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My 6 year old asked for a chocolate cake with white frosting for Christmas dinner. I want to make something super cool to look at but I'm just having a mental block on it.
I don't want to really buy anything special to make it, I have all the usual round and square pans, and a bunch of Christmas themed cookie cutters. I have some holiday color sparkle gel frosting left too.
I love chocolate + peppermint. What about adding a touch of peppermint extract to the batter or frosting, and sprinkling some finely crushed candy canes on top? Or making a candy cane stripe pattern with red gel?
Go simple. If you can find fresh raspberries, powder them with vanilla confectioner's sugar to make them look candied (but they're fresh) to decorate the top. You can probably find vanilla powder somewhere, or you can infuse regular powdered sugar with vanilla bean, or you can just use powdered or fine sugar. With vanilla powder and/or fine sugar you can roll the berries in (pasteurized) egg whites then dust to coat them. Garnish with mint leaves.
Using "candied" blueberries or raspberries is easier to make a trim than piping decorations. Or, you can smooth the top of your cake take a doily and dust the stencil with cocoa powder to make a pattern. If you keep the doily on and lightly dust over the cocoa with powdered sugar, the pattern should have depth but not be so contrast-y on the white icing with the cocoa powder alone. Then remove the stencil. I'd frost and dust the top first, then frost the side so it stays clean. You can still use the berries for trim.
you can stack the square cakes opposite eachother (so the edges stick out) so it looks sort of like a christmas tree. i have dome this with cookies using star shapes. or you can make a cake in a rectangular pan and cut it into a tree shape and then have him help you "decorate" it.
if you use round pans, you can make a snow man.
My 6 year old asked for a chocolate cake with white frosting for Christmas dinner. I want to make something super cool to look at but I'm just having a mental block on it.
I don't want to really buy anything special to make it, I have all the usual round and square pans, and a bunch of Christmas themed cookie cutters. I have some holiday color sparkle gel frosting left too.
Who has any creative ideas they can share?
Thanks!
I made an igloo-shaped cake a few years ago, baked it in a bowl! - chocolate cake inside, white frosting outside.
Fun and easy shapes to copy! but you can do anything
Such as... Jasmine Cottage Cakes (http://www.magfern-estates.co.uk/jasmine/pingu.htm - broken link)
Oooh Pingu might win it as it's my son's first Christmas (the 6 year old is my daughter) and my husband thinks the baby loves Pingu! I'd just have to figure out how to make a Pingu without buying anything...
Thanks for all the other suggestions too, all still under consideration!
Make a cut-out from cardboard or poster board of what shape you want. A Christmas Bow can be quite festive if frosted with some sparkling type gel frosting. Bake the cake in a regular square pan and then place the cut out on top of the baked cake and just cut around the cut-out. You can do anything without getting special molds.
Or you could keep the cake square and draw a ribbon and bow, as if it were a present.
That could be done. With the ribbon cutout, she could use the cutaway cake and make them into squares and small presents.
Julia, that reminds me when I had Christmas here at my house and I wrapped all the pictures hanging on the wall in the living room complete with ribbon and bows to match the Christmas tree - move over Martha Stewart.
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