Wedding-Dress-Shaped Cake
Ingredients:
Cake-Shaping Strip (from 7 sushi-mat segments)
Heavy-duty aluminum foil
Sheet pan
Prepared cake batter (see the White-Chocolate Raspberry Cake batter or prepare batter using about 1 box of cake mix)
Frosting (see the White-Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe or use about 2 (16-ounce) containers of white frosting)
Fondant (see the White-Chocolate Marshmallow Creme Fondant recipe)
Food dye
Instructions:
1. Line a sheet pan with a vertical sheet of heavy-duty foil. Shape the Cake-Shaping Strip into a shape of a wedding dress. Exaggerate the spatial features, as they'll seem smaller after you unwrap and ice the cake. Wrap the bottom foil layers around the strip. Cut the foil and add extra bottom foil strips as needed to wrap around the strip. (For example, use one 2-inch horizontal strip to wrap around the waste of the dress.) Press small balls of loosely packed foil into outer corners or edges if you think that the foil didn't wrap around the portion well enough to prevent cake-batter leakage (e.g., around the sleeves).
2. Prepare your cake batter. Spray the strip and foil with cooking spray. Pour the cake batter into the prepared "pan". Bake the cake until done, and let the cake cool.
3. Cut away any cake batter that leaked through the strip. Carefully remove the Cake-Shaping Strip. Insert the flat edge of a table knife between the strip and the cake if this helps.
4. After the cake is cool, place another pan on top of the cake and invert the pans. Take off what is now the top pan and carefully pull away the bottom foil layer. Put another (or the original) pan on the cake's bottom (now facing upwards). Invert the pans again.
5. Prepare the white frosting (e.g., the White-Chocolate Buttercream Frosting) and the fondant. Roll out the fondant between vinyl mats greased with cooking spray. Remove the top vinyl mat.
6. Spread a medium-thick and even layer of the white frosting on the cake. Flip the bottom mat (with the rolled out fondant) on the cake. Gently press the fondant into the cake (while creating subtle skirt folds), and cut away the excess. Cut away the excess fondant.
7. Add a little food dye to the remaining white frosting frosting. If the frosting is too thick, add some water, a few drops at a time. Spoon the colored frosting into a piping bag, and decorate the cake with dots, curvy lines and a waistline.
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