But first, what is going on with this "spring"? I can't believe how cold it has been! We love to have our windows open, to freshen up the house and let the warm air in, but we've only really had one day we could do that so far. It's so frustrating! I want to stop wearing sweaters, and get out there to exercise with my family! Rant over. :)
So, I had the pleasure of "meeting" this client through my brother's girlfriend... she was looking for a fondant Disney Frozen cake, and I was really happy that I was referred to. I've been wanting to do a Frozen cake for awhile.. my youngest son is a huge fan of the movie and the soundtrack (it inspired him to join the school choir, boy, were we ever shocked!).
At any rate, we passed ideas back and forth and I sent her several photos of ideas for her daughter's cake. We liked elements from several cakes and I love combining ideas to make an original cake. I have to say, it's my favourite way to cake!
We decided to buy a toy figure for the top of the cake, because making one from fondant would be extremely time-consuming and costly for her. But when I couldn't find anything, I messaged her right away to find out how she wanted to proceed. Her amazing idea, that I never would have thought of, saved the day... and I immediately went to look for Disney Infinity characters. I've seen the figures, but never paid much attention before because I didn't know what they were for. When I found Anna, I was so relieved and could concentrate on the rest of the cake.
One of the ideas used was rock candy suckers in white and blue. By the time I figured out where to buy them, they were being discontinued and the only colours left were red, green and purple. I chose the purple, and wondered how I was going to find these if this cake was requested again... I'm still looking into it.
The other idea that I fell in love with was the candy ice. There was no other way to get this look, although, I made marbled fondant triangles and let them dry ahead of time, just in case this plan didn't work. I am glad I did that, but I didn't end up needing the fondant and my husband ended up snacking on them! LOL!
If you like cake and have never been to this site, you need to check out Coolest Homemade Birthday Cakes. They allow anyone to post their cakes on the site, and they encourage the poster to share their experiences and how-tos with everyone. So the one I came across had the candy ice and I wish I could find the cake again so I could thank the author.
She took clear, wrapped candy mints and melted them in a silicon pan in the microwave and poured the mixture onto a baking sheet to let it harden. I couldn't find a silicon pan before I made this cake, but I won't stop looking! I lined a square glass baking dish with waxed paper and then foil on top, and then melted a bunch of mints in a glass loaf pan in the microwave. It was Pyrex, so I was relatively confident that it wouldn't break or crack. The mixture cooled down SO fast, and in turn, I had to work very fast. It was very bubbly and foamy and not easy to scrape into the lined pan I had ready, but I did the best I could. Then I put a few drops of blue food colouring on the mixture and swirled it with a silicon spatula over the melted mints. I let it cool right down and then wrapped it up in the foil, still not sure if it would peel off properly. For the record, it broke easily off of the spatula after it cooled... silicon really is your best friend if you try this.
My family and I were eating dinner just after I did all of this, and I figured the loaf pan could have the cooled, and the mint mixture could be chipped out of it when it was time to clean the pan. We were all nervous as we heard the mint mixture cracking in the pan, it was funny...after we figured out what the noise was!
The day before the cake was to be picked up, I filled and crumb-coated the square chocolate cake, and decided to decorate it diagonally. I covered it with white fondant, and trimmed it in a sparkly, shimmery blue ribbon. My husband trimmed off the wooden balls at the bottom of the rock candy sucker sticks, so they could be inserted into the cake. While he did this for me, I unwrapped the candy ice and tested it to see if I could unpeel it from the foil. I forgot to spray it with cooking spray before I poured the mixture in and I was dreading picking bits of foil from it, but it peeled off really easily!
Once it was unpeeled and free from the pan, I needed to break it into three or four "shards", hopefully triangular, like the ice in Elsa's fortress. I scored it first with a very sharp knife and then cut into it. Surprisingly, it cooperated lol! There were a few jagged edges throwing the shape off a bit, so I tapped them with my sharp knife, and was able to trim them into the shapes I needed. I also got some smaller pieces to use at the sides.
I took the largest, tallest piece and pressed that into the back corner of the cake, and took the next two large pieces, and staggered them in front. I put the two smaller pieces at the sides, and really liked how the fondant sank around the "ice" to make it look like snow. I pushed the rock candy suckers onto the cake around the ice, and put a dollop of buttercream on the bottom of Anna and placed her in front of the ice shards.
Then I made the birthday girl's name and age out of blue fondant using Tappits, and then tinted some extra buttercream light blue and piped little stars all over the cake, concentrating more on the sides.
It looks like a simple enough cake, right? But there were a couple of hurdles along the way, and I ended up needing to replace my loaf pan, the old one couldn't be saved. No biggie.. it all boils down to learning experience! Neeeeeeed to find a silicon pan lol!
And there she is, Anna in all her icy finest! I was lucky to hear some very positive feedback about this cake, and the birthday girl was very happy!
Stay sweet!
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