Sheet Cakes for Baby Showers
From LoveToKnow Baby
Sheet cakes for baby showers can be a versatile dessert choice for both large and small parties. When people think of sheet cakes, they often think of the large, Texas-style sheet cake that's actually prepared in a cookie sheet rather than a cake pan. However, the rectangular cakes that are decorated and sold commercially are also referred to as sheet cakes. This type of cake lends itself very well to highly creative decoration and embellishment.
To Bake or to Buy?
A full sheet cake is suitable for large parties, and usually serves 80 to 100 people. A half-sheet will serve 30 to 50 people, and the quarter sheet cake serves up to 25 people, which is great for smaller baby showers. Sheet cakes for baby showers can be baked, iced, and decorated at home. It is usually better for the hostess of the party to leave the cake decorating and baking to someone with a lot of cake experience, as the hostess herself will usually be very busy coordinating and arranging the many other details of the baby shower.
Sometimes a friend or family member who decorates cakes for fun or profit may be willing to donate her skills for the baby shower cake, and this gift of time and skill should not be taken for granted. Decorated cakes take many hours of work, and it takes a lot of experience in cake decorating to produce a polished and lovely cake. Be sure to discuss design ideas with the person who is decorating the cake,and don't micromanage a person who is donating time and materials as a caring gesture!
Since baby showers are an important occasion for any pregnant woman, it isn't the time to try out cake decorating for the first time. Pregnant women will appreciate a cake that displays an attention to detail, rather than a haphazard attempt at saving money by making a cake at home. Many grocery store bakeries offer custom cakes at reasonable prices, and they can also bake and frost a simple sheet cake for decoration. While not everyone can pipe gorgeous trim on a cake and write a message in elegant lettering, there are some do-it-yourself baby shower cake ideas that look both sophisticated and professional.
Do-It-Yourself Cake Decorating
The flat surface of a frosted sheet cake simply begs for decoration, and it's easy to achieve a finished look at a reasonable price. One great idea is to use baby-themed sugar decorations. The Party Works offers baby booties, buttons, and diaper pins in pink and blue, and gender-neutral shades of green and yellow. They also offer a baby-related assortment of sugar decorations that includes all of their available baby shapes.
For a sweet theme, they also offer pink or blue molded sugar baby feet, baby onesies, or a delicately painted rattle for a more intricate look. The rattles are especially unique because they are larger, almost two inches long. The sugar decorations attach to the cake with a small squirt of frosting and are edible.
Piping letters onto a cake by hand can be very time-consuming and frustrating for the beginning decorator. For a quick way to personalize a plain sheet cake, find some letter and number cookie cutters. In addition to topping a cake with cookie letters and numbers, these cutters will also cut fondant. Fondant is a thick, chewy kind of sugar paste that professional cake decorators often use to get that flawless flat look for a cake. Fondant can also be used to embellish a frosted cake, and cookie cutters are one great way to do this without having to do any freehand cutting or decorating.
Creating Sheet Cakes for Baby Showers
Not all baby showers need a four-tiered confection covered in delicate spun-sugar shapes. Anyone can make a memorable and classy cake with a little creativity and the right supplies. Baby shower hostesses would be wise to accept the help of any veteran cake decorator who is willing to do the shower cake and should not try to decorate a cake for the shower without any previous decorating experience. Although a cake is quickly eaten, sheet cakes for baby showers will be in pictures that are viewed for many years into the future. It pays to spend time and money making sure the cake is just right!
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This page has been accessed 1,462 times. This page was last modified 17:45, 15 April 2009.
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