First, make sure you have EVERYTHING you need! I say this because with this very cake, I had to run to Walmart TWICE at 10:00 at night to pick up things I thought I had (pastry bags and the right colors of food paste).
These are the pastry bags I use. They are disposable which I like because I don't want to clean out a pastry bag when I'm done. Call me lazy!
As far as tips go, in the past, I have only used tips #3 and #21 for all of my cakes. There have been times when other tips may have been nice but I have always been able to do what I need to with those two tips. BUT, my awesome hubby gave me an early birthday present so now I have a set of 56 tips! I can't wait to use them!
Make sure you have the colors you need. Food coloring will not work. I use Wilton food paste (pictured below) but I am sure there are others out there that would work just as well. You can pick these up in the party section at Walmart (by the wedding stuff) individually or in packages with multiple colors. Here is a really good site for mixing colors to get other colors: http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/coloring/colormixingchart.htm. I just buy the basic colors and then mix them myself. Just start with very small amounts - a little bit goes a long way! You can always add more but you can't take any out!
First, I grease the bottom only of my pan. I very rarely use shaped cake pans. I think they are harder to use than the way I actually make them. I just use a 9x13 pan.
When I make my cake, I use applesauce in place of the oil. It not only makes the cake a little healthier, I think it makes it easier to work with (it's a little more dense). Other than that, I make the cake as directed on the box. This is one area where I have not had good experiences with generic cake mixes. It is worth the money to buy a name brand.
While the cake is hot, I loosen the edges with a knife or spatula (I push the spatula as far as I can under the cake too just to make sure it doesn't stick)...
Then place a cooling rack on top of the pan and flip so the cake comes out.
This time around, I didn't flip while hot and this is what happened:
Now I know why I always flipped it hot before! No worries, it will be frosted anyway!While the cake is cooling, find an image online that you can use for a template. Copy the image into any photo editing software and enlarge (or shrink) the image to fit within 8x12 (to allow for the edges on the cake). If you don't have software, this can be done in Paint. You'll want to print several of these so they are all the same size.
It doesn't matter if the printed image is pixelated or hard to see as long as you can get the basic shape. I cut the image out and place it directly on my cake.
Using a good serrated knife, I cut around my template...
...until I have the shape for my cake!
Now I turn a cookie sheet upside down and cover it with aluminum foil.
Now I place a plate (or another cookie sheet if a plate is too small) on top of the cake, flip it over, remove the cooling rack, place the foil covered cookie sheet on top of the cake, flip it over and voila:
Because the edges will not be smooth, it is much easier if the cake is frozen after this step. I just place mine in the freezer right on the cookie sheet for a couple of hours until it hardens. The sides need to be frosted quickly once removed because it does thaw fast. I have put the cake back in the freezer to refreeze (with frosting on it) if it becomes to crumbly to work with. Freezing won't hurt the cake or the frosting.Now I frost the cake one area at a time. For flat areas (this will make more sense later), regular frosting will work just fine. For Elmo, I started with the eyes. I took my template, cut the eyes out and put it back on the cake.
Using white frosting, I frosted where the eyes would be going right onto the paper.
When the paper is removed....perfect eyes!
Next, I did the nose (with a new printout).
And finally, the mouth (again, a new printout):
I did learn a little trick for black. If you start out with chocolate frosting, it takes a lot less black paste to make the frosting black! I just used white because that is all I had and I wasn't making that much black but it is a nice little piece of information to know!
And then I got lazy and forgot to take pictures. All I did for the rest of it was used tip #21 and put red stars all over the rest of the cake. When doing stars (or anything raised or shaped) regular store bought frosting is not thick enough to hold the shape. Most people will make their own frosting, but again, I am lazy, so I just add powdered sugar (1 1/2 to 2 cups per container) to thicken the frosting so it will hold it's shape. Don't add the powdered sugar for flat areas. It is much easier to work with on flat areas when it is thinner (yes, I learned that the hard way...with THIS cake). For the eyes, I used tip #3 and made and filled in black circles. I then smoothed the circles with a knife. I also touched up the lines on the mouth with this same tip.
See! Super easy!!
I hope this all makes sense!
