Two If By Sea "The Cake" — Cupcake Dreams and Candle Wishes: Part III

Two If By Sea: The Cake
Inspired by a Martha Stewart cake I had been wanting to make for a long time and West's sweet baby voice constantly saying "I see lighthouses", I came up with my own version of her adorable cake with delicious 7-minute frosting.

My version of the cake isn't the vision of perfection that Martha's is, but I thought it turned out well. Here's how to make it:

The Cake: Here's the step-by-step instructions on making this cake: Martha Stewart's Sailboat Birthday Cake
Here's the One-bowl Chocolate Cake recipe she uses: One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
Tip: Martha calls for two 8" square pans to make this cake, but I used two 9" square pans successfully.

I have to say that the chocolate cake recipe used here is absolutely delicious! I will make it again and plan on keeping this recipe as my must-have chocolate cake. It was so moist and so tasty!

THE 7-MINUTE FROSTING

The 7-Minute Frosting: I had never made 7-minute frosting before and I must say I loved it! It reminded me of marshmallow cream, but not as thick. Very light and tasty.

This frosting smooths on easily and is very different from typical frosting. It reminds me of a thicker version of royal icing. I couldn't get mine to peak on top as well as Martha's, but I was in a hurry and the frosting probably needed a few more minutes to set up before I attempted to make the peaks. You will need what is called a cake-comb to make the waves along the side of the cake. These can easily be purchased at a local craft or bake store for under $5.

THE CUTE SAILBOAT

The Sailboat: Now, every good sailboat cake needs a sailboat. Martha, of course, has a downloadable pdf file with the detailed instructions for making this boat. Just go to the how-to-page for the Sailboat Birthday Cake and click on the words "paper sailboat". The only modification I made to mine, was to use a ribbon for the flag instead of paper.

I am still trying to think of a clever way to make these for a party craft or a take home favor. They are just so cute! Any ideas?


The Lighthouse and Island: I wanted a quick way to build a lighthouse on West's cake and all I could think of was donuts, donuts, donuts. Chocolate and powdered donuts, made me think of the black and white striped Bodie Island lighthouse in the Outer Banks. I bought a box of regular sized chocolate and powdered donuts and bags of the smaller ones in both flavors.

Any lighthouse needs an island on which to sit and this is where baking chocolate came in. Big bricks of baking chocolate. I took the bricks and carved them with a knife (Please be careful!) until they resembled craggy rocks and then put them together in one corner of the cake, gluing them down to the cake with chocolate frosting. I also carved rocks to place around the four corners of the cake.

Then the light house construction could begin. Donut, by donut, I built the light house by alternating the chocolate and powdered sugar donuts, using frosting as glue, (Make sure not to use too much frosting, you don't want it oozing out the sides of your lighthouse.). I tried to use the largest donut I could find on the bottom and then tried to find ones that tapered off in size as I went up, saving the smallest donuts for the top. I had grander plans for the light at the top, but had to settle for a large marshmallow and a small yellow gumdrop, cut to size.

THE FISH COOKIES

The Fish Cookies: Martha's sugar cookie recipe calls for smaller fish cookie cutters than what I had, so I opted to use the larger one. I was already making fish, crab, lobster and clam sugar cookies for favors, so I made 5 extra fish, (One to spare!) for the four sides of the cake and flooded them with matching pale blue royal icing. Once the fish were made and the frosting had dried I placed one on each side of the cake or you could place several if you choose to make the smaller ones.

Here's to smooth sailing and even smoother frosting!

Call The Blu Sash if you would like us to design your child's birthday cake. We work with some amazing bakers in Lexington, Kentucky to create exactly what you dream up and we deliver. We also plan children's Birthday parties if you are interested in calling us for packages and pricing.
859.271.6934 or donias@theblusash.com