I know what you’re thinking. I’ve raised three boys and I’ve made a lot of cakes over the years, and I’m still using boxed cake mixes?! Yes, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. And yes, this is the first Tinker Bell cake I’ve ever made, but when your granddaughter turns three-it’s time for a serious ‘little girl’ kinda cake. And the little girl in me sure enjoyed making it!
Despite the challenge of living at altitude (6000ft), I have braved the ‘from scratch’ cakes, and I’m pow-wowing with the experts in the hopes of bringing you a somewhat reliable version in the near future; chocolate, of course. Scratch cakes come with a wonderful density and more complex flavor than anything in a box can promise. But those boxes can be counted on to bring you consistent enough results, the kind you need to give you a smooth, flat surface for decorating with fairies, dump trucks, gummy worms...whatever your little one’s heart desires!
Still, I draw the line at the cake. There’s no excuse to ever buy a Can-o-Frosting again! Frostings (aka Icing) are so simple to make and so much more delicious to eat. So back away from that can, here are a couple of great do-it-yourself frostings and some ideas for putting them to good use!
If you’ve ever watched Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee (http://www.semihomemade.com ), you get the idea. We take the easy part-the box-and then we do a little something ourselves to create a cake that makes you forget about that New Year’s resolution and spring for a second slice.
The Tinker Bell cake started with a boxed Strawberry Cake mix. If you live at altitude, follow the high altitude directions. If you can’t find Strawberry Cake, or you’re feeling lucky, here’s a quick do-it-yourself version which is probably even better:
Alternate Strawberry Cake: Using one box of White Cake mix, reduce the liquid by 1/3 cup, add all other ingredients called for, PLUS 1 cup strawberry preserves and 1/8 tsp. red food coloring. I would recommend also making some altitude adjustments per the box, if that’s necessary, as this one can be tricky. Just remember, when the center of a cake falls a bit, that’s what icing is for!
Okay, now let’s make it really special with homemade frostings. These two versions will serve you for many purposes. The Cream Cheese is awesome on Carrot Cake as well, and the Chocolate is standard practice for topping all my brownies. It’s also good between graham crackers, in a pinch.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Mix the following ingredients all together in a bowl until smooth and soft:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened (leave it out of the fridge for about 30 minutes)
6 Tb. butter (unsalted is great, but not necessary)
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice (cut a wedge and give it a good squeeze into the bowl-that should do it-watch for seeds!)
1-2 Tb. milk-Optional. Add this only if you feel your frosting is a little too thick to spread smoothly.
Creamy Chocolate Frosting: (this comes to us from Anne Byrn’s cookbook, Chocolate From theCake Mix Doctor. (http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/) Byrn has literally written the book-or books on tweaking boxed cake mixes to make wonderful creations that exceed any box’s expectations!) This is enough for brownies, but for a cake, I’d double it.
Mix the first 4 ingredients-start slow, or you’ll have cocoa powder flying everywhere!
3 Tb. butter (room temperature)
3 Tb. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tb. light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
After you’ve mixed these together (it will be kinda thick) add and mix until smooth and spreadable:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tb. milk
Tinker Bell Cake:
For the Tinker Bell cake, I used the chocolate frosting for the center (use it all-you want a thick layer), and then frosted the rest of the cake with the cream cheese frosting. I reserved about 1/2 cup of the cream cheese for decorating. I added green and yellow food coloring to the reserved frosting and then piped those little vines here and there. If you don’t have piping equipment, put it in a small baggie and snip off one bottom corner-instant piping tool!
I used pre-made store bought candy flowers at the end of each vine, and a colorful silk flower for Tink to sit upon. I cut the stem down to about 2 inches and slipped it into a cut off piece of a straw before sticking it into the cake. Tink’s small friends easily sat in the frosting, but Tink was a bit tippy...a problem that was solved by a drop of hot glue on her little behind before she sat down on the flower. (Yes, it peels off later and no fairies were hurt in the making of this cake!)
That’s it! We served the cake with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream-Yummm! Now go, make cake! J
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