Ribbon Cutter Tool Fun

My son likes to decorate his own birthday cake. This is a tradition he started on his 4th birthday. I bake and ice a sheet cake, then he designs the top using food coloring markers and edible Rice Paper. This year, when we went to Sweet Wise to purchase the necessary supplies, the rice wafer paper was out of stock. Instead, we opted to cover the cake in FondX rolled fondant (don't worry, this brand actually tastes good!), and he then used the food coloring pens to draw directly on the top of his cake. He loves to play video games. Past birthday cakes have featured Guitar Hero and Rock Band instruments and Sackboy from Little Big Planet. This year, it's all about Crash Bandicoot. Here is the finished cake:

Originally he didn't want any kind of bottom border, but I suggested we have something to make the cake look finished, attention to detail and all that. He wasn't fussy about what went on the bottom, as long as it was red. Well, I'll take any excuse to play with my ribbon cutter tool!

First I tried using the striped embosser, but that made too wide of a ribbon.

You can see how short the cake is, and I didn't want to completely cover up the sides.

So, I tried using the zig-zag cutter with the 1/2" spacers.

But the zig-zag on the bottom didn't look right, and it was tricky positioning the ribbon around the cake evenly. Plus, the white bottom edge showed through.

So, I reloaded my ribbon cutter to make one edge straight and the other zig-zag.

This worked the best, and so that's what I ended up using.

It's a very versatile tool and a lot of fun to use. It's all about creative freedom, you know!

Bake-Even Cake Strips

These top my list of "must have" baking tools. All you have to do is soak them in cold water, squeeze out the excess, and then pin them around the outside of the pans before baking your cake layers. They cool the sides of the pan, so the edges cook more slowly and the entire cake bakes evenly, producing lovely level cake layers.

Pictured below are two 8" round white cake layers, both made from the same box of cake mix and baked in Wilton aluminum cake pans. One pan had a Bake-Even Cake Strip on it, the other did not. It's pretty obvious which is which, isn't it?

Layer baked in pan without a Bake-Even Cake Strip: notice the over-browning of the cake sides, crispy edges, and cracked mound on top.

The layer baked with a Bake-Even Cake Strip on the pan has level top and evenly baked sides.