Homemade Castle Cake

Last year my friend Kim showed me a really cool book on making themed birthday cakes from a 9x13 sheet cake. It inspired me to make a tractor cake for Charlie that year, and this year, I used the same concept to make a castle cake for Akea’s princess party. It was seriously easy, and though there are a couple things I would change, I was pleased, in general, with the result.

Before I begin, I want to mention that when I bake, I bake from scratch and I always use freshly milled flour in my recipes. I haven’t gotten into bread making and baking in general much on the blog yet, but let me say that the nutritional benefits of freshly milled flour from wheat berries are innumerable. The white flour you buy from the store is devoid of the bran and germ, which contain almost all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs, and the packaged whole wheat flour from the store is actually rancid, because the bran and germ spoil quickly – as well as lose those important nutrients. Though there is the initial investment of buying a grain mill (I have a Nutrimill) to consider, you will eventually save tons of money on bread and tons of time, because you probably won’t be making as many sick visits to the doctor.

I digress…but CLICK HERE for more on that. First, the architect/artist in me sketched out an idea:

I then divided the cake in half. One of the halves I divided again, to become the two towers (funny how that always elicits the Lord of the Rings theme song in my head). I then cut a square at the end of what would be the shorter tower, and made a diagonal cut to make the turrets.

Assemble the pieces:

Divide the frosting into as many bowls as you have colors, making sure to allow the proper amount for each color. For instance, I put aside just a little bit to color yellow, more to color purple, and the bulk of it to color pink. Then frost per the sketch:

Keep in mind that frosting stiffens quickly, so I had to be quick with the little beads and sprinkles. And like I said in my Disney Princess Party post, it would have been ideal to define the windows with yellow gel and the door with purple gel. And while I’m talking about frosting, I should mention that there are ways to frost using all natural ingredients; click here for a very helpful website that uses different types of veggies and berries to achieve colored frosting. I’ve tried this before and have been very successful. Happy baking!