Spring Mini Cakes
I love the fun and whimsical feel of these boxes of cake. Each one looks like an individually wrapped present. We have made large tiered cakes with tiers designed in these patterns, but I think the individual cakes are so special and make for a beautiful assortment for a birthday, Easter, or any springtime party.
Yield: 5 mini cakes (15 to 20 servings)
Recipes:
2 sheet cakes, any flavor
1 filling recipe, any flavor
½ recipe Royal Icing
Materials:
15 ounces gum paste
Shortening (for rolling out gum paste)
Food-coloring gels: ribbon pink, rose pink, super red, leaf green, lemon yellow
Egg whites (optional)
4 pounds fondant
Cornstarch (for rolling out fondant)
Equipment:
Toothpicks
Plastic mat
Small rolling pin
Ruler
Scalpel or paring knife
Paper towels
Small paintbrush
Daisy cutter, approximately 1 inch wide
Ball tool
Leaf cutter, approximately 1 ½ inches long and ½ inch wide
Letter cutters, approximately 1½ inch high (optional)
Five 4 x 4-inch cardboard or foam core squares
Small serrated knife
Small offset spatula
Large rolling pin
Strainer
Dry pastry brush
Fondant smoothers
Pastry bag and coupler
Pastry tips: #2, #10, #806, #809
Directions:
Make the Bow: (Two days to one week in advance)
- Dye approximately 1⁄4 pound (4 ounces) of gum paste your desired color. Here we chose hot pink. Roll it out on a plastic mat greased with shortening into a sheet approximately 1 ⁄16 inch thick. Cut out a 2 x 11inch strip. Cut a paper towel in half and twist it into two logs (about 3 inches long) and set aside.
- Bring the ends of each strip together in the center to form loops, placing the paper towel logs directly under the loops and draping the loops over the paper to keep them from collapsing. Attach the ends to the middle using a drop of water or egg whites. Pinch the center to create the look of a real ribbon tied into a bow.
- From the same sheet of gum paste cut out another small strip approximately 3⁄4 inch wide and long enough to wrap around the center of the ribbon, about 3 inches. Wrap it around the center of the bow and attach the ends on the bottom with water or egg whites.
- To make the ribbon tails, cut one 8 x 3/4inch strip of gum paste and cut that strip in half. Cut out a triangle from the bottom of each tail. Let the tails dry on top of the rolled paper towel, allowing them to lie just as a real ribbon would, making sure that the ends that will sit under the bow are flat.
- When you are ready to assemble the bow and ribbons, attach the two ribbon tails to the cake with Royal Icing, then attach the bow on top of the two tails with the same icing. Hide the place where they are connected, only applying icing under the two larger parts of the bow and not in the center, so the bow looks like it was tied with one piece of ribbon.
Make the Daisies and Leaves
Daisies
Roll out 1 ounce of white gum paste as thin as you can on a plastic mat coated with shortening. Use the daisy cutter to cut out about 15 flowers. Place one flower at a time in the center of your hand. Use the ball tool to thin the individual petals of the daisy then lightly pinch the ends. Let the flowers dry with their petals raised, either in a shallow egg carton or on the sides of a sheet tray.
Leaves
Dye 1 ounce of gum paste lime green and roll it out to 1/16 inch thick on a plastic mat coated with shortening. Cut out approximately 30 leaves, either using a leaf cutter or a paring knife. Use your fingers to curve the edges of each leaf slightly, then let them dry in the curve on the edge of a sheet tray so they take on a curved shape.
Make and Assemble the Mini Cakes:
- Prepare the cake batter and bake in two half-sheet pans as directed in the recipe. Let them cool for 20 minutes, remove from pans, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for at least one hour. (This will make the cakes easier to cut.)
- While the cakes are chilling, make the frosting and Royal Icing.
- Cut the cake into fifteen 4 x 4-inch squares. For each cake, place a dab of frosting on each cardboard square and place a square of cake on top.
- Coat the bottom layer of cake with approximately 1⁄2 inch of filling and place the next layer of cake on top then repeat. Each cake will consist of 3 layers of cake and 2 layers of filling. After the top layer of cake is on, push down slightly to secure the layers. They should be approximately 4-inch cubes. Place the cubes in the refrigerator and chill for 1 hour or until the frosting is firm.
- Make sure the edges are completely even by trimming with a serrated knife. Cut away any cardboard that is showing either with a serrated knife or scissors. Crumb coat each cake with a thin layer of frosting.
- Dye the fondant your desired colors. For the cakes pictured here, we used pale green, pale pink, hot pink, lime green, and white. You will use approximately 12 ounces of fondant to cover each cake.
- On a smooth surface dusted with cornstarch, roll out the fondant to 1/8 inch thick. Cover each cake with rolled fondant and trim. Use the fondant smoothers and your fingertips to create straight sides and sharp corners.
- To decorate the individual cakes as pictured here, follow the specific instructions below. If you want to add letters, dye approximately 3 ounces of gum paste hot pink. On a plastic mat greased with shortening, roll out the gum paste to ¼ inch thick. Cut out the letters with your letter cutters and trim them so they are straight. Decorate the letters using white Royal Icing in a pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip. Pipe dots in a random pattern.
Daisy Cake
This cake is covered in pale pink fondant, created using the rose pink gel color. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a #2 pastry tip with white Royal Icing. Use the icing to attach three sets of two leaves to each side of the cake. Attach one daisy with each set of leaves as shown. Dye ¼ ounce of gum paste bright pink, roll it out to 1/16 inch thick, and cut out 15 circles using a #10 pastry tip. Attach the circles to the centers of the daisies with a dab of water. Pipe three dots of white Royal Icing with a #2 tip on each side of the cake to fill the spaces between the flowers.
Pale Green Cake
This cake is covered in pale green fondant, created using a small amount of leaf green gel color and a touch of lemon yellow. Fill a small pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip with hot pink Royal Icing. Pipe hot pink dots in nine horizontal rows on each side. Every other row should line up, and the rows in between should have the dots fall in the center of the rows above and below. Pipe in a consecutive pattern, and use a ruler to guide you by placing it at the bottom of the cake.
Hot Pink Cake
This cake is covered with a hot pink fondant that was made from ribbon pink and super red food-coloring gels. Dye 1 ounce of gum paste lime green and roll it out to 1/16 inch thick. Cut four strips that are 3/8 inch wide and 4 inches long for the bottom border of the cake. Attach them to the bottom edge of the cake with a dab of water or egg whites. Use a #809 pastry tip to cut out about 15 dots and place them on the cake with dabs of water and a small paintbrush. Use a pastry bag fitted with a #2 pastry tip and filled with white Royal Icing to pipe borders around each dot and evenly spaced along the bottom border.
Plaid Cake
This cake is covered in white fondant. Divide 3 ounces of gum paste in half and dye one portion hot pink and the portion half green. Roll out the two colors, in separate sheets, to 1/16 inch thick on plastic mats coated with shortening. Use a ruler and a paring knife to cut different size stripes in order to create a random pattern. We cut all the horizontal stripes first and placed them on the sides of the cake and then finished with longer stripes that intersected at the top. Attach the strips by brushing the backs with a tiny amount of water.
From top to bottom, these are the sizes we used horizontally on four sides, leaving the top blank:
Green: ½-inch
Green: ¼-inch
Pink: 3/8-inch
Pink: ¼-inch
Pink: 3/4-inch
From left to right, these are the sizes we used vertically—they intersect on top:
Green: ¼-inch
Pink: ¾-inch
Green: ½-inch
Pink: 1/8-inch
Pink: ¼-inch
Bow Cake
This cake is covered in a lime green fondant, made from leaf green and lemon yellow food coloring gels. Dye 1 ounce of gum paste hot pink and roll it out to 1/16 inch thick. Use a #806 pastry tip to cut out approximately 64 dots. Glue them onto the sides of the cake with little dabs of water applied with a small paintbrush. Use a bit of Royal Icing to attach the sugar bow you made in advance to the top of the cake. (Follow step #5 above in the method for making the bow.)
