Muppet Baby Shower Cake for a Science Teacher

When I told one of my sisters-in-law my idea for this baby shower cake, she looked at me with a raised eyebrow as if I were crazy. 

However, cake baking is a lot like writing: you've got to know your audience. This would not have been the right baby shower cake for any of my sisters-in-law. However, this cake wasn't for them. It was for the male science teacher at my school. I'll admit I was a little worried about what his wife would think, but it turns out she's an elementary school teacher and enjoys the Muppets, too.

I got one of the best compliments ever on this cake. The day after the shower, the science teacher told me it reminded him of the cakes from Jarosch Bakery. If you're not familiar with this bakery, let's just say this is a high compliment indeed!

Muppet Baby Shower Cake

(Congratulations on your latest creation!)

To make this cake, I stacked two 9x13 chocolate cakes on top of one another and used a raspberry mouse filling (see basic recipe here).

Then I used the frozen buttercream transfer method for the design. Here's a quick recap.

First, find a picture of your chosen image. I find coloring books, greeting cards, and the internet very helpful.

Next, flip your picture over so that you're looking at the reverse side and trace over the pattern with a black marker. You'll want the reverse side because you'll be flipping it over onto your cake later.

Tape the picture onto a cookie sheet (or other flat surface). Tape a sheet of waxed paper over this. With black icing and a small decorating tip (#4 or #5 is fine), outline the entire picture.

Using colored icing and more small tips, fill in the outline until you've covered every bit of the image.

Fill a decorating bag with whatever color icing you will use for the background. In this case, I used white. Pipe a layer of this icing over the entire image.

Freeze for several hours or overnight. After you've baked, cooled, and iced your cake, take your decoration out of the freezer. Flip it onto the cake and carefully peel off the waxed paper.

I must have used some pretty strong colors on this cake because the icing left a nice ghostly image on the waxed paper after I pulled it off. Kind of cool, huh?

After you've moved your frozen buttercream transfer, you can add writing and borders to your cake. I also piped a series of small dots around the edge of the image to make it look a little like a picture frame.

My favorite part of this design is that it looks a little like Beaker is horrified at the idea of having a baby, and Bunsen is laughing over what the expecting couple has to look forward to. :) All in good fun, my friends, all in good Muppet fun.

The next day I received a lovely thank you card from the science teacher. He even used a card created by his very talented mother. Isn't this a lovely fall card she made?

Minnie Mouse Birthday Cake

Last week, I had the rare opportunity to make a birthday cake for my two-year-old niece who lives in Atlanta. My brother had a work conference in Chicago, so the whole family came up to visit. My niece's actual birthday isn't until tomorrow, but we had to get in the celebration while we could!

Minnie Mouse Birthday Cake

The idea for the design came from the birthday card I had bought. Minnie sure looks cute here, and the design is relatively simple, which meant time for a frozen buttercream transfer!

I did a whole post on buttercream transfer here, but this is a quick run-down of the process for you. First, I traced the design from the birthday card onto some parchment paper. Then I flipped the parchment paper over so that I'd be working the reverse image. After making sure the outline was dark enough, I taped it to a cookie sheet and then taped a piece of waxed paper over the parchment paper.

Using black icing, I outlined the entire design. Then I filled in the spaces using the appropriate color icing. (I used the available piping tips that I had, like #3, 4, and 5.)

Once I had the design filled in, I covered the whole thing with a layer of white icing that I piped on top of the colors. Then I placed the cookie sheet into the freezer over night.

After I baked and iced the cake, I took the buttercream transfer out of the freezer and carefully flipped it onto the cake before peeling off the waxed paper. I finished the decoration by adding the writing and the border. Voila! The perfect birthday cake for a two-year-old.