My Cake Making Kit

I’m back with part two of the sheet cake saga that we started yesterday. This was a domestic adventure of gigantic proportions for me, so I wanted to share with you some of the tools I used and tricks I learned along the way. After searching online and polling co-workers and Twitter followers, it seemed that everyone in the world knew about my cake making adventure and was rooting for me!

Here is my tray of tools, which kind of reminds me of a doctor’s tray, all lined up.  Cake making is kind of like life saving, after all.

• Baking pan – This half sheet (18×12″) pan was the definite key to my overall success.  I purchased it just for this project and bought only one despite making two layers.  I figured I won’t be making that many sheet cakes and I could just bake one layer at a time.
• Parchment paper - When you are making a cake this big, you do not want to risk your layers sticking to the pan.  So, I lined mine with parchment paper and greased the sides of the pan.  It worked like a charm!
• Offset spatula – This tool came in handy several times.  First it helped me level out the cake batter and then it helped me smooth on the frosting!

• Serrated bread knife – normally I use this blade for slicing bread, but it was just what I needed to level the layers after they came out of the oven, and trim the flared edges of each layer.  To trim the tops, I kept the blade level with the edge of the pan and sawed across.  The sawing motion is key in not mushing your cake.  This process helped me get a nice flat cake with squared edges.

• Wilton Icing Color – This color paste was highly recommended to me by a co-worker for its ability to create vibrant colors.  It almost worked too well because my yellow frosting was blinding!  Definitely start with a small amount and add more until you reach the color you desire.  I found this product at Wal-Mart near the scrapbooking and wedding decor section.

• Icing bag and tips – I was luck enough to pick up a nice set of bags and tips with a gift certificate to a local kitchen shop, and I highly recommend investing the $15 – $20 for a good set.  It will make your life much easier.  (Just a few of the many tips are pictured here.  There are more tips than I know what to do with!)

• Ziploc bag - The same co-worker who recommended the icing coloring suggested I use a plain old Ziploc bag for the text.  The bag allows you to have much more control over the letters vs. using a metal tip.
• Toothpick – I was super nervous when it came to writing on the cake.  I decided not to chance it and I traced out the words with a toothpick first so that all I had to do was follow the lines.

And that, my friends is how this baby shower cake and my first ever sheet cake came to be.

I decided that I may not be able to make super classy cakes, but my future kids will probably love my bright, elementary style!