nbc188
Best friends!
Member since 12/06 23090 total posts
Name:
C
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Re: Caterpillar cake - 1st bday
That's me  I'm glad you like it! I loved making that cake, and got sooo many raves on it. DD's party was a garden theme, so it fit in perfectly.
Get ready for lots of info-- LOL!
It's honestly really easy to make, just a bit time consuming. I did take a couple of cheats though-- used Funfetti cake mix, didn't make homemade cake, used the pre-made roll-out dough to cut out the letters for her name.
This is where I got all the directions, tips, instructions:
LINK FOR WILTON INSTRUCTIONS
Where do you live? I could loan you the cake pans. I have 2 sets, so it makes 4 body parts at a time.
The other things I mostly got at AC Moore or Michael's. You can make the icings any color obviously, you just buy the Wilton colors in AC Moore. I used the icing recipe that's shown on that instruction page...make more icing than you think you'll need, it seems to go fast. The icing is delicious.
I improvised, as you can tell if you compare the tips in the recipe and my picture. For feet, I used black licorice instead of the sugar things they used. For the antennae, they suggest wire, etc...but I just used black pipecleaners.
We did cut out the letters of her name from pre-made dough, and then iced them with white icing, to stand out from the cake (do it before you color the icing). We attached them to lollipop sticks (AC Moore)-- just put icing on the back of the letter, then attach the stick and let dry a while. To get the smooth icing, I just smoothed it with my fingertip, since no one was eating them anyway. And we made a bunch of extra letters, just in case some broke. I baked the cookies until they were very firm, again, since no one ate them anyway...and thin letters, so that it wasn't too heavy for the stick. The only regret I have with my final product is that I didn't push the letters down into the cake all the way (see how there's some room between the cake & the letters, you can see some of the sticks)-- that's not how I wanted it, but it happened.
For decorator tips, they tell you to get #12 and #16. I did (got 2 of each), but only used the #16...my mother helped with the cake, so it helped to have 2 #16. You'll need the decorator bags and the couplers that they sell too-- and have a few extra bags, we squeezed so hard we got a hole in a bag or two.
For the eyes we used gum drops, for the nose we use a Hershey Kissable. And for the mouth, a piece of shoestring black licorice. I got some of those big Wilton sprinkles (made for use with the Giant Cupcake pans) and used them on the body...I didn't want to do stripes or anything, but this broke up the color. And you can make as many body parts as you need, by the x of people you had. We had about 50 guests I think, and had extra cake left. The recipe makes 5 parts I think, we made 7. I also made a part for DD's smash cake, but she didn't want anything to do with it anyway.
One or two issues we had:
-since it's a buttercream icing, you have to store it in the fridge, so we couldn't decorate them until that morning (since I didn't have a ton of fridge space...because putting them together after they were fully decorated seemed messy and complicated. Not a big deal, but I had wanted to get it done the night before. I did bake the cakes the night before.
- we had to transport the cake from my house to the venue, and it's a LONG cake...didn't know what to put it on. So we took a sturdy piece of cardboard, covered it in scrapbook paper, then saran wrap on top of that. And then held our breath on the car ride.
Phew   That's all I can think of  It really is soooo easy-- just making lots and lots of stars, which you get the hang of after a few tries. It helps to have a person helping too!
Let me know if you have any more questions. And I definitely want to see the finished product!!!! 
Message edited 9/15/2008 6:53:27 PM.
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