Prepare clown cakes for customer's circus-themed events.
Professional cake decorators working in a bakery can make a multitude of intricate cakes for a customer's birthday celebration or other special event. Try a few different ideas and take pictures of the finished product. Have the pictures of your favorites augmented on photo paper and display them in the bakery for customers to see. Does this Spark an idea?
Multi-Tier Circus
Make a three-tier circus cake topped with a fondant or plastic clown figurine. Make a large square for the bottom tier topped with two round tiers. Cover the bottom tier in a smooth layer of butter cream icing. Decorate the bottom edge with gumballs and cover the cake with fondant star cutouts. Cover the second tier with a different color butter cream icing, apply a row of gumballs around the bottom edge and decorate it with diamond, circle or triangle fondant cutouts. Cover the top tier with another layer of butter cream icing in a different color, make a row of gumballs and add fondant stripes to the sides. Form a circus tent top from triangles of fondant and place it on top of the cake. Place a plastic or fondant clown figurine on top of the tent.
Three-Dimensional Clown
Make a three-dimensional cake in the image of a clown. Prepare three sponge cake batters and bake the batter in rectangular cake pans and one 8-inch round cake pan. When the cakes have cooled, cut off a small side of the round cake. Apply a thick layer of icing to the flat side of the round cake and press the icing firmly onto a cake tray to stand the cake upright. From the rectangular cakes, cut two small rectangles for the legs, two rectangles for the arms and a circle for the face. Insert a wooden dowel into each piece and attach the pieces to the round cake. Use colorful icing and a pastry bag with a star icing tip to decorate the clown's body. Use a smooth butter cream icing to cover the face. Make the hands, feet and facial features from fondant and attach the pieces to the clown.
Three-Layer Cake with Icing Clowns
Make a simple three-layer cake and top the cake with piped clown bodies with fondant faces. Cover the three-layer cake with a bright colored butter cream icing and add candies, gumdrops, gumballs or candy-coated chocolates to decorate the sides of the cake. Use butter cream icing and a pastry bag with a large star icing tip to pipe the bodies of four or five clowns onto the top of the cakes. While the cake firms, make fondant balls and decorate them with edible paint to make the faces. Top each head with a fondant clown hat. Insert a toothpick into the bottom of each head and insert the toothpick into the piped clown body on the cake.
Clowns on a Carousel
Make a multi-tier carousel cake that really turns. Prepare a three-layer round sponge cake and cover the cake in a layer of butter cream icing. Decorate the cake with icing ribbons and gumballs or other candies. Cover a cake-decorating turntable with the same icing as the cake. Place another round sponge cake on top of the turntable and decorate it to make a carousel top. Prepare a batch of sugar cookies and cut out horse shapes using cookie cutters. Insert a wooden skewer into the top of each horse and bake. Decorate the cookies once they cool with royal icing. Insert the tops of the wooden skewers into the underside of the carousel top. Make clown figures from fondant and arrange them on top of the horse cookies. Gently push on a wooden skewer to see the horses turn.
Tags: butter cream, butter cream icing, cream icing, cake with, round cake, with fondant