Chandler's Castle Cake

This was a cake I made for a sweet little girl's first birthday.

Use Royal Icing, lt. yellow, lt. pink, lt. green and white.
Fill decorator bags.

Bake two 8" round cakes and one 6" round.
Trim off the tops with a serrated knife to make them level.

The towers were made from poster board, cut at 3 different lengths. I used packing tape to tape them and then wrapped plastic wrap around them. Be sure they are small enough to fit inside the ice cream cones. You can also use paper towel tubes.

I placed the 6" cake on a separator plate so that this could
be taken off for Chandler to eat. :o)
You could also use a piece of cardboard covered with plastic wrap or foil.

Ice both cakes and smoothed them using the hot knife method.
Hot knifing is heating water in a pan and letting your spatula get hot and then smooth your icing. You will have to heat your spatula every couple of swipes on the cake.

Use 2 or 3 straws cut to the height of the 8" cake.
This will help support the 6" cake and not become unbalanced
or sink down on the bottom cake.
If you don't use straws (or doll rods)
and a separator plate (or board) your cake will look lopsided.

Place the 6" cake towards the back of the 8".
With a 32 shell tip, add shell borders on the bottom part on both layers.
Always start in the back.

Use a 104 tip to add the pink garland.
Use a 32 shell tip to make a reverse shell for the top borders on both layers.

Place the tallest tower towards the back.
Push them down in about a 1/2 an inch (this is why you wrap them in plastic wrap).
Use straws, doll rods or sucker sticks (shown above) to help hold the towers in place.
I pushed these all the way down until they hit the separator plate.

Using a 21 shell tip, ice up the towers.
(Yes, I have hairy arms, but they look even WORSE in this photo.)

With an 18 shell tip, add a white zigzag to the base of the cones.

With a #3 tip, pipe out the windows and door on the towers in yellow.

Add drop flowers (or roses).

With a #3 tip and green icing,
add vines up the towers and around the flower clusters.
Add leaves.

Either be sure to leave room for the greeting on the front of the cake,
or make flags from card stock or paper, tape and a toothpick,
and then add the greeting on them. :o)

You may have to break away a small piece to the cone to get the toothpick in,
then add a little icing using a 18 or 21 tip. It will help hold the tooth pick still.

Cake fit for a Princess!

Here is the cake I made Olivia when she was 5, she is now 16.
Where does the time go?