Put Your Game Face on - Xbox Cake

I love when people say to me, "you can do a/an ______ cake."

I don't know. I've never tried!

When a friend of mine called me up one day and said, "You can make an Xbox cake, right?" i just laughed.

"I don't know, I've never made one before. I've only made the Rock Band Cake," I said.

Her reply, "Oh ok... well, you're gonna make an Xbox cake. No pressure."

Yikes! Where do you even start on something like this when you've never made a REAL 3D cake?
The console.

I just stared at the Xbox for a good 30 mintes to gather my thoughts and ideas. And then I decided to trace the console out. When the cake was cooled, I put the cut out of the Xbox shape on the cake and cut it out. Easy.

Than the controller. Hmm... Not so easy. But I sat there at the tray with the controller in front of me and carved it a little at a time. Here's a tip: I use the food coloring markers to draw it out before I cut.

After everything was cut and wrapped I took the little details and started working on those. I cut out the air vents, the buttons, the side panels, the analogs. All of it.

I used a bit of water and attached all the pieces. Then a little bit of icing for some last details and voila... you have an Xbox cake.

I've seen some pretty awesome Xbox cakes out there, but I'm still VERY proud of mine. My second 3D cake. Second! Imagine that. I think I have a gift for "winging" it.

 

I go hard in the 3D cakes!

Here's my Rock Band tribute cake. It was also made as a send off to a dear friend that was moving away.

What better way to send her off than a night of good old fashioned Rock Band?

So we did what we do best: go totally overboard and theme out our Rock Band party. We sprayed our hair pink, dressed in our Rock and Roll gear, set up the instruments and jammed out all night till our hands hurt and our voices were gone.

 But when it came time for dessert, my friends were in for quite a surprise: My first ever 3D cake.

The cake itself was basic vanilla with butter cream icing. Of course, I used my trusty Wilton cake recipe. The time and effort was all in the decorating.

I did the entire cake in homemade butter cream icing (one that's an absolute secret). I free hand piped the side of the cake that mimics the bars where the notes show up on the screen when you play Rock Band. I made all the instruments and Rock Band logo in fondant icing.

While it might not be the best, the most outrageous or even the most difficult cake, this one will always be my favorite. It was my first time stepping outside of that "safe" cake zone and doing something crazy.

It's also the day I learned I had more patience than I ever thought.

 

 

 

 

 

Wilton's White Cake Recipe

My favorite White cake recipe has to be from Wilton.

After all, they are the baking genius' of the world. So every time I make cupcakes from the soul I use this recipe... all other times if I'm in a rush I'll use Betty Crocker boxed cake mix, but shhhhh.

So here's a quick look at their recipe should you ever want to try it.

• 6 cups cake flour sifted
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  
• 12 egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease bottom of pans and line with waxed paper or parchment paper. (Click here for complete instructions on preparing baking pans.)

2. Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside.

3. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Set aside.

4. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Set aside.

5. With mixer at slow speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with milk. Beat well after each addition.

6. Beat in vanilla extract. Gently fold egg whites into batter.

7. Pour into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.