondant and place on top of the iced cake. It will start to take the form of the cake on its own. Using your hands, lightly rub your hands over the cake until you see the shape of the character. Repeat the same motion on all sides, making sure there are no air bubbles. Keep on smoothing it over until it’s set.

4. Using a sharp knife, cut around the perimeter of the cake and remove all excess fondant.

5. Divide the fondant that you set aside earlier. Using the gel food coloring, color a little more than half pink (or red). Color a small part black, and a very little bit of yellow, just enough for a nose.

6. Using the cleaned cake pan, press the black fondant into the cavities of the eyes, the yellow fondant to get the shape of the nose, and the pink into the bow. Using the pan gives you great guidelines to help you get that perfect shape. Form whiskers out of the remaining black. If you’d like to write a message, shape some fondant using small alphabet cutters. With a very little bit of water, “glue” the pieces onto the cake. Start with just a drop of water and use more only if needed, since too much moisture will cause the colors to run.

7. I like to finish off my cakes with a ruffled icing border. Cut the tip of the icing bag off, place the inner coupler part inside and fill with icing. Using any star tip, give continuous pressure to your icing bag and work your way around the edge of the cake in an up-and- down motion. This will give your cake that professional finishing touch.

Credits

Photos by Chay Berger

Recipe tags

Birthday cake Cake decorating Cakes Decorated cakes Faigy Cohen Fondant Hello kitty Kid-friendly Kids

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Ruchie Loffler

1 year ago

Baked on 325 for 30-35 min as the recipe instructed but was completely runny in the inside at that point… returned to the oven for an addition 10 min x 3!