Tea Party Kids Cakes and Birthday Parties

I just added a new Tea Party birthday theme with kids cakes and party ideas to my website. This is such a fun birthday theme for little girls that love to have pretend tea parties. Think miniature sandwiches and tiny cupcakes. A tea pot kids cake is perfect for this type of party. The cake pictured above was actually made using the princess carriage cake pan from Wilton (you can get full instructions for the cake on Wilton's website). Another idea is to use a sphere shaped cake pan to make a ball. Then simply decorate it and add a spout and a handle. You could also just make a sheet cake and use a miniature tea set as a cake topper. Plenty of fun ideas for an old fashioned tea party!

Roses Class Complete!

Well - I completed my first professional cake class yesterday and learned how to make gumpaste roses. My full bloom rose is in the picture above and I think it turned out OK for a first attempt. I had such fun learning how to make them and am now dying to make some more so I can experiment with colors, etc. If anybody reading this lives in the Bay Area then check out Baking Arts for their classes. Richard is a great teacher, very patient, and I will definitely be signing up for more classes as soon as I can find the time :)

Chocolate Decorations For Kids' Cakes

Here's another idea for an easy way to decorate your kids cakes. Make a standard cake and then make some homemade chocolates using a fun candy mold and some colored candy melts. Use your homemade chocolates to decorate the cake. In the picture above, I made a Spiderman kids cake, covered it in red fondant and then decorated it with blue and black fondant circles and black chocolate spiders.

I got my spider chocolate mold from Into The Oven. They have a large selection to choose from. You can buy candy melts from Wilton or just buy some white chocolate chips, melt them down and use some food coloring to color them before pouring into the mold. Make sure to let the chocolate harden all the way in the refrigerator before removing them from the mold. And don't leave your finished cake in the sun or your chocolates will melt all over the cake.

You're only as limited as your imagination with this technique!

Character Kids Cakes And The Star Tip

One of the easiest ways to make kids' cakes is to buy shaped character cake pans. They come with very detailed instructions that are simple to follow. You can use a cake box mix to make the cake and even buy pre-made decorator frosting. The mainstay of all these cakes is the star tip and learning to make good looking stars will help your cakes look awesome.

To make well-formed and uniform stars when frosting, follow these 3 easy steps:

Step 1 - Fit your decorating bag with tip #16 and fill the bag about 1/2 full with medium consistency icing. Hold the decorating bag at ninety degrees straight up and down with the tip 1/8 inch above the surface of the cake. Squeeze the bag to form star.

Step 2 - Stop the pressure and pull the tip straight up and away from the cake.

Step 3 - You can increase or decrease pressure to change the size of your stars. To ensure neatly formed stars, you must stop squeezing the bag before you pull the tip away from the cake.

Easter Kids Cakes

With Easter fast approaching, are you looking for some cute ideas for Easter cakes? Here's a fun idea - make some small egg-shaped cakes (Wilton sells a small egg-shaped cake pan that works perfectly for this). Frost the cakes in a light layer of buttercream and then use colored fondant to cover the cakes. Use small cookie cutters to make a variety of small fondant shapes like flowers and dots and attach them to the cakes with a little dab of water. Your kids will love to help with this part. Voila! You now have Easter egg kids cakes perfect for Easter fun!