While we’re in sunny Florida, I’m pleased to welcome Jamie from Pure Joy to the blog! Jamie’s here to teach us how to make a 2 shaped birthday cake. I love the idea of a birthday number cake — it would work with any party theme
“Thank you so much Jennifer for having me here today! I hope you’re having a great vacation!”
“Let me introduce myself really quick before I share a birthday cake “2-torial” with you! My name is Jamie and I blog over at Pure Joy. I am married to an amazing man who is a Lutheran pastor and we have four adorable children, 6 and under. I love to do anything and everything crafty; my husband says I have a new hobby every week. While that’s not entirely true, I do love to try my hand at just about every crafty and creative thing out there. I love to make birthday cakes for my kids. I’ve made Mickey Mouse ears, baseball cakes, a train cake, a butterfly cake, a princess cake, a ballerina cake, a race track, and others along the way.”
“Today I’m going to share with you a quick tutorial on how to make a number 2 shaped cake. My third child just turned two this past October and I was stuck on what kind of cake to make for her. We try to do cakes related to things they are interested in and well, Hannah doesn’t seem to have any certain things that she loves more than others (well, besides her siblings, but that would make for a weird cake). So my hubby came up with a great idea to just make a “2” cake.”
“I baked the cake in my grandma’s old jello mold and a loaf pans. The jello mold took 22 minutes to bake and the loaf pan cake took 30 minutes so make sure to check with a toothpick and don’t assume they’ll be done at the same time.”
“I traced the jello mold and then folded the circle in half 4 times then I cut a two part section off hoping it would be a good size to make the top curving part of the two! Lucky guess, it worked great!”
“I used the little cut paper piece as a cutting template for myself. Then I put the cake on my foil lined baking sheet and made it look like a 2.”
“I took the loaf cake and cut it in half the long way and cut each half in half. I put the top halves aside because they were uneven and I knew I wouldn’t need them. Then I put frosting between the two layers of the bottom of the 2 and a little frosting between the parts where the curve met.”
“I then put the cake in the freezer for a bit so I could frost it without a ton of crumbs. One trick I’ve learned is to put some wax paper under the edges of the cake so that the frosting doesn’t get on the plate.”
“I do a crumb coat…it’s just a thin layer of frosting to help contain the crumbs. After the crumb coat is on, I put it back in the freezer for about 30 minutes and then I’ll put the final layer of frosting and decorations on the cake.”
“I added one more layer of frosting…smoothed things out the best I could and added a few pink decorations. I was finishing up the decorating at my parents house right before the birthday dinner…procrastination at its finest!”
“I hope you can find this helpful for a party you’re planning or file it away for future use. Feel free to stop by my blog and say hello!! Thanks again for letting me stop by Jennifer!”
Keep up with Jamie
http://jamespurejoy.blogspot.com/
I have been trying to find how to do an age 2 cake for my granddaughter, and this is how I figured out I would do it! Some very helpful hints on here (crumb coat for one!), but am a bit worried how to transfer the whole from the baking sheet to the finished tray.
Hi Annie – After you bake the cake, assemble and frost it on a cake board. (You can find them at WalMart and craft stores.) Then, just move the cake board to your serving tray. Good luck!
Thanks for the tips Jennifer! Will get my OH to make me a board, we are miles from any stores that might sell a proper one. Trouble is, I am a bit of a messy decorator – I’ll keep the kitchen roll handy!