Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Love for EVERYONE (Plus One Way to Get a Perfectly Flat and Smooth Buttercream Top)

Today, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that California's Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.
That makes this a fine day to share one of my favorite cakes:


A friend had asked about having me make a cake to celebrate Pride weekend in San Francisco last June. He didn't end up needing one after all, but I was so excited about the idea, I made one anyway. As it turns out, the weekend I made this cake was also the weekend New York state voted to legalize gay marriage.
(Aaaand, it was also still my birthday month, so there was that...)

Because a rainbow flag, rainbow letters and rainbow sprinkles weren't enough...


... I also made it rainbow inside.

I showed the rainbow cake process in this picture montage from another post.


I had really been struggling with getting a smooth, flat top on my frosting and used this opportunity to try out an interesting new technique I came across on Cake Central: icing the cake upside down. I thought the results were pretty flawless.

I didn't take any of my own pictures, but here's a collage I made with pictures from the Cake Central post:

Click on the picture to see the full tutorial.

It's basically four steps:

1) Tape a piece of parchment to a board and pipe on a circle of BC, the exact size of your cake (this will be the top of your cake!) Freeze or refrigerate until firm.
2) Place your prepped cake on the frozen circle of icing, fill and layer as needed, and then ice the sides (hence, icing "upside down.") Move quickly! Chill again till firm.
3) Remove the cake from the fridge/freezer, and quickly and carefully flip it over onto your board. Leaving the parchment on top, chill yet again.
4) Once the top is nice and stiff, gently peel back the parchment paper. Perfection!
 
Until this post, I actually forgot how well this technique worked for me. I have to do this again, perhaps on an 8 inch cake (though I'd certainly recommend starting with a 5- or 6-inch if you're trying this for the first time - easier to handle.)

Total game changer!

I hope you like, and I hope you try.

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