TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!!) Birthday Cake

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE BIRTHDAY CAKE

For my son's seventh birthday he wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party. Well, I used to LOVE the TMNT when I was a kid (we will kindly skip the part about just how long ago that was!!!).  The interesting thing is that the TMNT are making a comeback.  Unfortunately, the comeback is in the early stages and what that means for me is very, very limited party decor.  Story of my life!!  Both of my children have always wanted themed parties for which there are no theme products available in stores....so I'm used to improvising!

Today is all about the cake.....




First, I ALWAYS use a box cake mix.  Why?  Because it costs, on average, $1 and will always taste more delicious and be more moist than any recipe I can make myself.  For one buck, it's a bargain in a box!  My personal favorites are Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker and whatever brand it is you can get at Save-A-Lot.  Unless I have a fancy recipe that is going to spruce up the boxed cake mix, I always follow the diretions to a tee!  For today's recipe, I used a Betty Crocker Super Moist White cake mix and divided it between two square pans.  (I just wanted to use the square pan to be different!-two round would work just as well for the face of this cake, too.)

Notice how flat the cakes are???  That can be attributed to the quality of the pans I used (which I touched on in my first blog.)

After thoroughly cooling the cakes I colored my frosting to the right shade of green.
 

Now, put a layer of frosting on your first layer.  (I like it THICK!)  Put your second layer on top and put a very thin "crumb coat" on first.  This makes sure that you won't end up with any crumbs in your final layer, making it look icky!  (I sometimes slid it into the refrigerator for a few minutes to get it to set up quicker.)

Now put icing all over.  Make sure you put an even layer and smooth out.  This might take you some time and you might feel like you smooth and smooth and smooth but the icing isn't getting perfectly smooth.  That's ok...it won't get PERFECTLY smooth.  Just get it as smooth as you can.  Remember, we're going to put some decorative piping around and decorate the top, so most of it will end up covered up anyway!


MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS PROCESS:  Have a picture to look at as your guide when decorating your cake.  I printed some pictures from the Internet and then used them as a guide and free-handed all my designs on the cake itself.
 



Now, get your icing bag ready.  I put mine in a cup and fold the bag down over the cup to make filling my bag much easier and less messy.  You won't need much icing because we're only piping the turtle mask and it takes very little.

BEFORE I piped the icing onto the cake, I used a toothpick to draw out the mask.  This makes it sooo much easier to pipe icing on when you have a pattern to follow.  Outline it first and go slowly if you're nervous. 

**TIP:  If you're new to icing with a bag/tip combo, try it on a sheet of wax paper first.  This allows you to get comfortable with handling your bag and moving your hands so that the icing comes out smooth.  The plus side....once you've practiced, scoop icing off the wax paper and re-use!!

Once you've completed the outline, it's really up to you how you would like to fill it.  For this one, I continued to outline inside until it was filled up completely.  Then I went back and smoothed the top with a knife to get ride of piping lines. 



I again used a toothpick to outline the mouth, then used white icing to pipe in the mouth.  I also went up to the mask and filled in the eye holes with white.  Easy, slow, keep it simple.

With black icing and a much finer tip, I went back through VERY slowly and traced the mask, the eye holes, added pupils (I went around in small circles and left some white in the very center), traced the mouth, added teeth, outlined the nose, and other distinguishing "turtle" marks. 

Your turtle face is done.  BUT, we want to make it PRETTIER and we can do that very simply by using color (in this case, all the TMNT colors) and a wide star tip. 

I added a different color on each side to give it some flare!  With the wide star tip it is so easy to make the icing look fancy. 

I had trouble convincing people that I made this cake because I put it in cake container from my last bakery purchase!!

Baking the cake....Simple.

Putting green icing all over...Simple.

Adding the "Turtle" face.....just a few Simple steps.

It is easy to create a unique cake (costs less than bakery, too!).  The cake can make or break an important occassion.  This cake just so happened to make my son's birthday!

Hope this has been very helpful. 

Remember....K.I.S.S.  (Keep It Super Simple!)

I want to bake....what next??

Baking Made Simple How to buy baking ingredients and bake ware for LESS!

Baking IS simple.

But to keep it simple, you must start with a couple of really important things; ingredients and baking utensils.

Ingredients:

Let me start off by saying I am a self-proclaimed cake snob.  Cake is VERY important to me and a cake that is not tasty is, in my opinion, a crime against....well, cake!  That being said, whenever I bake a cake I always use a boxed cake mix.  WHAT?!?!  Yes, a boxed cake mix.  WHY???  After many disastrous attempts and failures, I determined that I, personally, have yet to find a cake recipe that gives me the results of a boxed cake mix.  I want my cakes to be tasty, moist, properly risen, and have the right consistency and texture.  With many recipes I find problems in one or two of those areas.  And there is nothing worse than a dry cake.  Or a cake that falls apart.  Or a cake that is flavorless.  It ruins the occasion. 

(See this beauty?  You will NEVER encounter a cake that is as dry as this one.  Why?  I used a recipe, not a boxed cake mix!  And it was an important birthday cake.  :(  Learn a valuable lesson from my mistake!)

****I often ADD to the boxed cake mixes to jazz them up!  (More on that another time.)


OFF-BRAND Ingredients:
Now, to further blow your mind, I use many ingredients that are off-brands.  That's right, folks....I buy generic products!  Why?  A better question is "Why not??"  I buy off-brand products because they cost less and give me the same taste and results as name brands.  You will certainly need to use a trial and error method here, as I have over the years.  With this process I've found that some things are definitely ok and some are not.

Examples:

Butter.  Let's face it.  Butter is EXPENSIVE, but it also makes your baking soooo much better.  (NEVER use margarine!)  I always buy off brand butter because butter is butter folks.  $2.50 for the Save-A-Lot or Wal-Mart brand versus $4.00+ for a name brand.  I don't need to pay for a name when most off-brands will work just fine.

Other off-brand ingredients I use: Sugar, Peanut Butter (I prefer the Save-A-Lot brand), vanilla extract, cream cheese (Again, I prefer the SAL brand because it is up to $1 or more less than name-brand and it tastes the same!), ready-made pie crusts (graham or regular), corn starch, salt, Nutella (SAL is NOT okay here!  We love the Wal-Mart generic brand, though.  It tastes great!), honey, nuts, cake mixes (Yes, I will use a SAL cake mix!) and sooo much more.  My method here is absolutely 100% trial and error.  I am willing to TRY an off-brand product just to see if it is as good as the name brand or not.  I wouldn't rush out and buy every off-brand product and try to create a dish.  Instead, start slow.  The next time you need an ingredient, buy one off-brand product and see if it works just the same for you.  If not, what have you lost? 

Name-Brand products I do buy: Cocoa powder, chocolate chips, frosting, Cool Whip (It just works and tastes better!), and flour.  Through trial and error, I've disovered these things are better with the name brand because of TASTE, which is #1 for me, always!

Baking Utensils:

This is another biggee.  I do recommend that if you plan on baking alot, you do take the time to invest in good bakeware.  This doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg!

These beauties are a recent addition to my kitchen.



These pans (Commercial II products) cost me $9.00 each at T.J. Max!!  With stores like T.J. Max and Ross you can often find great deals on bakeware, but you can't always count on these stores having a huge selection.  So, when you're out shopping and you spot a deal, grab it!  You can also get these sweeties (in different sizes and shapes) at stores like Hobby Lobby all the time.  This is great for you because HL has an online coupon for 40% off that can be used on one regular priced item.  (Hobby Lobby Coupon)  You can print this or bookmark it on your smart phone and just show it to the clerk when you checkout.   

Why invest in good bakeware?  Let me tell you a little story....Once upon a time all my cakes came out of the oven rounded on top.  No matter what I did, I could not get my cakes to come out of the oven with flat tops.  It was horrible.  Then I discovered Commercial II pans...and guess what??  When I baked cakes in these beautiful pans...my cakes came out of the oven flat on top!!  And everyone lived happily ever after!

Other Utensils:

I am not a snob when it comes to things like mixers, spoons, whisks, measuring cups, mixing bowls, etc.  Use what you have on hand unless it isn't working for you.  If it isn't working, invest in better equipment.  If you plan on decorating cakes, cookies, etc., I do suggest Wilton's line of decorating products.  They are very good.  And, again, buy them at Hobby Lobby, one at a time using a coupon, if you must, or wait for an awesome sale (HB has LOTS of great sales each week!). 

I hope this has helped and inspired you to bake and bake for less!

Remember, K.I.S.S. (Keep It Super Simple!)