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July 28, 2016 by Lauren

Sailboat Birthday Cake

Sailboat Cake

I love making themed cakes for children’s birthday parties, especially for family and friends, as you get to see the child’s excitement when they first see the cake (not to mention eating it!). My nephew loves boats. For his 2nd birthday he had a nautical themed party and asked for a sailboat birthday cake. I did a lot of research into different types of sailboat cakes and many of them seemed really complicated. I’ve tried to make this cake as easy as possible.

The first step is to find a large rectangular baking pan.

When making themed birthday cakes I don’t want to spend all my time baking and mixing the cake so I always use my fool proof trick ‘how to make a packet cake taste like homemade’ which you can find here. For this cake I used two packet cake mixes.

So, this is how you make a sailboat birthday cake!

Sailboat Cake

Once baked and cake has completely cooled cut like so.

I recommend making the cake the day prior to decorating as you can store it in the fridge overnight, making  the cake easy to cut and alleviating any worry about it breaking into pieces, especially if it is a very moist cake like this one.

Sailboat Cake

Now position how you would like the sailboat cake to be placed and check the cut is correct. As you can see it looks pretty rough but icing will cover any lumps and bumps. The good part is if you wanted to make the sailboat smaller you could trim the cake now to change the size or correct any errors in cutting.

Sailboat Cake

It’s time to frost the cake! I started with the white frosting for the sails. You can find my frosting recipe here. Add a few drops of Wilton White White Icing Color to get that crisp colour.

Frosting Tip #1

The best way to frost when you have exposed cake crumbs from cutting into a shape is to do a rough icing layer collecting cake crumbs and all. Once frosted then refrigerate for 15 mins. This will allow the icing to set and then when you do the final layer the cake crumbs will be set and won’t run into the top layer of icing.

Sailboat Cake

Here is the top layer. As you can see, it’s smooth with not a cake crumb in site.

Frosting Tip #2

To make the top layer of frosting super smooth use a metal spatula and before smoothing dip the spatula into a cup of boiling water, quickly wiping off excess water and then slowly running the spatula across the frosting.

Sailboat Birthday Cake

Before the frosting set, I decorated the sails, opting for a simple pattern made with smarties.

Sailboat Cake

Now for the base of the sailboat cake. I used my favourite chocolate frosting recipe. It always works and tastes delicious. Click here…. My Favourite Chocolate Buttercream!

Frosting Tip #3

I always use an offset icing metal spatula, see example offset icing metal spatula. This type of spatula helped to create the indents in the frosting of the boat section of the cake.

Sailboat Cake

It’s time to add the top sail and place onto your cake board. For the top sail I just cut a small flag out of blue wrapping paper and doubled it over securing around a toothpick.

Sailboat Cake

Happy 2nd Birthday James!

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Boys Party Inspiration, Kids Parties, Party Cakes, Tutorials Tagged With: Boys Party, Chocolate Cake, Frosting, Icing, Kids Parties, Nautical Theme, Sailboat Cake, Tutorials

August 13, 2015 by Lauren

My Favourite Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

One of my favourite childhood memories is when my Mum would bake me a birthday cake. My sister and I would have spent weeks pouring over the Australian Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book to select our cake. When the time came to ice the cake it would be a fight over who got to lick the beaters!

Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

This is my very favourite Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting which always reminds me of my Mum’s. When I have made cakes for friends’ birthdays they always ask ‘How do you make this icing? It is amazing!’ Well, here it is. My secret recipe. Once you make this, you will never want to use another icing or frosting again!

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting/Icing

Start by beating the butter for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

Sift in icing sugar one cup at a time along with a third of the milk each time and then mix on low speed. Repeat until all icing sugar and milk has been combined.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

Sift cocoa powder and then mix on low speed for thirty seconds or until well combined.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

This is what it should look like after cocoa powder has been mixed in. Don’t worry if your icing/frosting is a bit stiff as the chocolate is yet to come.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

My favourite part… adding melted chocolate! Mix until well combined on low speed. I always use dark chocolate as have found milk chocolate makes the icing sickly sweet. But, if you love all things sweet you can use dairy milk or for that matter any chocolate you like.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

The finished product… it’s time to lick the beater! This recipe will make enough icing/frosting for approximately 12 to 18 cupcakes depending on size or one large round or square cake.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting

Happy Frosting!

 

Save Print
My Favourite Chocolate Buttercream Icing/Frosting
Author: www.theloveofcake.com
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time:  10 mins
Total time:  10 mins
 
Ingredients
  • 250 grams (9 ounces) butter
  • 600 grams (21 ounces) or 4 cups pure icing sugar
  • 60 ml or ¼ cup full cream milk
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa
  • 300 grams (10.5 ounces) dark chocolate
Instructions
  1. At least one hour prior to making icing remove butter from fridge. This will ensure butter is at room temperature and easy to work with
  2. Melt chocolate and set aside to cool
  3. Cube butter and place in bowl. Beat on high until light and fluffy
  4. Add sifted icing sugar one cup at a time along with a third of the milk and beat on high until well combined
  5. Add sifted cocoa powder and mix until well combined
  6. Mix in melted chocolate on a low speed
3.2.2929

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Filed Under: Blog, Chocolate, Icing/Frosting, Recipes Tagged With: Buttercream Frosting, Buttercream Icing, Cake Frosting, Cake Icing, Chocolate buttercream, Chocolate Frosting, Chocolate Icing, Cupcake Frosting, Cupcake Icing, Frosting, Icing

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