Friday, March 13, 2009

Palm Tree Birthday Cake

One of my highlights last week was the joint effort of producing a palm tree cake with Ryan. His grandmother's fascination with the fir of the tropics lead Ryan to his ingenious birthday cake idea. He is steadily infusing a familial tradition of homemade birthday cakes, constructed in shapes most pleasing to the honoree of the day.

This latest construction was made using one boxed white cake, one boxed chocolate cake, and a large orb of fondant. I am completely clueless when it comes to the fondant department, but Ryan swears by fondant made with powdered sugar, shortening and marshmallows. He colored and rolled out large sheets for covering the cake, carefully slicing out layers to adorn the cake pieces I was carving out from the cake sheets. My favorite part of the cake was the 'coconuts' -- probably the largest on the planet(!). It was the best I could do with the cake pieces...cut them too small and they'd fall apart! Our final touch was a sandy beach at the bottom of the palm tree, achieved by spreading a bit of frosting on the white cake and sprinkling brown sugar on top.

I can almost hear the waves against the shore....

2 comments:

Christine said...

That's a great cake! It's nice how you both collaborated and came up an idea his grandmother would enjoy.

I want to try out the marshmallow fondant.

Unknown said...

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts. There they are standing in a row. BIG ones...yes, the coconuts were a nice touch! The fondant is really easy to make and the flavor is not completely terrible (as is the case with many other fondants I've had). Here's a link for the fondant recipe: http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm