Stabilized Whipped Cream for Icing

This was a lesson in humility.

This cake was for my husband's birthday, so you can imagine that I wanted to do a great job. Lemon is his favorite flavor, so I made a white cake (using the KAF recipe for Tender White Cake) with lemon curd filling and whipped cream icing. I modified the lemon curd recipe from BakeWise, and confidently documented it.

Well, it didn't thicken in time.

So I decided to go ahead with blogging about the stabilized whipped cream instead. Jim still loved the cake; I will serve a funny-looking cake, but not a bad one.

I modified this method from Rose's Heavenly Cakes

I cooked 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a small saucepan. I brought the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly with a silicone scraper.

I then transferred the "pudding" to a bowl and refrigerated it until cool. This didn't take very long, with only 1/2 cup liquid.

Before I was ready to serve the cake, I put the mixer bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer. When they were cold, I whipped 1½ cups heavy cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract on high speed to soft peaks.

The I switched the mixer to medium-low and spooned in the chilled "pudding", allowing each spoonful to incorporate before adding the next.

By the time I finished, the cream was at stiff peaks.

I frosted the cake, being just a little more gentle than usual. I served it immediately, but I could have held it for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. Whipped cream should not be kept very long at room temperature, especially on a hot day, as will melt and drip.

If you want whipped cream that will hold at room temperature, you need to use gelatin. I couldn't find my gelatin—I really need to organize my baking supplies :-) The cornstarch is softer than gelatin, and I couldn't taste it.

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Cake Serving Sizes for the Amateur

How many people does a 9" cake serve? It seems like a simple question, but it can get very complex.

There seem to be two commonly used charts: Wilton's and Earlene's. Wilton says that a two layer 9" cake serves 32. Earlene's Cakes says a 9" cake serves 22. Straightforward, if contradictory.

However, both of these amounts are using the industry standard serving size of 1" × 2". That is a piece of cake the size of the business end of a fork.

Picture from Wikipedia

Everyone agrees that this is very small, but everyone also agrees that this is the standard. A standard is important because many cakes are priced by the serving.

For those of use who want to eat cake, there is something called the Party Serving. We're getting a little better here.

But how do I cut my son's birthday cake? And what if I would rather cut wedges than concentric circles? What about home bakers and amateur party party planners, for whom the industry standard isn't relevant, but appetites are?

Well, I did some research, did a lot of math, and cut some cakes. I drew from Lark Cake Serving Guide, which I found to be the most clear.

According to Lark Bakery, 10" is the largest round cake that can be cut into wedges. That's the largest size on my cake serving chart.

I used two differently sized slices: generous and sensible. My sensible portion is about the size of a cupcake, and my generous portion is, well, generous. As Wilton does, I assumed that the cake is two layers deep. The cake above is cut into generous portions. Specifically, a generous portion is approximately 6.5 square inches, with a piece 2 by 3½-inches. A sensible portion is 3.5 square inches, with a piece 1¾ by 2-inches.

Round Cake Cutting Diagram

Round Cake Servings

Diameter, inches	Generous	Sensible
6	4	8
7	6	10
8	8	14
9	10	18
10	12	22

 

For smaller square and rectangular cakes, it is convenient to think of how to divide a cake along its edge—in thirds, fourths, or sixths. I have listed how to cut the slices on each edge for all sizes but 13 by 18-inch, which is in my experience too large to cut that way.

Square and Rectangular Cake Servings

Size	Generous	Divisions by length	Divisions by width	Sensible	Divisions by length	Divisions by width
8-inch Square	9	3	3	16	4	4
9-inch Square	12	4	3	24	6	4
9 by 13-inch	18	6	3	32	8	4
13 by 18-inch	36	—	—	64	—	—

 

11/12/2012—updated to clarify picture source

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Frozen Buttercream Transfer (Crab Cake)

Frozen buttercream transfers allow you to put an image on a cake. It allows you to use images from online or books, which is important because many people are not comfortable drawing freehand. Also, the transfer technique allows you to work slowly and correct your mistakes as you go. This works very well for cartoon characters for children's cakes.

There are two YouTube videos I found helpful. Wilton's video does a cartoon character with outlining. Seriouscakes does a more advanced transfer from a photo—wow!

This is sheet cake for my church's annual crab feast. In Maryland we take our crabs seriously, and crab feasts are very important.

It was a large event so I made a half sheet cake from two 9" × 13" cakes. I used my Damp Yellow Cake and American Buttercream recipes. You need to use homemade frosting as the fat needs to be at least 50% butter so it will freeze hard enough.

I started by looking up drawings of crabs online. I eventually settled on a this How to Draw a Crab page. My said that a more realistic crab is too gross to put on a cake. He's not from Maryland.

I did my pencil sketch on a sheet of 9" × 11" paper.

I then went over it with Sharpie.

I taped the image to a cutting board, and taped wax paper over it. Everyone seems to use wax paper and not parchment, but I'm not sure why. You can use anything flat that you can move to your freezer in place of the tutting board.

I colored my icing with a mixture of red, yellow, and brown Wilton icing colors, then piped an outline using a #2 round tip.

I filled in the outline with a combination of blobs and zig zags.

I let the frosting crust and smooshed it down with Via paper towels and my hands.

I inelegantly went over the whole design with white icing

and smoothed it with an icing spatula.

I froze the design for 45 minutes. You are supposed to freeze it for at least 90 minutes, but I was running late. Finally I turned the design onto the cake and removed the paper.

Good luck with your cakes!

 

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Fresh, Raw Fruit "Cake"

A very good friend of mine was having a baby shower, but she doesn't eat sugar or sugar substitutes. I made a "cake" out of fresh fruit for her, and everyone loved it.

I found other examples before I started. There's a beautiful cake on the Kids With Food Allergies Facebook page and an adorable cake with a cantaloupe dinosaur on it at See My Footprints. I was also inspired by The Healthiest Cake Ever at The Daily Dish.

Cake is a sometimes food (with apologies to Cookie Monster). But for some people with dietary restrictions, cake is, sadly, a never food. This fresh fruit cake is a great celebratory treat for those who don't eat cake.


All of the cakes I looked at use watermelon for the cake base. Watermelon is the largest commonly available fruit in North America without an inedible core.

Cantaloupe is great for accents as it is relatively large. I picked purple grapes for the color contrast, and blackberries because they are so beautiful. In The Healthiest Cake Ever, they use bananas, and the white is a great contrast. I don't recommend bananas in most circumstances though, as they get brown and slimy very fast. I would only use bananas if I was serving at home and the bananas could be added just before serving.

My husband did the initial trimming for me. This is a very juicy, messy project, so you will want to use a cutting board that catches juice or line your counter with towels.

I cut the watermelon in half, and trimmed into a circle. I used my cake leveler to make the tops level.

I cut one layer into a smaller circle.

Then I stacked the layers, using toothpicks to secure them. I used lots and lots of toothpicks in the cake.

I used a $4 Walmart pizza pan as a platter. I trimmed the cantaloupe wedges and arranged them into a spiral, reserving one large wedge.

I also attached half grapes to the sides with toothpicks. You will want to use similarly sized grapes, and push in the toothpick before you attach the grape. I used the back of a small metal spoon to push in the toothpicks without poking my fingers.

This is when both of my kids had meltdowns, so I wiggled the melon under a large mixing bowl, and refrigerated it overnight. It turns out that I preferred the melons in a tighter spiral.

The next morning, I used the reserved cantaloupe to carve a rose. I've seen that in many crafts a rose is made with a spiral, so that's where I started.

I made a teacup shape, then cut spiral arcs on the larger surface. I then widened the arcs by cutting and removing wedges of melon along the initial cuts. It would be fine if you cut a continuous spiral instead of the shorter arcs. The wedges you remove are necessary though, as that's what defines the petals.

I decided that the grape halves looked too much like beetles, so I cut them into three petals. I attached the rose and blackberries, then scattered the rest of the blackberries over the cantaloupe wedges.

Here's beautiful Julie with her cake.

The guest of honor ate the cantaloupe rose. I ended up removing all of the toothpicks before cutting the cake.

I hope this inspires you to use locally available fruit to make your own fruit cake.

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