Through the years I have made decorated cakes for my children for their birthdays. Not every year, but sometimes.
When my oldest daughter was engaged, she requested a book cake for her engagement party. She has always loved books, so this seemed like a fun cake to make.
I have to confess, I did try to find somebody that would make the cake for me and not charge a fortune. When I struck out, I started researching how to make a book cake.
I finally decided to bake a two layer size cake in a jelly roll pan. I lined the pan with parchment paper to make it easy to remove. I made two cakes like this so I could stack my cakes to get depth for the book. I did frost between the layers.
To get the 'book' to look like it was laying open but have the pages round a little bit, I cut about a 1" piece off the short end of the top layer (before stacking the cakes). I put this piece in the middle of the bottom layer and stacked the top layer over it, creating a bit of bump.
Shortening the top layer also made the pages look more like an open book actually looks.
I also cut a slight 'v' down the middle of the top layer to create the middle of the book.
My next dilemma was how to 'write' in the book. After much research, it seemed fondant was the best solution. I have never been a fan of fondant and had never made any before this. Once again, Google to the rescue. I found a video showing how to make marshmallow fondant.
That worked really well and allowed me to curl and shape the top 'pages'. I also colored some of the fondant dark brown and used it to cover a piece of cardboard to create my book cover.
The sides of the pages are covered with a buttercream frosting that I dragged a multi-tined tool through to create the look of many pages. I sprayed this with edible gold. Who knew such a thing existed!
The writing on the book is done with edible markers on edible paper with a thin layer of buttercream frosting under the paper to make it stick to the fondant. You can tell in the photo that I didn't use a full sheet on each side. That is because I was down to my last sheet after practicing and I thought I could disguise the edges.
The book mark is a fruit roll up fringed on one end.
The hardest part about this cake was deciding how I was going to do it. It was for a public party (not just family) so I had to practice to get a look I liked.
I am by no means a professional cake decorator, but I think it turned out nicely. I think my daughter was pleased, too.
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2 comments:
It did turn out beautifully!
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