Monday, May 11, 2009

Zombie Cakes, Resurrected

I hosted a friend's baby shower this past weekend, and I decided to show off my novice baking skills by baking her a cake from scratch. After spending way too much time deciding on what to bake, exactly, I found two recipes that seemed perfect for my giant cupcake pan--a white cake and nearly-professional buttercream icing.

So, at 7 p.m., I began baking.

I made two of these tops because, as it turns out, "non-stick" pans aren't truly non-stick. Having a crumbled cake did give me a chance to taste the goods before presentation, so it wasn't all bad. Jim said I could served the broken bits as "Baby Vomit," on par for the theme. (He was immediately banished from the kitchen for that comment.)


While the second top was baking, I started frosting the bottom half, trying to keep it together since it had broken when removed from the pan.

Then, on a whim, I decided to layer it with strawberries. I made the sauce, slathered it on the bottom half of the cake, and then watched in horror as it bled down the sides. I was nearly frantic. How does one present a bloody mushroom cake to a pregnant woman?



Quickly, I tossed on the almost-cool top and iced it with a color I had just mixed together.



As you can see, it was dreadful. At this point, I wondered how much it would cost to convince the baker to make a cake the morning of the party...but I kept at it, icing it more, making a new batch of icing, getting the piping done, and then I resurrected the zombie cake:



It looked like a circus tent, and less like a mushroom, which made me happy. Plus, I had some cute little cupcakes. I put it in the fridge, went to bed (it was 1 a.m. at this point), and dreamed of bleeding cakes. (Totally unsuitable for baby showers, btw.) When I was awakened by Monster Child #1 at 5:30 a.m., I ran downstairs and fully expected the cake to have fallen apart, or the strawberries to have leaked the bottom, but it was perfectly fine. And tasty, too. It was just too cute and I was so proud of myself.

Next time, though, I'm making a cake with just regular circular pans. None of this giant cupcake with strawberry layer mess. And I'm going to make it chocolate.

12 comments:

Martha Flynn said...

drool

Samantha said...

I am so glad you photographed the process. While the beginning made me laugh, just a little bit, more for the fact that I wouldn't attempt anything this outrageous, the end result is fun and fantastic. Put the regular pans away!

Amber Lough said...

It was super yummy...kind of like a fluffy pound cake.

Kelly Polark said...

That looked like it was a lot of work...but delicious! I bet it was a hit!

Meg Wiviott said...

I'm impressed. I would have thrown it away while it was in the bleeding mushroom stage and gone to Costco first thing in the morning. Their cakes are really good!

Val said...

The storyline is so funny! LOL.
Well done!

C.R. Evers said...

oh wow@ That cake is absolutely adorable! I think you did an awesome job and should be proud!

Vikki said...

Wow, very impressive save! Though, I have to say that even the bleeding cake looked yummy!

Anonymous said...

Wow, the cake turned out great in the end! Watching it evolve was a lot of fun though I'm sure it gave you a TON of stress. :D

Ronald L. Smith said...

Great. Now I want cake. And I am nowhere near a cake place. Store. Factory. Whatever

Edith said...

Hahaha! That is hysterical. Good for you for sticking with it. It's a cute circus tent! ;)

Christina Farley said...

Totally halarious but I have to say it turned out really cute. Way to go!