Happy Hump Day! This morning I'm sharing a SpongeBob Cake and Smash Cake.
Confession... I'm not a SpongeBob fan. For years I wouldn't even let my kids watch the show because it got on my nerves so bad, but somehow recently the kids were exposed to the show and decided it was the best. thing. ever.
Ugh.
Oh well... back to the cake. The only other SpongeBob cake I had ever done was way back in 2011. It was all buttercream and it's shared over on Facebook if you want to see it. (I've done another since this one in March but as usual, I'm months behind on posting.)
To do SpongeBob, I baked the cake - it was strawberry cake and after it cooled, I covered it in a layer of cream cheese buttercream. Then I stuck it in the freezer for probably an hour before covering it in yellow homemade marshmallow fondant.
Let me explain the freezer thing.... I don't always do that. Since this was a single layer sheet cake (with no filling) to be decorated in fondant, I really wanted it to have a generous layer of cream cheese frosting under the fondant. The problem is if you put fondant over really soft cream cheese frosting, it squishes all out everywhere and makes a mess when you're trying to smooth it... unless you freeze it first! So that's what I did!
After it was covered, I let it rest for awhile (to let the cake thaw and any condensation to dry - don't try to wipe off condensation!) then I started decorating.
For the sponge "holes" I used my large fondant ball tools (I have this specific set and I really love it!) to make different size impressions all over the cake (I answered this because of Renne's question on Facebook), then cut out the green circles with small round cutters and smoothed them into the indentions.
Making the holes was really easy - especially with the layer of buttercream underneath the fondant - they held their shape easily!
The eyes were also done with round cutters and outlined with black fondant strings made with my extruder (favorite tool!!). I free-hand cut the rest... using a pastry wheel and Xacto knife.
I know I say this often, but if you happen to be new to RoseBakes.com, all of the fondant is homemade marshmallow fondant except the red, black and brown. Those are all Satin Ice brand.
The little 6" smash cake was vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream (SpongeBob was fondant). I piped on all the tiny little designs except for SpongeBob himself... I made that tiny version of him from fondant and used my food markers to do the borders and the holes.
It was actually kind of fun doing all the tiny details on this cake. Ya'll know I'm not a huge fan of doing buttercream cakes, but I really liked this one!
Okay - so that's it!!
Do you have any questions about the SpongeBob cakes? Leave me a comment - I love to hear from readers!
Renne
Thank you for such an awesome tutorial and for answering my question!
Rachel
I'm wondering how you get your cakes to be so perfectly shaped. My cakes always seem tapered, and I've never figured out how to fix it. Thanks!
Rose
What do you mean? Are yours higher in the middle?
Rachel
No, it's a little hard to describe . . . the diameter of the top is smaller than the diameter of the bottom of the cake. Like as it bakes, the cake pulls away from the side of the pan but only at the top. So if I'm making a layer cake and flip one cake onto the other, it makes a sort of hourglass shape. Don't know if that's making sense . . . . Thanks!
Rose
It sounds like maybe you're baking it a little too long. If you're having to bake it longer to get it done in the middle, consider a heating core or wrapping the pans (see this post: http://rosebakes.com/how-to-bake-a-level-cake-for-cheap-works-for-me-wednesday/). 🙂
Ziba
Hi Rose,
I cannot stand sponge bob either and wouldn't let my kids watch it as well, once my son wanted to give it a try! he could not watch to the end he was saying: " mum, my brain is burning!!!" I don't know what they think with making this kind of movies!!!
Megan
Wow great work on SpongeBob! You did an awesome job making him look right. That smash cake with those little details is very adorable. And so is the shaped SpongeBob cake - I bet that took some work!