How else do you celebrate a baby shower than with baby decorations on baby size cakes?
Simple and classic vanilla cakes, in adorable bite-size designs are the perfect way to welcome a new arrival. Whilst mine are baby boy themed, simply swap from blue to pink if you want to.
You will need a fondant mould or making cake toppers may take you forever. I bought mine from Amazon for only a few pounds. It took awhile to arrive but works fine. If you don’t have time to wait, I would order a more expensive one which will most likely have a shorter expected delivery.
Recipe yields 42 mini cakes.
Alternatively, if you don’t have the equipment to make tiny cakes this recipe yields 12-13 fairy cakes.
You will need:
- Baby themed fondant mould
- Dusting pouch (optional)
- Cake scraper (optional)
- Food brush
- Food paint tray (optional)
- Stand or hand held mixer
- Sieve
- Petit four tin
- Petit four cases
- Piping bag
- #32 open star piping tip
Ingredients:
Decorations
- 50g white fondant icing
- Powdered icing sugar to dust
- Blue (or pink), gold and brown gel food colour
- 1 tsp white spirit (I recommend gin or vodka)
Cake
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 3 tbsp water
- 40g (3 tbsp) vegetable shortening
- 140g (¾ cup) caster sugar
- 120g (1 cup) plain gluten free flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- A pinch of salt
- ⅛ tsp xantham gum (optional)
- 120 ml coconut milk
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 80g (6 tbsp) hard vegetable shortening
- 250g (2 cups) powdered icing sugar
- 25ml coconut milk
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- Blue gel food colour (or pink)
Decorations
Step 1
Take a piece of fondant the size of a small marble and knead in your hand to warm up.
Step 2
Lightly dust the fondant mould with icing sugar to help stop the fondant sticking to the mould.
I like to use a dusting pouch for this but a muslin cloth works well. Form a dip in the centre of the cloth and fill with icing sugar, twist to secure then dab on to the silicone mould. You can sprinkle icing sugar straight onto the mould but this won’t be as even.
Step 3
Press a small bead of fondant into the shape you want to make in the mould and smooth the top removing excess fondant. I find a scraper useful here but not necessary.
Step 4
Gently press the back of the mould to pop the fondant out. Set aside on a flat surface and allow to set for 15 minutes before adding colour.
Step 5
Repeat steps 1 to 5 until you have made at least 42 toppers. I made extra incase of any breakages.
Step 6
Using a food paint palette or a plastic lid to mix the food colour, dip the brush in the spirit then the gel food colour to create a paint. Firstly I painted all the blue (or pink) on to the fondant cake toppers, then added brown to the teddies and gold embellishments to some other toppers. Leave to dry completely.
Cake
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 170°C
(325°F Gas Mark 3)
Whilst the oven preheats mix the flaxseed and cold water together, then chill for 15 minutes until gloopy.
Step 2
Cream the vegetable shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy with a stand or handheld mixer.
Step 3
In a separate bowl combine the gluten free flour, baking powder, xantham gum and salt. Sift half into the butter and sugar, then stir in with a spatula, before adding the rest.
Step 4
Rub together with your hands until you reach a sand-like consistency, and there are no lumps left.
Step 5
Whisk together the coconut milk, vanilla extract and flax-egg. Pour half into the dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Then add the rest of the liquids a bit at a time, beating between additions. Finally scrape down the sides and beat for a few minutes.
Step 6
Spoon the batter into the petit four cases in the tray until ¾ full. Approximately 1½ tsps batter.
Bake for 14-16 minutes. Set aside to cool still in the tray, so that the paper cases don’t peel.
Buttercream
Step 1
Cream the vegetable shortening with a stand or hand held mixer on a high speed.
Step 2
Add in the powdered icing sugar, coconut milk and vanilla extract, then mix on a low speed with a cover of you have one. Once that is mostly incorporated beat on a high speed for at least 5 minutes to ensure the buttercream will hold its shape.
Step 3
Add a tiny bit of blue or pink food colour to the buttercream and beat until the colour is even. Add more food colour if needed, I aimed for a pastel colour so I didn’t need much.
Step 4
Transfer to a piping bag with an open star tip. Pipe in a small circular motion in the centre of the mini cakes, then add a fondant topper to each.
Thanks for reading.
The Bakery At Home 