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| Sweet Spot Archives |
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Bakers Sweeten Communities with Random Acts of Sweetness  All across the United States, folks love performing Random Acts of Sweetness (RAS). Freshly baked goods evoke warm memories, summon up good feelings, and just plain make people happy—both bakers and recipients. Here are three of the hundreds of stories we've received since RAS began in October 2004.
For Christmas, my elderly neighbor was all alone, as her grandson, with whom she lives, is in Iraq. I thought it would be nice to surprise her by baking some sugar cookies. Well, she stopped by while I was getting the ingredients together, and I invited her in. We baked the cookies together, and ate them fresh from the oven while recounting tales of her only grandson. She actually started crying—not from sadness—but rather from the joy she felt recounting memories that she hadn't thought of in more than a decade. Not only did I touch her, but she emailed her grandson, and he emailed me all the way from Iraq to thank me for being so nice to his grandmother. He said that my act of kindness actually made him cry. Funny, I really didn't think just baking some cookies could mean so much. Every morning as I drove my son to daycare I saw two older ladies standing outside waiting for the bus. I thought it would brighten their day to give them a plate full of still-warm cookies. I pulled over and handed the plate to them and they were so surprised. Now, we exchange greetings every morning, and it is really nice. I have always loved to bake and share with family and friends. It is something that is very special to my heart, whether bringing goodies to my co-workers, surprising each of the tellers at my bank, or having special baked goodies at the tables of my regular customers in the restaurant I managed. I don't think anything says "You're special to me" more than a homemade treat! |
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Sweet Spot Archives Winter 2005 Fall 2004 Summer 2004 Spring 2004 January 2004 Fall 2003 Summer 2003 Spring 2003 Winter 2003 Fall 2002 Summer 2002 Spring 2002 Winter 2002 Holiday 2001 |
 Castle Cake Click here for diagram |
When is a cake not a cake? When it's a heart, a castle, a skateboard, or even a doll's voluminous skirt!
Yes, cakes can take any of those fanciful shapes, becoming impressive centerpieces for birthday parties, showers, Mother's Day—or even a casual book-club meeting or Sunday dinner on the patio. And here's good news: You don't have to master fancy techniques to create them. In fact, most can be baked in standard cake pans and decorated in an hour or two.
What Kind of Cake?
For fancifully shaped cakes, the drama is in the presentation, so it's best stick to basic cake recipes. Our Classic Yellow Cake, Basic White Layer Cake, and Classic Chocolate Fudge Cake make enough batter for most of the designs described here. If your design involves more than one or two cuts, consider a densely textured pound cake such as our Classic Pound Cake.
After you cut your cake shapes, allow them to cool completely, then freeze them uncovered for about an hour so they'll be easy to frost.
Does the recipe yield a loaf cake when you need a square layer, or a Bundt cake when you want two round cakes? No problem. Here are some simple conversion rules:
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Frosting Makes the Cake
A really impressive novelty cake is only as good as its decoration. For the smoothest frosting, use C&H Pure Cane Ultrafine or Powdered Sugar. To tint your frosting, use liquid or paste food coloring; paste creates more intense colors. Always make more colored frosting than you think you'll need: It's nearly impossible to duplicate color from batch to batch. (Remember, frosting dries a shade darker.)
For general coverage, choose a basic frosting recipes: Basic Buttercream Frosting, French Buttercream Frosting, or Chocolate Buttercream. For impressive swirls and peaks, choose our Fluffy Meringue Frosting, made with boiling sugar syrup. For fancy edging and decoration, Royal Icing is your best choice. But it hardens quickly, and may need to be thinned with water to spread on your cake.
A small set of decorating tips and bags is a relatively inexpensive investment that will serve you for many years. If you'd prefer to experiment on the cheap, try this trick: Fill a zip-seal plastic bag with frosting, then cut off one tiny corner. Squeeze the bag to create outlines and other simple shapes.
There's more to decorating than frosting. Here's where you can get really creative! Sandwich cookies can become "wheels," jelly beans make beautiful "buttons," shreded coconut makes beautiful "fur" for panda or polar-bear cakes. Let your imagination run wild!
The Shape's in the Pan
 Princess Cake Click here for diagram |
The easiest way to create an unusually shaped cake is with an unusually shaped pan. Many cookware retailers and online stores sell pans in the shape of hearts, bunnies, and even airplanes. Usually they come with instructions for converting standard recipes to specially shaped pans. If they don't, fill the pan with water from a measuring cup to determine its capacity. Refer to the chart above to convert your favorite recipe to the fancy shape.
Bundt® pans—dome-shaped tube pans—are another quick route to beautiful cake shapes. Invented in 1950, Bundt pans are now available in many molded designs, with sunflowers, violets, cones, cathedrals, and more. There are even mini Bundt pans; try baking several of these small shaped cakes and arranging them in a circle to create a seasonal, edible "wreath."
Cut Out a Cake
With just three cake pans—round, rectangular, and square—you can create almost any fancy shape you can dream up. Add a muffin pan to make "wheels" for cars and buses, and a glass bowl for special creations, and you're set!
Here are some of our favorite shaped cakes. Let us know if we've left out one of your favorites—we'd love to know about it.
A couple of general tips for all cakes that require cutting and assembling: A cake board, available at craft stores or bakeries, provides a stable platform for your creation. And remember to frost the cut ends of your cakes before assembling: The frosting "glues" the sections together.
Heart cake: Bake one square cake and one round cake. Cut the round cake in half and place the halves on two adjacent sides of the square. Cover with frosting and decorate as your heart desires!
Castle: Bake four 9" x 9" square cakes. Place one cake on a cake board and frost; stack two more cakes on top of it, leveling as needed and frosting to cover and "glue" the layers together. Cut the fourth cake into quarters and stack them in the middle of the full-size stack, frosting as before. Use decorative icing to make doors, crenellations, and windows. Center an inverted ice cream cone atop the "tower" and insert a paper flag (available at craft stores) into the inverted cone. Place graham crackers on one side to make "doors."
 Skateboard Cake Click here for diagram |
Skateboard: Bake two round cakes and one rectangular cake. Cut one round cake in half and place the halves on opposite ends of the rectangle and place on a cake board cut to the assembled cake's exact shape. Cut the second round cake in half and trim the halves into wedge shapes; place on top of the semicircular ends. (Discard—or eat—the remnants.) Frost all over in a bright color such as orange. Add lengthwise "racing stripes" in a contrasting color such as brown. Using frosting, "glue" together four pairs of sandwich cookies to serve as "wheels." To present and serve, carefully place the assembled cake, on its cake board, on top of the four wheels.
Princess cake: Grease and flour a 2-quart round glass or stainless steel bowl. Fill with 8 cups of batter from any basic cake recipe. Cool, then invert on a plate and remove from pan. Trim the flat end to level it. Cool completely, then insert a nude doll, preferably from a craft store, into the center. (Be sure the cake is completely cool or the plastic doll will melt!) Frost and decorate the cake to make her "skirt."
Fancy Free
Now that you've mastered a few simple designs, it's time to let your creativity soar. Use graph paper and cardboard to create templates for new cakes. Start collecting candies that can serve as whimsical decorations. And keep practicing—the more you bake, the better you'll get.
| Quick Tip: Keep frosting tightly covered when you aren't using it. Frosting dries out quickly when it's exposed to air. You'll have the best results if you frost your cake on a cool, dry day. Need some more background on frosting tips and techniques? Check out Frosting: Beyond the Basics! |
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Baker’s Profile: Kim Murphy  As an undergrad at the University of Arkansas, Kim Murphy loved to surprise fellow students in her apartment complex with homemade cakes on birthdays and special occasions. One day, she found herself on the receiving end. Kim went to visit two neighbors (both typical bachelors) for whom she'd recently baked a cake. She was puzzled when they wouldn't invite her in. Shortly after she returned to her apartment, the young men appeared at her door with a batch of chocolate chip cookies baked from scratch. "The cookies were atrocious, but I was so surprised and thrilled that they wanted to return the favor," she says, laughing at the memory. Today the mother of three and president of the Nixa, Missouri, chapter of MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) continues to sweeten her community by baking and sharing. Kim and her fellow chapter members deliver surprise desserts to the local police station, fire station. and EMS station. Their first dessert deliveries were inspired by the September 11 tragedy, and the group decided to continue the practice "These are true heroes and it feels good to acknowledge their important work in our community," she says. Kim and her children also love to bake desserts for neighbors and loved ones. She says baking cakes in special shapes that are fun to prepare—and eat—is an effective way to get kids excited about joining you in the kitchen. The family has baked a variety of creatively shaped cakes, including cats, rabbits, caterpillars and clowns. Kim says there's no need to purchase a special pan: she and her children cut round cakes into various shapes or into pieces to assemble into a new shape before frosting. "It's so special when your children, family, or friends bake with you," she says. "There's no need to worry about making a mess; the frosting will come off the wall, but the memories you create baking together will last a lifetime." Kim also says she believes in passing on an appreciation for the highest- quality ingredients. "My husband's grandmother always insists that I use 'the good sugar,' which is, of course, C&H. I've always used C&H pure cane sugar because I can count on delicious results." |
