Seriously, this cake took up my whole day… well, at least from 9:00 Saturday morning till 7:00 p.m. I guess it was a “labor of love” because I did enjoy making it, but just between you and me, I should have made something more simple and gotten a few other things done during the day too! But… I didn’t… so I’ll just have to catch up tomorrow!
I told Rebecca I wanted to make a “fun” cake for this baby shower and she typed in “baby shower cakes” on Pinterest. Within a minute I saw the cake I wanted to copy… this fun cake was ducks swimming in what looked like a barrel of bubbles. I had no idea how to make it but studied the picture of it and a few others and decided I’d go for it. I used a strawberry cake mix for the cake part. That was the easiest part of the whole thing…
(I got so wrapped up in getting the 2 layers stuck together, I forgot to take any pictures of the in-between stuff.)
I had to make up some buttercream icing to hold the 2 layers together… it was kind of difficult because my cake was so fluffy it kept wanting to get crumbly on me. I put it in the freezer for a little while and that helped somewhat. ( I really need to read up on how to make cakes if I’m going to do them…) Once I got the bottom layer iced, I stacked them on top of each other and realized my buttercream icing wasn’t sticky enough to hold my Kit Kat bars in place around the edges. I needed something with more fluff… I made up a meringue frosting and used it on the sides of the cake and across the top… Then I was able to stick my Kit Kat bars, broken in sets of two’s, onto the side of the cake…
Rebecca helped me hold the ribbon in place while I tied it around the cake…
I decided not to have the whole cake top “bubbles” like the one I had seen on Pinterest… Kristoffer came over and said I should make the cake top blue like water, … I decided to go for it. I tinted the rest of my meringue frosting a light blue and gently spread it out across the top of the cake, from “barrel side to barrel side!” Then I sat my little Rubber duckies on the top…
(the lighting in my kitchen isn’t great so you can’t see how pretty blue the shiny “water” is, but it’s sweet!)
I think I was about ready to make my buttercream bubbles, when my mom came over. She needed me to hem a pair of jeans for her. (See, this was a sewing post after all!!!) When she left, it was time to get all those bubbles made…
Rebecca and I thought we could make the bubbles out of slightly softened marshmallows… Well, we tried, but they turned to fluff no matter if you left them in the microwave for 5 seconds or 10… So I proceeded to make a ga-zillion “bubbles” from my buttercream frosting that I had used to stick my cake together. I had put it in the frig so when I got it out the “bubbles” were pretty easy to roll in the palm of my hands… yes, each and every bubble was hand rolled by me! Rebecca thought this was “picture worthy!” (If you use half crisco and half butter, with clear vanilla, your buttercream frosting will be whiter than if you don’t. My pictures make my bubbles look yellowish but they are pretty white.)
I don’t know how many I rolled, but 3 plates full…
Then I started adding the “bubbles” around the duckies…
…aw… I think I need some more…
Rebecca and I decided to “fashion” a bar of soap out of the last little bit of buttercream frosting… she added some pink to it and I used a medicine cup and squished it on the sides to “cookie cutter” the shape… then we used a butterfly button of mine to emboss the front of the soap…
….the slippery bar of soap was added in the water, and this was our final look…
I think I’ll add my picture to Pinterest along with all the other ducky cakes… :o)
I didn’t feed my hubby any lunch and there was no dinner waiting for him when he came in from mowing the grass…so when I delivered the cake to the lady’s house who is hosting the baby shower, I stopped and got us a burger… It was the best tasting thing I’d eaten all day… actually, besides licking my finger every now and then, it was the ONLY thing I’d eaten all day! Silly woman!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a fun cake, Jeanne! Love the KitKat bars along the side too! I’m sure it tasted as good as it looked! So fun to see you do other “crafty” things and succeed in them! What kind of cake was on the inside?
Thank you to all the ladies who complimented me on Felicity’s Brown Church dress yesterday. I really had no clue that it would be such a difficult task, but it is finished and looks OK, but I certainly will try to make something easier next time!
HI Linda,
Thanks for the compliments on the cake… it was a strawberry cake with lots of buttercream, meringue and more buttercream icing on it. It wasn’t too terribly sweet though. I don’t know how, but it wasn’t.
Maybe you can make Felicity a new Summer dress or an early Fall dress… just saying… you’ve got the talent, so lets not see it go to waste!!!….just sayin’
Blessings, Jeanne
What a clever little cake for a baby shower! Isn’t it fun to make cakes that are whimsical!! You did a fantastic job!!!
I once made a butterfly cake by cutting the rounds in half and then putting the curved parts together to create the wings. I’ve made a bunny cake by using two rounds and cutting one to make ears and then using the remaining part for a bow-tie. My daughter got a Barbie cake where I took one of her dolls and placed her standing on the cake top and then made a cardboard skirt form and then added piped icing to decorate the skirt. My Mom always made us beautiful birthday cakes with formed roses just like the bakery does. They were so special.
HI Karen,
Thank goodness for Pinterest… I never would have thought of it by myself… but if I see a picture I can usually copy it pretty closely…
I’ve made those cakes too where you cut the pieces from the round cakes… bunny cakes were what I did the most of… but for Kristoffer’s 2nd birthday (I think) I made him a dinosaur cake with green icing… I’ll have to see if I can find that picture.
Cakes are fun and I love to be creative, but it’s funny, it’s the one thing I’ve never taken a class in our pursued…
Thanks Karen,
Blessings, Jeanne
I love the way that bucket turned out. I’ve never seen a cake done that way, and it really works. I’ve been thinking it was time for another food-related post, and here it is. Julia Child said once that “things take as long as they take.” She wasn’t in favor of hurry-up methods for everything — speed should not outrank taste. The other thing to remember is that you spent the day making a memory for yourself and your family and for everyone at the shower as well. I’ll bet is was worth the time it took.
And to Linda — isn’t Felicity pretty in brown? It was always one of my favorite colors. And I love what you’ve done with her hat. Someone said that yesterday and she was right.
HI Marilyn,
I’m back to finish my comments…too busy of a day for me… I’m hoping to head to bed soon…
I did enjoy making the cake and visiting with everyone today and we all had a nice time, but now I have a sink full of dishes from yesterday and I don’t want to do them tonight… I’ve already decided they will wait till tomorrow..
I don’t think I thanked your properly for the time it took you to write out and research all that about the reticules… thank you Marilyn… that was nice!
Thanks again,
Blessings, Jeanne
So adorable, Jeanne! OK, so here’s my question — How does one cut that cake? (Or who would want to cut it and mess it up).
HI Ann,
Well, they didn’t want to cut it at first, but I just said give me a knife and I cut it between the two Kit Kat bars…all the way around the cake. It worked out wonderfully and kept the pieces all the same size and evenly spaced. It was pretty good too! :o)
Thanks Ann,
Blessings, Jeanne
That cakes looks wonderful. 🙂
HI Christine,
It WAS pretty wonderful too… if I do say so myself! Just the right mix of cake and frosting…and then the candy Kit Kat bar was the extra treat to go along with the slice!
There were 3 slices left that I got to bring home to my hubby…he was thrilled!
Blessings, Jeanne
Hi Jeanne,
What a sweet cake… I do believe you are one of the most talented ladies I know. When I saw the title of your blog I instantly imagined you working on one of those diaper cakes .. rolling each diaper and holding it in place with a little rubber band so that they can be used after the shower. Seems like one of those “cakes” would take one full day to get together. I have pinned a few in pinterest because one day my Danielle is going to make me a grandma ..fingers crossed LOL Any who enough of me wishing for a new grandbaby to spoil. I’m sure your cake is as tasty as it is cute.
Linda.. your dress is so pretty. You should be proud, that fabric is not very easy to work with. Good job!
Enjoy your Sunday!
HI Ingrid,
Those diaper cakes can take a lot of time too… I’ve done a few of them and even did a post one time on one my daughter and I did called a Guitar cake, but I’ve searched in my posts and can’t find it right now…
My ducky cake was pretty tasty and I didn’t hear any complaints about not liking it… so I guess it was okay…
Thanks so much Ingrid…
Blessings, Jeanne
Wow Jeanne- you are so talented!! The cake is adorable and so clever!!
It will be a hit at the shower and I’m sure the cake will be talked about for a long time.
Beyond that, I must say” Cake is my weakness.” Wedding cakes? Oh my goodness!! Yum yum!
Anyway, you get an A+++++++ for determination and perserveering on a project like that!!
HI Paula,
Thank you very much for your kind compliments on my cake. I don’t really know what I’m doing but I enjoy learning… I like wedding cake too… there are so many choices these days for brides… in my day, we just picked a lady who was said to bake good cakes and that was that!
Thank you so much,
Blessings, Jeanne
Well done, Jeanne. What fun to see how this cake turned out in the creative hands of you and daughter Rebecca. It’s nice to see such variety in your blogs.
Blessings.
Thanks Becky,
I’m glad you like variety because there was no time for sewing today or yesterday so there might be “variety” as you call it tomorrow!
Thanks so much,
Blessings, Jeanne
Luv the cake! You have so much talent. The only cake I can make is a bundt. No layers for me. Plop some flowers in the middle hole and I’m done.:) I’ll bet the shower people loved it. Have a nice Sunday.
HI Joy,
I think your bundt cake with the flowers in the middle sounds wonderful! I think the novelty of the cake was the best part… little duckies swimming in a barrel… you don’t see that everyday! It was fun and yes, I did have a nice Sunday.. hope you did too!
Blessings, Jeanen
Creativity – no matter if it’s with fabric or frosting – all takes time! I love this cake! simply wonderful! (I can only crochet right now…. Mom is back in the hospital – so, crocheting is an easy ‘take it with you’ project).
HI Mary,
I like your line… fabric or frosting… I guess I’m a jack of all trades so to speak… I do dabble in a lot of stuff… and it usually gets me in trouble… not so much bad trouble… time trouble!
I hope you get some nice things crocheted while your mom is in the hospital. I’m sorry she’s in there. I hope it won’t be for long…
Thank you Mary,
Blessings, Jeanne
Each of you is very creative, but put you and Rebecca together and . . . Watch Out! What a creative pair. The cake is just great, the bar of soap the finishing touch! Thanks for sharing it with us.
HI Susette,
Rebecca and I were talking in the kitchen yesterday and I asked her what were her plans after she graduates in December… She said she wasn’t sure… but I made no bones about telling her I wasn’t looking forward to the day when she moves out… we had a little “moment” right there while rolling buttercream “bubbles.”
Thank you for your sweet compliments on the cake… it was fun to make…
Blessings, Jeanne
Love your cake idea!! Of course, MY favorite part is the KitKats!! LOL (My dh is the cake-eater around here….)
Your bubbles turned out really cute, and that little bar of “soap” was just the perfect touch! (I hope you remembered to wash your hands after you licked your fingers! In our 4-H kitchens, licking fingers would cause you to lose points! LOL)
If you should ever do something else (cake-wise) that requires “water”, keep in mind tintable piping gel–you get it where the Wilton stuff is sold. You take out however much you need, tint it the color you need, and spread or pipe it where you want. Grocery stores seem to carry tiny tubes of already-tinted piping gel, but I imagine it would take two or three of them to “fill” that tub! LOL