Cakes for Charity ... Princess Castle Cake

Next on my list for Birthday Dreams was a Princess themed party.  I found a Princess Castle Cake on Single Mormon Mommy. This was a pretty simple cake to make, I did put a little more frosting then I normally would when I put fondant on.  The little girl requested extra frosting. 

For this cake, you’ll need

- A cake mix (ALEXIS NOTE: I made my own - see recipe below)
- A can of frosting (ALEXIS NOTE: I made my own - see recipe below)
- 4 Ice-cream cups
- 4 Ice cream cones
- Pink icing that comes in a tube (ALEXIS NOTE: I Made Pink Fondant)
- Cotton Candy for the clouds (ALEXIS NOTE: I skipped this part)
- Pillow mints for the castle “stones” (ALEXIS NOTE: I skipped this part)
- Toothpicks
- Paper or pink fondant (ALEXIS NOTE: I made Brown Fondant window and door. For Flags I used Birthday ones I picked up at Hobby Lobby)

To make it easy to get the cakes out whole, you might want to line the bottoms of the pan with cut-to-size parchment paper. We actually used regular paper and just greased it. (ALEXIS NOTE: I use Cake Release it works every time!)

After giving both cakes a good crumb coating (How? Microwave about 1/3 cup frosting for 5 seconds & spread a thin layer over everything to keep crumbs at bay) put the square cake on the serving tray and the loaf cake on top, right across the center. If your loaf was a little too long for the square you can safely take a slice right out of the middle, push the ends together, and hold them in place with toothpicks. (ALEXIS NOTE: I used too much frosting due to the request for extra frosting.)

Then cut out out windows door and flags. Be sure the flags are cut on the fold so they’ll wrap around a toothpick. You can “glue” them onto the top of a toothpick using a little icing. To mount the flags, you’ll need to slice the ends off 5 sugar cones, making a hole just wide enough to hold a toothpick. (ALEXIS NOTE: I made some brown fondant and cut the windows and door.  I also made a few pink fondant balls to add a little something special to the cake.)

Now you just need to mount your flags and add your windows and doors. Add pillow-mint key stones and whatever other decorations you like. (ALEXIS NOTE: I skipped the mints.)

ALEXIS NOTES: I used my Sturdy Buttercream Frosting and Rolled Buttercream Fondant.  To get the right Pink I used Americolor Electric Pink Gel food color.

For the Cake I used The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe found on Add a Pinch (See the recipe and pictures below)

Ingredients

• Chocolate Cake
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
2. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
3. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute to add air to the batter.
4. Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.

You don't have to bake to help Birthday Dreams, please check them out.

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.