Here it is folks, the mermaid cake requested by my (now) 5 year old niece. This cake was quite the undertaking for me and by far the most difficult cake I have done up until now. I apologize now for the length of this post!
I tend to be the type of person who stays up way past a normal bedtime finishing cakes to make them as perfect as I can. Honestly, I wanted to avoid that this time. I came up with a plan for the design and how I would execute creating the cake. That meant splitting the work up into two days to avoid any unnecessary stress.
Okay, so maybe it isn’t the prettiest of designs but it got the job done! Normally I don’t do all this, but it absolutely helped me be more prepared for what I was getting into.
As you can see from my plan, there were quite a few components to the cake. I went ahead and chose to do the white chocolate decorations and fondant scales on Friday (my first day). After that it would be the cake, buttercream and assembly on Saturday (my second day). The party wasn’t until Sunday so that gave me enough wiggle room to be done beforehand and account for any potential mishaps.
I also found it easier to have everything out that I needed (with the exception of perishable ingredients) in order to grab things as I went. I’m also a visual person and it helped me see if I was truly missing anything.
After doing my grocery shopping that morning, I started with the white chocolate decorations. I chose these molds from Amazon since it came with a good variety of options for a reasonable price. I just made sure to wash them before using and ensured they were completely dry so as not to mess up the chocolate.
The chocolate itself is relatively easy to melt. I just put a whole bag in the glass bowl and microwaved in 30 second increments. You do want to make sure to stir the chocolate after each microwave session to really see if all the pieces have melted. You DO NOT want to overheat the chocolate since it’s hard to really salvage it after that.
You can’t see it too well in the picture, but I did have my silicone mat on a baking sheet so that I could easily transition the molds to the freezer after I was done filling them.
I used the piping bag and a small decorating tip to fill the mold cavities. Once I got a decent amount of chocolate in them, without overfilling, I used my cookie scribe to help push the chocolate into the smaller areas. After that, I tapped the baking pan on the counter a few times to facilitate the chocolate getting into the grooves.
Then I stuck the baking sheet into the freezer for about 15-20 minutes to quicken the process of the chocolate setting. After I made sure the chocolate was okay to pop out of the molds, it was time to paint! Side note, if you do get these molds, I found some of the pieces hard to keep together. Primarily, the seahorse. I loved this one and wanted to use him SO much but the tail kept breaking each time I made him so I finally gave up on it.
I used this tutorial from Baker’s Party Shop to figure out how to paint each white chocolate piece, especially the mermaid tails. I also ordered the luster dusts from their site as well. I love this shop so much! They have so many sprinkles options and great packaging for Christmas baking.
Let me be completely honest with you, this process was some of the most time consuming. I sat in my stool for a good 2 hours painting these decorations. But, and this is a big but, it was a lot of fun! It allowed me to get creative with layering and mixing the colors to see what I would end up with. As you will see in the tutorial, you use the alcohol to make the luster dust into a paint. I loved making the different paint colors with it. I couldn’t find Everclear in my Total Wine so I just found a dupe that worked perfectly.
In hindsight, I would suggest getting more luster dust colors if you plan on doing more than just mermaid tails. I realized after awhile I was running out of options and wished I had more variety for color scheme. Other than that, they came out exactly how I was hoping!
After I stored those into a tupperware container, I moved on to the marshmallow fondant. Yes, I decided to make homemade fondant on top of everything else I was doing. I’m extra sometimes, what can I say?
I used this marshmallow fondant recipe from Rosanna Pansino and also watched her YouTube video on it . This process was actually very easy. I would say kneading the fondant to incorporate all the powdered sugar took the longest. After that, I went ahead and colored four different balls of fondant (which I didn’t get pictures of because it was getting late and my light was gone).
One tip I have: definitely do not skip out on using the Crisco on your hands and counter when dying the fondant. I can’t even tell you how many times I have stained my hands just coloring buttercream. Using the Crisco made sure I had zero issues with color everywhere.
After I was done coloring, I put each color in their own separate ziploc bag and kept them out on the counter. That was the end of day one!
The next morning, it was time to bake cakes. Since I was making this a two tiered cake, I made two separate batches of this recipe, one for the three 8″ pans and one for the two 6″ pans. My niece requested chocolate cake and I knew I needed something that would hold up to the weight of the tiers. Everything I read when I researched said that chocolate cake isn’t always the sturdiest of options. I will definitely be keeping this recipe because it performed exactly like I was hoping.
I have never made so much cake at once in my life! I even got 12 cupcakes out of the second batch. For me personally, I tend to decrease the baking time at least by 10 minutes just because my oven seems to bake more quickly. If you worry about baking a cake too long, I suggest doing the same so you don’t end up with a dry cake.
While I let all the layers cool, I moved on to the buttercream. This has been my go to buttercream since I made my niece’s unicorn cake 2 years ago. My mom doesn’t love too much icing on her cakes but always says how much she likes this particular recipe. I promise it’s a great option for any cake.
If you are doing more than just icing a cake, you should at least double the recipe. Sometimes I even triple it. Better to have more buttercream than less, especially if you are coloring it. Plus, who doesn’t like to eat the icing as you go?! Just me? I admit it, I take the pieces I cut off from leveling the cakes, add a bunch of buttercream and eat it as I decorate. No need to waste!
After I did a crumb coat, froze, and did a top coat on the stacked 8″ and 6″ cakes, it was time to combine the two tiers. This is what terrified me the most. Of course I did research and found this fantastic step-by-step tutorial. It was the first time I had seen the stacking being done with bubble straws, which I loved. I’ve always worried about splinters coming from the wooden dowels. The biggest thing to watch for is that the straws are positioned correctly so that the top tier weight is evenly distributed and holds.
And we have a stacked cake! I was beyond excited. Quite frankly, I felt so accomplished getting this right. At this point I took a little break to sit, eat and watch a little TV to decompress before I moved on to the scales.
For the scales, I microwaved each color fondant ball for about 10 seconds, used some more Crisco and kneaded it again before I rolled them out. Once they were rolled out to the thickness I wanted, I used a small round cutter to create multiple circles.
Another tip: you should try and cover the tray of cut out fondant with plastic wrap so that they don’t dry out too much. With the size cutter I used, it took awhile to make my way around the top tier and I found some colors dried faster than others.
To add the scales, I used a small paint brush and edible adhesive to ensure they stuck to the cake/each other. Once the scales covered the entire top tier, I added the white chocolate pieces around the cake with the same edible adhesive. And then I was done! I covered the entire cake in plastic wrap overnight. I left it out on the counter since the white chocolate and fondant scales don’t hold up wonderfully in the fridge.
I had my dad pick me up the next day to transport it to my sister’s house for the party. I wanted to be able to hold the cake myself on the drive. Talk about nerve-racking! My dad was laughing at me during the whole 10 minutes. Even with road bumps and holes, the cake made it in one piece and my niece loved it!
I take zero credit for decorating, that was all my sister and it all came out so cute!
Yes, that is my niece stuffing her face with chips above. Her and I ate the majority of those because we are the same. Love of chips!
Wooooo that was long but that’s it! That’s the mermaid cake! I admit, I was exhausted on Monday after baking and the party. But it was so worth it. Not only was my niece thrilled, I successfully made the exact cake I planned. The only issue? I made way for both my nieces to keep requesting these intricate cakes for their birthdays!
If you have the opportunity to try something like this out, I say do it. Lots of work, but so much fun if you enjoy being creative. With that, I’ll end this post and see you next time!