She wanted a red velvet cake made with cream cheese frosting, and she wanted it decorated with a beard silhouette and "Happy Beard-Day" written on it. I was totally nervous, but excited for the challenge. This was the first time I had made a cake for someone else, and I definitely didn't want to screw it up. I immediately started researching what kind of piping tip I would need (well, more so just asking my sister-in-law if she had any idea what tip to use). She sent me a link to the tip I would need--Wilton Tip #233. As the days were leading up to making this cake, I was feeling a little anxious about how it would turn out. It could have gone one of two ways: either it would turn out totally awesome, or a complete disaster. (Keep in mind--whenever I make a cake, whether its this beard cake or a cake for my kids' birthday parties--I always get some sort of anxiety about how it'll turn out: I'm a perfectionist).
The day finally came and I was so excited! I baked all 4 layers of the red velvet cake first thing in the morning so that I'd be sure to have enough time to let them cool completely (I've made that mistake before--NEVER frost a cake if its even the slightest bit warm: it WILL melt the frosting and cause the layers to crumble to pieces). Once the layers were cooled, it was time to frost the cake. I made homemade cream cheese frosting (I'll post the recipe at the end of the blog), stacked the layers, then put my crumb coat on (I didn't have a blog when I made this, so unfortunately I don't have any step-by-step pictures for this cake. I'll be sure to do that in the future). Once the crumb coat was on, I gave the entire cake a nice, thick layer of frosting. I love lots of frosting on cakes; I'd much rather scrape some off while eating it rather than wishing there was more. Once I was done frosting it it was finally time to decorate it.
I needed to dye the remainder of the frosting a deep reddish-brown color to match the color of my friend's husband's beard--and let me tell you, that took a TON of food coloring. I used a little bit of orange, a LOT of red, and a little bit of green to deepen the color so that it wasn't such a ginger red.. you know what I mean? I sent lots of picture texts to my friend until she 'okayed' the color. Once that was made, it was time to design the beard. I didn't want to just start piping the frosting on and hope for the best, so I grabbed a toothpick and drew out the silhouette of the beard. Doing this made it so easy to change anything I didn't like; I'd just smooth out the frosting and re-trace it (which I did a few times). Once I was happy with the sketch, I started piping the frosting on. It actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would; I think I had built the whole thing up in my head and made it out to be harder than it actually was. When it was all said and done with, I was SO proud of this cake. This was definitely the manliest cake I had ever made ;). I dyed some frosting a deep green, put a "grass" trim around the base of the cake, then piped on "Happy Beard-Day Tim" and it was finished. It turned out amazing! I loved this cake. I thought it was such a fun concept and I was so happy that I could do it justice.
So if you're throwing an event and need a cake, shoot me a message--I'm sure we can figure something out ;)
The day finally came and I was so excited! I baked all 4 layers of the red velvet cake first thing in the morning so that I'd be sure to have enough time to let them cool completely (I've made that mistake before--NEVER frost a cake if its even the slightest bit warm: it WILL melt the frosting and cause the layers to crumble to pieces). Once the layers were cooled, it was time to frost the cake. I made homemade cream cheese frosting (I'll post the recipe at the end of the blog), stacked the layers, then put my crumb coat on (I didn't have a blog when I made this, so unfortunately I don't have any step-by-step pictures for this cake. I'll be sure to do that in the future). Once the crumb coat was on, I gave the entire cake a nice, thick layer of frosting. I love lots of frosting on cakes; I'd much rather scrape some off while eating it rather than wishing there was more. Once I was done frosting it it was finally time to decorate it.
I needed to dye the remainder of the frosting a deep reddish-brown color to match the color of my friend's husband's beard--and let me tell you, that took a TON of food coloring. I used a little bit of orange, a LOT of red, and a little bit of green to deepen the color so that it wasn't such a ginger red.. you know what I mean? I sent lots of picture texts to my friend until she 'okayed' the color. Once that was made, it was time to design the beard. I didn't want to just start piping the frosting on and hope for the best, so I grabbed a toothpick and drew out the silhouette of the beard. Doing this made it so easy to change anything I didn't like; I'd just smooth out the frosting and re-trace it (which I did a few times). Once I was happy with the sketch, I started piping the frosting on. It actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would; I think I had built the whole thing up in my head and made it out to be harder than it actually was. When it was all said and done with, I was SO proud of this cake. This was definitely the manliest cake I had ever made ;). I dyed some frosting a deep green, put a "grass" trim around the base of the cake, then piped on "Happy Beard-Day Tim" and it was finished. It turned out amazing! I loved this cake. I thought it was such a fun concept and I was so happy that I could do it justice.
So if you're throwing an event and need a cake, shoot me a message--I'm sure we can figure something out ;)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 oz (half of 8 oz package) of cream cheese softened
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1 to 3 teaspoons milk
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and milk with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk (a few drops at a time). Spread over cake and enjoy!*
*This makes a small amount. I quadrupled this recipe in order to frost in between 4 layers and frost the entire outside of the cake
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and milk with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk (a few drops at a time). Spread over cake and enjoy!*
*This makes a small amount. I quadrupled this recipe in order to frost in between 4 layers and frost the entire outside of the cake
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