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1) Make cake mixes according to recipe
directions and fill your chosen baking pans.
I typically use a 9inch 3inch deep round pan and
a 6inch 3inch deep round pan (even the star
shaped cake used these pans, along with some
creative cutting. See Carving & Decorating
FAQ’s).
2) Once baked & cooled, level the cakes,
stack with frosting filled between the tiers,
and crumb-coat the whole cake. For these
cakes, I typically do not torte (or split) my
tiers, but keep each tier only 1 layer. Also, I
do not need supports on these cakes because each
tier is not that heavy as they are only 1 layer
and covered only in buttercream.
3) If possible, refrigerate for awhile
(whatever time you have, be it 30 minutes or
overnight...I’ve not refrigerated before but I’d
recommend doing so).
4) Remove the cake from ‘fridge and then
frost entire cake with your base color.
Some sources recommend frosting each tier
separately, letting them set-up in the ’fridge
and then stacking. While I have done it
that way before, I find just stacking,
crumb-coating and then frosting the whole thing
works well enough for me, and it’s less time
consuming.
5) If possible, let your base frosting set-up
in the ‘fridge for 30 minutes or so and then
start decorating using your preferred colors and
decorations.
6) Finally poke your pre-made lollipops (see
below for directions) into the top of the cake
at skewed angles so that it looks festive, and
enjoy!
To make the chocolate lollipops, I use Wilton
Candy melts and & Wilton lollipop sticks.
Star shaped chocolate
lollipops: I used the Wilton
star mold which has lollipop stick holders.
Simply melt your chocolate according to
directions on the bag, and then spoon (or pipe
via Ziploc bag) the runny chocolate into the
mold and nestle the lollipop stick in on top.
Let it harden in the ‘fridge and then pop out of
mold when fully hard.
Circle face chocolate
lollipops: I do not use a mold for
these. I first cover a tray with saran
wrap for a non-stick surface. Then I melt
the candy melts according to the directions on
the bag. Once melted, I simply spoon the melted
chocolate into a large round drop on the tray,
and swirl/spread with the back of the spoon to
the diameter required, leaving it 1/8-1/4 inch
thick (remember these are lollipops).
Drop the lollipop stick on top of them and
dollop a bit of chocolate where the stick rests
on the chocolate. Let it harden in the ‘fridge
and then remove from tray when fully hard.
Decorating your
Chocolate Lollipops: For either
shape, once the lollipop is hardened, I usually
decorate with a face or design. For the
faces, I usually also give them a costume using
some design or photo I’ve printed on photo
paper, cut out & taped on the stick. My
favorite has to be the school uniforms on the
faces. I made these by using pictures of my
daughter & a schoolmate in their uniforms. I
sized the pictures to my needs (~2-3 inches) in
PowerPoint, printed out the number needed, cut
out just the clothes part of the uniform (my
daughter thought it was hoot that I cut off her
head!) and then taped them to the stick. Simple
but such a riot! :)
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