April 15, 2012 - Baby Carriage Cake
Click here for short instructions
Last year, most of my cakes focused on holidays. This year will likely be a little different, with a focus on events that could be celebrated any time - birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, etc. With spring finally arriving around here, it just seemed like the right time for a baby-shower cake. Of course, this cake could be used at a baby shower or after a new baby is born:
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 Coconut Cake recipe below or use about 1 box of cake mix), white frosting (see the Coconut Buttercream recipe below or use 2 containers of white frosting), some food dye, and Peanut Butter Decorating Clay (look here about how to make this).
First, make a Cake-Shaping Strip as described here using eight sushi-mat segments. Line a sheet pan with two sheets of slightly overlapping foil. Shape the strip into a shape of a baby carriage. Then wrap your foil sheets around your strip. Cut the foil or use extra foil pieces where needed to wrap around the strip. You can also form loosely packed balls of foil and press them into corners (e.g., between the wheels and bottom of the carriage).
Now prepare your cake batter. Coconut seemed like a nice, refreshing flavor for a baby shower. Use about two boxes of cake mix or use the easy coconut cake recipe.
Coconut Cake
Ingredients:
2 boxes yellow or white cake mix
6 eggs
2/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 or 2 (7-ounce) package shredded coconut
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a pan with cooking spray.
2. Beat together the yellow cake mixes, eggs, canola oil and coconut milk. Stir in the coconut.
3. Pour batter in prepared pan. Bake for about 35 minutes or until done.
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Looking cute already:
Decorating this cake can be as simple or involved as you'd like. Generally, you can frost the entire cake in white, and pipe on some wheels and a cute. A few "extra" suggestions are below.
First, let's start out with some homemade but easy frosting. Note below that you can separate some of the frosting so that it doesn't all have coconut. I recommend setting aside about 1/3 of your frosting, so that you can smooth frost the wheels and use some for piping.
Coconut Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups coconut milk, divided
2 pounds (1 bag) powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
2 (7-ounce) packages shredded coconut
Instructions:
1. Beat together the softened butter, 1 pound (1/2 bag) powdered sugar, 2/3 cup coconut milk and salt. Gradually add the other poune (other 1/2 bag) powdered sugar and another 2/3 cup coconut milk. Stir in the coconut extract.
2. Separate any frosting that you want to have without coconut (e.g., for piping or smooth surfaces). Then add the coconut to the rest of the frosting.
3. Place frosting in the refrigerator. Add extra coconut milk or adjust the frosting's temperature to modify the frosting's consistency.
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Frost the wheels with the no-coconut frosting portion, and frost the rest of your cake with a thick layer of the coconut frosting. Dye some of the remaining no-coconut frosting black or brown, and pipe on wheels.
What can be really cute is to have a Little One popping out of the carriage. Based on your desired skin tone, you can make the Peanut-Butter Decorating Clay or Chocolate Decorating Clay recipe. You'll probably only need about half of the recipe, though it may be hard for a stand mixer to mix the ingredients in a smaller batch. Then just form a little head (and maybe hands) using the Decorating Clay. Dye the rest of the no-coconut frosting as desired and pipe on facial features, a hat, some text, etc.
How cute:
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