Wilton Flowers and Cake Design Final Cake

Tonight was my last class for the Wilton Flowers and Cake Design course.  We learned the basket weave and got to use our flowers on a cake.  Since my birthday was yesterday, this is my "Day Late Birthday Cake" for myself, so, naturally, it was chocolate!  Due to lack of time, I used a cake mix (gasp!) that I doctored up, and it turned out wonderfully. 



Devils Food doctored cake mix with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting



Close up of royal icing roses (made during the Greys Anatomy premiere last week!)



View from the top - I LOVE the reverse shell border!



Our class manual told us to bring 3 cups of frosting, needless to say, it wasn't enough - only half my cake got the basket weave!  My teacher was really surprised that the  manual thought 3 cups would be enough, I guess now we know! You can see where I had the rest of the cake marked for the basket weave.

 Doctored Chocolate Cake Mix Cake:
1 package of Devils Food cake mix
1 package of Dream Whip
1 tablespoon of Meringue Powder
1 small (individual serving size) container of applesauce
1 cup of water
4 eggs
Method:
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Beat on medium low speed for 5 minutes and pour into your prepared pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. This recipe filled my 8x3 round pan very nicely, but would be plenty for two 8x2 pans, as well. 
**After much experimentation, I have learned that greasing and flouring your pan and lining the bottom with parchment paper makes for the PERFECT cake release!

This doctored cake mix saved me SO much time - I baked, cooled (in the freezer), made frosting, and lightly iced this cake in just 2 hours. Next Monday, I start the Fondant and Gumpaste course - I am so excited!

Happy Baking!