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Home » Daily, Food & Health

The Making of Anya’s 7th Birthday ‘Rapunzel’ Cake!

22 March 201120 Comments


[Somehow more and more teeth fell out closer to her 7th birthday, hehe. She’s lost a total of 6 teeth so far.]

Okay. I need to warn you. This is a LONGGGG post! =)

About three weeks before Anya’s 7th birthday, she asked if I could make her birthday cake with fondant this time round (since we had no oven last year and I experimented with ‘steaming her birthday cake’ and used fresh cream on it =)

And.

When I asked if she had any particular ‘theme’ that she’d really like (provided that I could make it, of course!), she replied, ‘Hmm, Mommy, can we have Rapunzel? You can make the long hair with fondant and have it all around the cake’.

Errr.

Obviously I had NO idea how to make such a cake, let alone a RAPUNZEL theme! I mean, the first and only time I made anything out of fondant was when I made Vai’s birthday cake last year. That’s it. So, as I was about to throw the idea out the window, I casually shared what Anya said to me on Facebook.

And guess what?

Quite a few people left encouraging comments, and in the end I decided to just give it a go anyway! (Yes, I know, I was a little ‘mad’, I guess. Haha.)

Anyway.

I thought I should just share how I planned and made the Rapunzel cake with you today.

The stuff I learned and the mistakes I did.

So. Here goes.

After I decided to go for the ‘challenge’:

 

1. I browsed the internet for ideas. Then, I drew a rough sketch of what I ‘HOPED’ the cake would look like.

I know. I’m an ambitious amateur. Haha.

(When attempting to do something, I often aim for the ‘sky’, because I thought … worse comes to worst, at least I should reach 5% of what I initially aim? =)

2. I decided that I’d make Marshmallow Fondant again (like what I did for Vai’s 4th birthday cake last year!)

Btw, click HERE to read the step-by-step instructions on how you can make your own Marshmallow Fondant.

And, here’re my mistakes!

Mistake #1
I should’ve made the fondant (from scratch) at least 5 days BEFORE the celebration, so that there’s enough time for the fondant to ‘dry up’ (I made it only 3 days before the day! Bad planning!)

Mistake #2
After making the fondant and cutting them in shapes (ie. before leaving them in the open to ‘dry up’), I should’ve made sure that it’s not too ‘soft’ (ie. I should use more icing sugar).

As you can see, the purple ones on the plate were rather … ‘shiny’. They’re too soft (My mistake too that I made these too CLOSE to the birthday date!)

In the end (thanks to some friends who left their comments on my Facebook!), I resorted to brushing plain flour on the ones that I needed to dry up a little better! (eg. Like the purple ‘roof tiles’, the ‘tower’, etc)

Mistake #3
I forgot to SIFT my icing sugar in my 1st batch of marshmallow fondant! As the result, I had COUNTLESS little white balls ALL OVER my fondant surface!

I spent an hour or so HANDPICKING the bigger balls of icing sugar OFF the fondant (like, some 200 of them!). AND, even after doing that, there’re still little white dots on the fondant’s surface! Ugh. In the end, I chose to not waste the fondant anyway and just use it!

[The next time I’m making a cake with fondant again, I think I’ll get a ready-made rolled fondant. I was told that the brand ‘Bakels’ has a rather nice taste]

3. Making different ‘parts’ of the cake

These were the main parts of the cake:

– Tower
– Roof
– Rapunzel
– Butter cake as the round base

TOWER

When I browsed for ideas, I saw many using ‘ice cream cones’ as the roof of castles. So I thought, okay, I’d use ice cream cones too then.

And I initially thought of using toilet paper rolls to create the ‘towers’! [Luckily I scrapped that idea, haha!]

As I churned ideas in my head, I opened my kitchen cabinets and … I decided to just use my Tupperware, wrap it with fondant, and use THAT as my tower!

To create the ‘bricks-look’, I used a knife.

And, since the fondant didn’t seem to dry up, I brushed the surface with plain flour! [Which helped a bit]

ROOF

Since I decided to use a Tupperware as the ‘tower’, I could no longer use an ice cream cone as the ‘roof’! It’d be way too small!

So I made my own ‘roof’. Out of paper carton! Haha.

[It was like my little experimental arts and crafts session!]

Here’s what I did:

a) Measured the diameter of the Tupperware (so I could ensure the roof’s diameter is ‘bigger’)

b) Drew a circle, cut it out, cut a line (half way towards the middle), created a ‘cone shape’, and used scotch tapes to stick it together!

c) As the paper carton’s surface was smooth, I covered it with crepe paper, just so that my ‘purple fondant tiles’ would (hopefully) stick better!

d) With liquid glue, I stuck the ’tiles’ onto the paper roof. The purple fondant tiles tended to ‘slide down’ though (because they’re NOT dry / hard enough!). So, I decided to just make TWO roofs, covered half of each with the purple tiles, and left each one to dry in a slightly ‘slanted’ position.

[I also dusted plain flour onto the ‘roofs’ and ‘combined’ the two halves together the night before]

Note: This part of the cake was obviously NOT meant to be eaten! =)

THE CAKE

Anya specifically asked for butter cake (since she doesn’t like any other cake much). So, thanks to a friend who gave me a butter cake recipe, I tested the recipe one week before her birthday, shared it with our church friends, and went ahead with the recipe for Anya’s actual birthday get-together.

[I used the same butter cake recipe to make the cupcakes, which we gave out as simple ‘goodie-bags’ to her Sunday School friends]


[Made the cupcakes in the morning of the birthday]


I baked the cake the night before, covered it with buttercream frosting, and put it in the fridge. On the actual day, I covered the cake (with the hardened frosting) with the marshmallow fondant.

More of my mistakes:

– I forgot to buy the cake’s base (you know, that ‘aluminium-foil covered wooden base’), so I used aluminium foil and covered my plastic turning table instead!

–  I forgot to buy the carton box for the cake! So in the end, we took a taxi with me holding the cake with Rapunzel on it in one hand, and the tower in another (I placed the tower on the cake only when we reached our church)

– I only checked the ‘expiry date’ of my ‘self raising flour’ BEFORE making the cake. Bad, bad planning! Because only then I realised one pack was already expired, and that’s why I only managed to bake the cupcakes in the morning of the actual day! (Thanking my hubby for going to the supermarket that morning to buy some flour for me!)

EXTRAS

– To cover the ‘unsightly vertical line’ on the ‘tower’, I used green-coloured fondant as the ‘vine’.

– To create small ‘bushes’, I pushed two balls of green-coloured fondant through a strainer

– When combining the two ‘roofs’, there’s apparently NOT enough purple roof tiles to cover all surfaces, so I errr … used pink tiles instead, hehe.

– Two nights before Anya’s birthday get-together, I realised I could NOT have Rapunzel looking out the window (since I’m using Tupperware as the tower).

So I made some last minute changes to the initial idea and sketch.

I created a window and had Rapunzel sitting just below the tower instead, hehe. And, her hair could then go all around the round cake!

[I created the ‘hair’ by individually hand-rolling the yellow-coloured fondant, because I could NOT find the kids’ playdough tool that can make ‘long noodle shapes’!]

When Anya first saw ‘Rapunzel’ on our dining table, the first thing she innocently asked was, ‘Mommy, why is the Rapunzel chubby?’ Haha. I told her it’s because that’s the only way I could get Rapunzel to ‘sit down and NOT fall’. AND, it’s because this Rapunzel stayed in the tower for too long and didn’t get to exercise much. Haha.

Anyway.

Here’re some photos of Anya’s 7th birthday get-together that Sunday, March 6th!


[Just in case you’re wondering, Anya was sitting down and Vai was standing up in this photo, hehe]

The cake had many flaws, dents and imperfections, but I was just SOOO glad and thankful to God that everything was okay overall =)

Friends who ate the butter cake and cupcakes shared with us how the taste was nice too (PHEW!).

I’m glad too that I went ahead with the ‘challenge’ and learned SO many things along the way!

And finally, I’d just like to say:

– I personally wouldn’t put in this much effort if it weren’t for the kids. My hope and prayer is for our children to always know in their heart that we love them very much, and that we always will.

– I hope by sharing the whole process (and the mistakes I made), you’ll get more ideas, improvise and create much better works than what I made! =)

Here’s to MORE family adventures! Jiayou! =)

20 Comments »

  • Leonny says:

    Hi Ann!

    Thanks for visiting and dropping by to say Hi! =)

    We did that for Vai’s 3rd birthday cake actually =) We got a totally plain cake and decorated it ourselves =) This was way before I decided to experiment on making our own birthday cakes =)

    Here’s the blog post on that self-decorated bday cake:
    http://www.oureverydaythings.com/2009/08/vai-and-his-3rd-birthday-cake/

    All the best with decoration your very own. Am sure it’ll be really special! =)

    Stay in touch! And most welcome to drop by my blog again, anytime =)

  • Ann says:

    Hi

    First time visiting 🙂 Looking for Rapunzel cake idea to prepare a cake from my friend’s daughter.

    Just want to say, kids do appreciate for the time effort Mami spend to make a birthday cake for them (rather than a store brought).

    Good job !

    Now I just buy cake and spend time doing decoration on the cake. Is more time saving 🙂

    Take care

  • Leonny says:

    Hi Alohamolly,

    Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a note on the cake! =) Humbled and encouraged …
    Thank you …

    =)

  • Leonny says:

    Thanks Gwen!

    Oh I’m just like you! Because baking is not yet a passion of mine, for now, it’ll just be for my own kids (as for hubby, it’ll be a much simpler home-made cake 🙂 )

  • Leonny says:

    Thanks Andy! =)

    But really, I should be the one ATTENDING lessons on baking haha …

    (and I so very admire those who can bake and make cakes ‘regularly’! It’s not yet a ‘passion’ of mine, so I’ll most likely only make them for the kids haha)

  • Leonny says:

    Thanks Sam!

    I must give credits to hubby who didn’t ‘comment’ much during the whole preparations (ie. When it didn’t look like it’ll turn out well, he reassured me that it’s okay if we just get cupcakes from the shop or something =)

    ravo Leonny! At least, you never give up:) So proud of you *clap hand*

  • Leonny says:

    Hi Kayla,

    Not sure if I’m the ‘right’ person to tell you ‘how’ to make the dolls since I’m an amateur myself haha …

    Anyway, here’re some of the things I did :

    1. I decided the colours I need (basically, I look at what I already have and decide from there so I don’t need to buy new ones 🙂 )

    2. Then I decide ‘how much’ fondant I’d need in order to make those bits that I’ll put on the cake

    3. I use 2 different types of colouring. The glass bottled ones by Red Man (available in supermarkets), and Wilton ones (for this one, I only have red and black colours … as you can tell, I wanted to make Lightning McQueen last year hehe)

    4. A little colouring goes a LONG way, so use a teeny little bit only first. After I knead the fondant well, I put a liiiittle droplet of colour in the middle of the ‘fondant ball’, and start kneading the fondant ball until the colours are all mixed well (make sure your hands are all well covered with shortening, so you don’t get the colours on your hand afterwards).

    5. As for the doll, well … I separate the body parts into :

    – head (a ball basically, and just need to reshape it so that it’s more like a head hehe)

    – 2 hands (2 long ‘snake-like’ shape)

    – 2 legs (2 longER snake-like shapes)

    – body (a bigger & longish ball … that’s why mine is sooo chubby hehe)

    – black eyes
    – nose (basically I just make it like a teeny little ‘button’:) )

    – The long hair (I hand-rolled each ‘strand’)

    – The clothes (Thin layers and I prepared the 2 sleeves and the dress separately)

    (to create the skin colour, I used a REALLY small amount of red colouring, just enough to make it a little pinkish 🙂

    Basically, once the body parts are prepared, I started stacking them up and sticking them together 🙂 Body parts first, and the ‘clothes’, eyes, nose last.

    All the best! 🙂

  • Leonny says:

    Hi Mel,

    Thank you for the comment … I too still have SO much to learn … Look forward to reading more of your views and thoughts in future posts, so I can learn from other moms like you too =)

  • Leonny says:

    Hi Adora,

    Thanks for leaving me such a nice on the birthday cake =)

    I wrote that sentence (‘My hope and prayer is for our children to always know in their heart that we love them very much, and that we always will’) because I feel that as our kids grow up and go through more ‘complicated things’ in life, at times they most likely will ‘misunderstand / misinterpret’ what we do / say to them, though they’re done / said because we love them.

    So, it really is a genuine prayer that I say for my kids … that they always know how much they’re loved … regardless of what happens in the future.

  • Leonny says:

    Thank you Jean for the lovely note! =)

  • Leonny says:

    Hi Yen,

    Thanks for dropping by and leaving me such an encouraging note! =)

    I was reminded (by hubby) that I should not ‘expect’ Anya to appreciate what I do for her … at least not right now. Perhaps one day, years from today, when she looks back and read this blog 🙂 And I know he’s right.

    [Gotta learn how to make ‘slim’ dolls haha…]

  • alohamolly says:

    I am very much inspired n touched by ur attempt! Cake made with Love…priceless! 🙂

  • Gwen says:

    Wow, that’s an amazing story.
    As someone who tries to make from scratch as much as I can as well (and won’t do it at this juncture at least, for anyone else except kids and hubby), I appreciate every single challenge you went through.

    Bravo!

  • andy says:

    wow cool!! With each cake, Leonny is setting the standard higher ! Are you starting baking lessons soon?

  • Samantha says:

    Bravo Leonny! At least, you never give up:) So proud of you *clap hand*

  • kayla says:

    leonny u have to tell me how to make the doll and the colouring and method used…its so cute, chubbyness and all…please please

  • Mel says:

    Hi Leonny,
    Your children are really blessed to have a mummy like you. You are doing a great Job with the kids God has entrusted you with. You inspire me to be a better mummy.

  • Adora says:

    Hi Leonny,

    It’s a gorgeous cake! I’m sure Anya was touched. But it was this sentence that really brought tears to my eyes: My hope and prayer is for our children to always know in their heart that we love them very much, and that we always will.

  • jean says:

    Hi Leonny, this cake is priceless… really a beautiful cake you made for Anya.. This love for your children is truly touching and all the effort you put in is priceless.. God bless your journey with your children as they grow. 🙂

  • Yen says:

    Dear Leonny,

    I think the effort put into this cake is priceless. And with you being pregnant and do it all on your own, I have to salute you. Good job (although I probably would never do this for my own kids hee, but I will compensate in other thing)

    I’m sure if Anya read this blog, she will come to appreciate everything you’ve done for her. Even the chubby Rapunzel 🙂

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