]quote]Oh dear, I may have to do a pre-practice practice cake!!! [\quote]

LOL!

Maybe you can get one of those Nordicware pans that has the 6 decorative cavities that hold about a cup each and do a different experimental treatment for each of them?

Anne in NC - 15 April 2012 02:01 PM

Great idea, FG—it was really fun seeing what everyone did with the castle on Amazon!

Yes, they were very creative. I would never have thought to decorate it the way they did.

Anne in NC - 15 April 2012 07:26 PM

]quote]Oh dear, I may have to do a pre-practice practice cake!!! [\quote]

LOL!

Maybe you can get one of those Nordicware pans that has the 6 decorative cavities that hold about a cup each and do a different experimental treatment for each of them?

That’s a good idea! I love those pans.

I don’t think an all-over frosting or glaze would be the way to go- just my opinion- but a clear syrup that would be (gently) brushed all over the cake would keep it moist without covering up the detail.

Ok I think I’ve decided to bake the whipped cream cake mentioned in a couple replies here and find a very clear glaze (not sure which one yet) to drizzle over, and then pipe buttercream frosting around the details.  For my grandson’s cake I’m also going to make a dragon and possibly some other decorations with colored moldable sugar paste to place around the entrance of the castle.  For the Queen’s Jubilee cake competition I have cutouts of the Royal Family to place at the door LOL. 

How does that sound??  I was wondering what everyone thinks of the idea to add some colored sprinkles/strands to the batter - do you thnk this should work out ok with this recipe? 

I will take pictures of my finished cake (providing it doesn’t turn out too horribly) and post them here!  My first of the two cakes will be two weeks from today.

It sounds magical to me! I’m looking forward to seeing it when you are finished.

sandra_t - 12 April 2012 08:08 AM

Hello everyone!  I am new here but not new to baking - it’s my favorite thing in the world!  I have been reading through my Cake Bible trying to find a recipe to use for my new 10-cup Bundt castle cake pan and not sure what to use.  Most of the recipes would need to be doubled to fill this castle pan and not sure if that would work.  I want to make something exciting for a special occasion for a little boy.  Perhaps a plain butter cake would be a little boring, looking for something more interesting.  Possibly a marble, or possibly a swirled multi-colored yellow cake.  I’m just not sure what is suitable in a Bundt cake pan as I haven’t really used them before.  Any advice would be appreciated!!!

- Sandra

I have made rum cakes many times in a bundt pan.Thanks for posting this.

I thought I’d report back on my first castle cake attempt!  I took pictures but I’m not sure I want to post them…

  I used the whipped cream cake recipe and the buttercream recipe using corn syrup from the Cake Bible.  I added red, white and blue sprinkles/strands to the batter.  Unfortunately the strands dissolved as soon as they hit the batter so I had basically a blue swirly cake!  The cake itself tasted great, however the blue swirls didn’t look very good on the outside of the cake using the castle mold.  I hadn’t planned to cover the entire cake with icing but decided I needed to to make it more attractive as it looked pretty awful.  I used decorator tips and basically covered the entire cake in small stars and outlined the windows, etc in different colors.  In the end it looked fine for a child’s cake, but it certainly wouldn’t have won any awards LOL.

I had a couple people who didn’t like the frosting and said it was not sweet enough and too buttery.  So I’m back to the drawing board on everything!  I think I’ll go with one of the chocolate cake recipes with a chocolate glaze next time.

I’m so sorry to hear the cake was not what you’d hoped it would be but it sounds as though you saved it!
I wasn’t aware the candies might dissolve in the batter…..I wonder what they use in confetti cakes and what the ingredients are that prevent them from dissolving !

If you’re now considering a chocolate cake with glaze, I have had recent experience with the chocolate cream glaze from the cake bible. I made the double-chocolate whammy groom’s cake in a guitar-shaped pan and needed to seal it with something (I’m not particularly adept with a piping bag so decorating it with buttercream was out of the question ). Rose’s lacquer glaze requires a perfect surface so I used the chocolate cream glaze which is really just a thin ganache. My cake had a very imperfect surface and the glaze filled in those imperfections nicely. I used only 1 coat, a second would have provided a nicer finish. I’ve included some photos (before and after glazing) to give you some idea of the coverage it provides and the finished sheen.

There’s also the cocoa syrup from the black chocolate party cake (RHC) to consider - it doesn’t provide coverage, but leaves a beautiful, shiny surface.

Thank you, your guitar looks great and I will take a look at the recipes you used!  I’m not sure about the colored strands either, I am living in Britain and I wonder if they are made differently from the American ones.  I assumed they would work the same as in Confetti cake mixes which aren’t available here or I’d buy one just to take a look at the “confetti” that it comes with.