Tips for Stacked Cakes and the Weirdness of Kindergarted Graduation
May 30, 2008 by Marye Audet
Filed under Cakes
So, my granddaughter graduated yesterday. From kindergarten.
Why do kids need a graduation ceremony to go from kindergarten to first grade? I am not complaining. It just seemed odd to me. I am a very simplistic person. Having homeschooled for 20 years I have had two kids so far graduate from high school. It was a a matter of saying…wow…you finished everything you have to for a diploma…what do you want to learn next?
I like parties and celebrations. I just think it was weird. They had little caps and gowns. The got diplomas. I am just glad we don’t have to buy her a car or something. :/
I am so caked out it isn’t funny..and still have Marc’s cake to make for Monday. I am still trying to think of flavors for that. You know how when you eat or make alot of the same thing you are burnt out on it? Well that’s where I am with THAT. I am thinking of a mojito flavored buttercream with lime cake.. I don’t know. I want it to be different.
The cake for last night, as I mentioned, was created with the following:
- Bottom layer-coconut cream buttercream
- Middle -mango
- Top – lime curd
The frosting was coconut and rose and the cake was almond.
It went off very well. People were taking slices of each and coming back for more. The problems I had were:
1. The mango buttercream was lacking in mango intensity as far as I was concerned. I used the perfect party cake buttercream and it tasted too strongly of butter on not enough of mango. I love the texture of this buttercream but to me the flavors get lost in it. I may try it with more sugar.
2. Lime curd tasted great….but by the time we got around to eating the cake some of it had soaked in to the cake. Next time I am going to freeze the layers, fill them, and chill heavily until the last possible minute…or maybe use the curd to make a lime mousse. I wanted a thicker layer.
All in all the rest of it was fine.
As I said in the wedding cakes posts, if I am going to make a large, stacked or tiered cake then most of the time I am going to use a boxed cake mix and doctor it up a little. Homemade cakes tend to be a little unpredictable and I prefer less stress. The only homemade cake I know that would work for this type of cake is a gold cake, and for the size cake I made (50 servings) you are talking about 5 dozen egg yolks!
What I do when making a fancy cake is to use a boxed cake mix, in this case yellow cake, and add flavorings and spices to get exactly what I want. To each box of this cake I added 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp almond, and 1 tbs rosewater. It gave it a delicate fragrant flavor.
Also when making a cake that is going to stand for a time you want to use shortening and not butter in the exterior icing. The Wilton buttercream is great for this. I have used it for nearly every kind of wedding cake and professional cake I have made. Again, not the best ingredients but the results are consistent and the flavor is good.
I used plastic straws instead of dowels to support the layers. This was the first time I had done this and I really like it! The straws just snip to size with scissors and they hold well in transit and in set up. YAY! I like easy.
If you are doing a stacked cake, or tiered, always transport it in layers and put it together when you get there. With this cake, I transported the top separately from the other two layers, and transported them assembled because there was not that much height.
Take a tool box to fix anything that might have gotten messed up when you were transporting. I take a bag of every color icing, tips, knife, spatula, extra dowels or straws..Literally everything! Touch-ups make all the difference.
In this cake, I wanted something almost Suess-ian. I wanted it to be colorful and fun. The complexities of icing roses are lost on 5 year olds, don’t you think?
Use everything at room temperature for the best, lightest, and fluffiest results.
Wilton Buttercream
1 c crisco
4 c confectioners, sifted
2-4 tbs cream
1 1/2 tsp flavoring (traditionally that would be 1 tsp vanilla/1/2 almond
Whip together until you have the consistency you need for your project.
Now, I adjusted that and substituted organic coconut milk (with crisco WHY did I bother with organic?) for cream, and added rose and vanilla rather than almond. I used about 2 tsp rosewater per batch. This will make about 2 cups or so of frosting that will hold up even when it is hot. We transported that cake in 90+ degrees in my van which not only has a broken air conditioner but the electric windows do not work and are permanently up. I MISS manually rolled up and down windows! Anyway, the cake was in as good of condition when I got there are when I left home, and butter based butter cream would have been liquefied.
Images: Marye Audet
Cool cake – great colours! You have been very busy this week!
Nicisme- oh yeah I have..and it isn’t over yet.
You keep this up and I might have to find an excuse to make a tiered cake. very pretty. Very fun!
Great job. I rely on doctored up box mixes for big projects too. Howver I loved that perfect party cake recipe. I spent last night baking the tiers and making the buttecream again(just in case I had to buy boxmixes today!). So far so good. Your granddaughter is so lucky to have you make this for her.
And the Wilton is the best best in terms of safety,temp,storage, etc.However I love the real thing.
Oh me too..But I live in the land of 115 degree summers. I made a wedding cake with real buttercream once and it melted off before the reception. I was so embarrassed .
So pretty! I love the colors and the fillings between the layers sound delicious.
Kindergarten graduation sure is funny…I didn’t have that, but I did have *preschool* graduation, possibly the only thing sillier! I don’t actually remember it myself, but my mom has lots of pictures which are hilarious, and I still have the little tassel from my hat!
We didn’t have kindergarten graduation…just go to 1st grade! At the end of pre-K I had a music program, but no graduation. I guess I’ll make up for it next year with medical school. Three graduations is enough!
LOL Claire. Just amke sure you have an awesome cake!
I had a kindergarten graduation way back in…well we won’t say when. It made me feel special, like I was leaving babyhood behind and was going to be a real big girl.
My daughter had a graduation from Pre-k, but she is special needs and had been in a special school for 2 years already. It was a big step for her and the other kids leaving the school for regular kindergarten.
I tell everyone my kids are monsters, but I get all dopey over the tiniest milestones, like leaving kindergarten. I think it is because of my daughter…every milestone is special and to be treasured, especially when you realize how hard some kids have to work to get to them.
Great, now I’m all watery eyed over thinking about my lil girl leaving kindergarten in a month. Darn pregnancy hormones. Crying over Charmin commercials, too.
Thanks for the very useful tips.
I too find it odd to have a graduation at that stage.
Julie- I understand..and I might feel differently if my youngest child, the infamous chef kyrie, was not younger than my oldest grandchild, Amanda, the graduate. Having kids and grandkids the same age living in the same house is…just…schizo.
Cynthia- They did enjoy it though.
Marye- Oh, I can get that. It’s weird here because my oldest borther in law is younger than my oldest daughter. You wouldn’t believe how many times his school teachers have argued with me when I said I was his sister in law. They put down a few times that I was his aunt!
All of our kids look alike, and hte grandkids too, so when all of us go somewhere there tends to be panicked looks and questions about whose is whose.
Marye, my dad’s nephew was six years older than he was… We always got this in our family.
“Uncle” Nelson, who was really my cousin, even though he was 56 years older than I, always called my Dad “Uncle Ralph”, more or less as a joke.
Yeah it does get weird!
graduating kindergarten – weird, but good I guess. Cake – weird and wonderful and definitely good. In fact, I have to say that any excuse for a cake gets my vote. Especially if it’s like this Marye.
Inge..you are too kind.
It’s so weird you said Mojito Buttercream and Lime Cake. The first thing that came to mind before that sentence was “LIME!!” and then I thought, “Why not mint-lime” because I have been considering doing personal sized mojito cakes for a while(But I cannot find my bitty cake pans:( ). I think any sort of citrusy cake sounds nice for Summer and it seems you mentioned marc liking tangy citrus flavours(in the key lime post)??
I am weird, yes. Congratulations to the little graduate. And yes I find the Kindergarten graduations strange as well. But coming from a very strange person, that could mean it is perfectly normal.
I think My June 1st man shall have a Pina colada cake (He loves those), if I have time. And the other will get a “Soylent Green” cake. Basically a really tasty cake with lime using natural colouring to make it green, and using soy and lentils in unusual ways. It sounds insane, but beans actually make a moist cake and you can’t really taste it. Especially if, like me, you are only using it in place of a tiny portion of fat, for novelty so you can say it really is a soy-lent green cake. Hold the human flesh, unless I cut my fingers juicing the limes.
God bless you and marc both.
btw! I forgot to compliment the cake! It looks perfect for kindergarteners and very Suessy. It also sounds DElish!
You are a very talented woman, and It still amazes me about you tea room going out. It would have been Fab.
LOL thank you Jo..I appreciate you so much. I do think the mojito cake is the winner hands down..although soy-lent green..hmmm. THAT is tempting…