January 1, 2012 - Football Cake
Click here for short instructions
Happy New Year readers! I hope that you a great last year and that the new year is thoroughly enjoyable as well. Now I am aware that some readers out there will be counting on their favorite NFL team to bring them some extra enjoyment for the year. And yes, the playoffs are nearly here - with just a few days remaining. In about a month, we're already at the Super Bowl. So it's time to starting thinking about football cakes:
To make this cake, you'll need a Cake-Shaping Strip (look here about how to make one), heavy-duty aluminum foil, a sheet pan, prepared cake batter (see the Chocolate Nutella Cake recipe below or use about 2 boxes of cake mix), chocolate frosting (see the Nutella Buttercream Frosting recipe below or use about 2 (16-ounce) containers of store-bought chocolate frosting), a paper towel, white fondant or frosting for decorations, and (optionally) red food dye.
First, make a Cake-Shaping Strip as described here using six sushi-mat segments. Line a sheet pan with 2 offset sheets of aluminum foil. Shape the strip into a shape of a football. Wrap the bottom foil sheets around the strip.
Now prepare your cake batter. You can make the batter using about two boxes of cake mix, or you can use the recipe below. I'm not going to pressure you into making the recipe below, but it does have Nutella. I said ... Nutella.
Chocolate Nutella Cake
Ingredients:
2 boxes devil's food or chocolate cake mix
2 (3.9.ounce) boxes of chocolate pudding mix
7 eggs
2 cups sour cream
2 1/3 cups water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 (13-ounce) jar Nutella (or other hazelnut spread)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a pan with cooking spray.
2. Beat the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, water and oil together. Fold in the Nutella.
3. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake until done (about 40 minutes).
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After separating the cake strip from the cake, this is how it looked:
There are many options for decorating this cake. One that I came very close to using was to apply an icing layer, and then cover the entire cake in mini chocolate chips. Instead, I wanted to try and showcase a new buttercream recipe. And yes, it also includes Nutella. So if you want to follow me with my decorating strategy, first make your frosting. Regardless of whether you make this frosting or use other frosting, feel free to add red food dye to the frosting if you'd like for the cake to have a slightly red tint.
Nutella Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup cocoa powder
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 (13-ounce) jar Nutella (or other Hazelnut spread)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Red food dye, optional
Instructions:
1. Place the softened butter in a mixing bowl.
2. Combine the cocoa powder and powdered sugar in a separate bowl. Set aside the 1/3 cup milk.
3. Add roughly one-third of the cocoa-powder mixture and one-third (about 2 tablespoons) of the milk to the butter. Beat the mixture. Repeat two times, adjusting the amount of milk added during the final addition if desired.
4. Stir in the Nutella, salt and cream of tartar. Add red food dye to obtain football color.
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If you can pry yourself away from taste tests, frost the cake with a medium-thick layer. Let the frosting completely dry. Then place a paper towel or napkin (I found the paper towel to work a bit better) over a portion of the frosting, and rub your hand over the paper towel in circular motions. Repeat this process over the entire cake. This will smooth the frosting and add impressions into the frosting surface based on the paper towel's texture. To give you a picture of what I'm talking about:
From here, just add on the football-type decorations. You can use fondant or white frosting for this. If you use our Easy Marshmallow Creme Fondant recipe, you'll only need a little bit of it. Preferably, you'll just have some extra on hand.
If you're using fondant, cut out two strips and place them on the cake to make the front and back strips on the football. You can roll out little rolls for the threads using your hands. If you're using frosting, just pipe the strips and threads on. Feel free to add further supportive decorations identifying your favorite team. You might even convert some of your friends after they taste how delicious the cake is.
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