A Joyful Occasion
A Baptism is is such a joyful occasion. It brings close family and friends together to celebrate one’s christening. It’s a very special occasion and is also a great excuse to have cake 🙂 One of my dearest lifelong friend’s baby girl is getting baptized and asked that I would make her cake. Of course I cannot pass that up. I love making cakes, almost as much as I like eating them. Knowing that I am contributing to someone’s special day brings me great joy.
The Cake
I always error on making more than enough cake, because nothing is worse than not having enough…and who doesn’t love leftover cake? I use my Wilton 12×18 sheet pan, which gives you a lot of room to decorate. Mostly I use store bought cake mix and love changing up the flavors. This time I went with Betty Crocker Party Chip! Always a favorite! I want to point out that my cakes are ALWAYS soy free. It’s as simple as using canola oil instead of vegetable oil and checking the ingredients on the cake mix. There are plenty out there that are soy free. I am allergic to soy so it is important to me! Another step most don’t think about when it comes to allergies is the baking spray. I grease the pan with butter and flour because the baking sprays have soy in them…
Easy Buttercream
Normally, I use store bought buttercream because I am so crunched on time, but I was feeling like Betty home-maker today so I made my own. This recipe is fast and easy and, oh yeah, it tastes AMAZING! What I like about homemade buttercream is that it has more body or stiffness to it than the store bought frosting does. Easy Buttercream has a rich taste, not too butter-flavored and isn’t too sweet! (But nothing is ever too sweet for me) For this cake, I did two batches of the Easy Buttercream (recipe below) to frost and decorate the 12×18 sheet cake. To get this beautiful color, I used Wilton’s Rose Petal Pink gel food coloring. I first took some of the plain white frosting I made out of the bowl and set aside, then colored the rest pink. Then, I took some of that out and then dyed the rest darker to give me a few shades of pink. When dying your frosting its always easier to do the big batches in your Kitchen Aid stand mixer, that way you get even color throughout.
Decorating The Cake
This cake was fun to decorate. I wanted it to be simple, yet elegant. In addition, this was a great opportunity to try some new buttercream flowers, with my new Wilton Tips, #129, #190 and #30. These tips make it simple to create flowers! Make sure you do a few test flowers before trying on the cake! That way you can ensure you get the right technique. Be sure to check out my video below to see how I decorated it! I knew I wanted a bunch of flowers and a cross, but I pretty much winged the design. I usually go in with a solid plan, but I was feeling good about it!
Recipe For The Sheet Cake
12×18 Sheet Cake
Notes
- You can get away with using only 2.5 boxes of the cake mix. I fill 12 cupcakes (since that’s half a box) first and then pour the rest into the pan. Having cupcakes is great because when the cake comes out my kids always want to stick their fingers in it, so I just hand them a cupcake instead! You can also taste it to make sure it’s delicious!!
- TIP – Every oven seems to bake differently. I always put the timer on for 5-10 minutes before the recipe tells me, because I fear it will over cook…My oven cooks super fast and 35 minutes is enough.
- TIP – If your cake breaks when coming out of the pan (because it happens to the best of us) DON’T PANIC. You can piece it together and carefully cover with frosting. Do your best and keep going. Who’s going to know?!
Ingredients
- 3 Boxes of Cake Mix (any flavor)
- 3 Cups Water
- 1 1/2 Cups Canola Oil
- Cake Release to grease the pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- In a stand mixer, (I LOVE my Kitchenaid!) mix the cake ingredients together – I always put the eggs in first for two reasons. 1. If you get shells in the bowl you can fish them out easier. 2. The cake mix won’t stick to the bottom of the bowl
- Bake the Cake at 325 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Make sure you check the cake with a toothpick and that it comes out clean.
- After the cake comes out of the oven I put the cupcakes in for 15 minutes
- Let the Cake cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then put on a cooling rack. It needs to completely cool before you can frost!
- Once cooled transfer to a cake board
Recipe For The Buttercream
Easy Buttercream
Notes
Store In the Refrigerator
Can be stored for 2 weeks
Make sure Buttercream is at room temp before spreading on cakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 6 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 3-5 tablespoons milk or heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the softened butter
- Beat butter on medium to high until fluffy
- Add vanilla and salt
- Gradually add powdered sugar and alternate adding in cream
- Continue beating for 2-3 minutes on medium
- Turn to high speed once sugar is incorporated
- If you want to add in food coloring, add in while it is beating.
- If frosting is too stiff add in more milk or cream 1 tsp at a time and beat until combined.
- Spread on Cake and/or put in piping bags
I hope you have enjoyed this cake! Be sure to subscribe to my blog to see more from me! Here are some other cakes you may enjoy.