I am a decent cook. I'm come a long way over the years and I can make some mean vegetarian cuisine. Baking, however.... Baking is not my forte. Unless the cookies have come pre-made and break off of a roll, I usually mess them up. And even the store-bought cookies that only require you to put them in the oven usually get burnt. Instead of making cakes, I prefer to buy them. The kids have always gotten bought birthday cakes, but this year, I decided to make Lorel's cake. I didn't want to spend extra money on a fancy cake and figured she wouldn't care if it looked wonky. As long I didn't burn it and it was covered in frosting, Lorel would be happy.
In all my Pinterest searching, I came across several Tangled Tower cakes and I must have been drinking in the moment I decided, because I actually made up my mind to take a stab at making one. I bought two boxes of cake mix (one for a cake and one for cupcakes), a tube of green icing (for vines), and a can of white icing (that I could dye green). I found instructions to make the cake on www.DisneyFamily.com and though I didn't follow instructions to a "T," I based the cake on this example. I'm going to try to explain, in detail, how I made the cake in case someone else out there wants to make one too.
1) I started off by making one cake in a 9x13 cake pan and I made 12 cupcakes with the other box of cake mix.
2) When everything was cooled, I began cutting the tops off of some of the cupcakes and in the center of the square cake, I stacked the cupcakes one on top of the other with white icing in-between to help bind them together.
3) After a few were stacked, it became clear that I would need something to help keep the tower steady - especially since the base of the tower (the main cake) was squishy and moist. I tried a few strategically-placed toothpicks, but once the tower got to a certain height, the toothpicks weren't cutting it. So, I found a small wooden dowel (a skewer would work well too) and stuck it down the middle. The dowel definitely saved the cake.
4) When I wanted to finish the top of the tower, I left one of the cupcakes intact - with the wrapper still on it - and put it on top. The wrapper separated it from the rest of the tower, making it look like the room at the top that Rapunzel lives in. The original instructions used a waffle cone with purple icing for the cone roof of the tower, but because we don't use waffle cones, I didn't want to buy a pack just for one, and I didn't want to buy purple icing, my dad's girlfriend came up with the fantastic idea of making a cone out of purple construction paper. It was perfect and a lot cheaper!
5) When the tower was assembled, I covered it in white frosting (except for the wrapped cupcake and roof) and purposely kept it from looking perfect because I wanted it to resemble an old tower.
6) I then got out the green frosting and made some vines down the sides of the tower, around the bottom of the tower room and around the bottom of the tower roof (to help seal it on).
7) I added some green drops of food coloring to the rest of the white icing and iced the main cake to make it look like grass under the tower.
8) Remember those cupcake tops that I took off? I placed some of the them (unfrosted) around the tower to look like rocks or boulders (figured I should use them somehow).
9) I think the real kicker of the cake was the 3D Rapunzel that I made to stand in front of the tower. I also found it on the Disney site, here, and though it wasn't perfect, it looked pretty darn good. I highly recommend making this ahead of time. I was a little rushed and it totally stressed me out more than necessary.
I am completely stunned that I actually made this cake. (I'm turning into my mother!) Like I said, I'm lucky just to have a cake that isn't burnt and has frosting on it. The girls L.O.V.E.D. the cake and I was a little sad when it came time to cut it up. I think I've created a bit of trouble for myself by raising the birthday-cake bar for future birthdays. This cake was definitely the best one I've ever made and it's quite possible it was a fluke. I guess we'll see when Ila's birthday gets here in March!
Notice the "3"? It was leftover from Ila's last birthday and without even thinking, I put it on the cake. It was SEVERAL minutes before someone realized that Lorel was turning two.... What can I say? Our kid seems so much older than 2.
Posing beside my beautiful 3 cake.
Thaaaat's more like it. We got a number 2, and I can't resist my "picture face."
Success!
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