033: you guessed it--another birthday!

so yesterday was my wonderful boyfriend's 22nd birthday (happy birthday, darlin!), so of course i had to make him a cake (as well as his banana pudding--it was a party, after all!). anyway, james's favorite baseball team is the los angeles dodgers, and so what better way to celebrate than by making a cake in the shape of a dodgers jersey?  i do, however, have to credit his mom with this perfect idea.  thanks annette!  and happy birthday, james!

equipment:
mixing bowl
measuring cups and spoons
9x13" pan
cutting board
sharp knife
frosting knife
food coloring
frosting tips
candles



ingredients:
1 box (you know i cheat) cake mix (i used devil's food--james's favorite) and the ingredients on the box
2 cans frosting (i used cream cheese)


steps:
1.) make cake according to box instructions and bake in a 9x13" pan. i also pulled out 1 cupcake's worth of batter and baked it in a silicone cupcake liner (which is awesome cuz you can let it bake freestanding in the oven and it took the same time as the rest of the cake) to use for the baseball.   let everything cool completely, and the flip it onto a cutting board by placing the cutting board upside down on top of the pan and turning it over.  freeze this until cake is hard.

2.) cut the cake into the shape of a jersey.  i cut out the neckline and then only about an inch off the sides underneath the sleeves.  i then added some of this cut out cake to the sleeves to make them proportional, connecting them with some of the frosting.

3.) crumb coat the cake and freeze it again (this just makes it all easier to work with).

4.) frost the cake in the colors of the team of your choice.  obviously for james this was the dodgers.  i used the most awesome frosting tool of all time that i inherited from my mom (thanks mom!) who inherited it from her grandmother.  it is a metal tube that holds frosting and the end pushes down to push frosting out of one of 12 tips that go with it (pictured above).  it made frosting control soooo much easier!  love it.  i then decorated the cupcake into the shape of a baseball and put candles on (as buttons).  easy, fun, done.


time:  less than 10 minutes prep time, 35 minutes bake time, cool and freeze time, about an hour to crumb coat then decorate
difficulty: 1.5 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦1/2◊ (4.5 out of 5 stars)
suggestions for variation: try different jerseys and teams.  have fun with it!


anyway, happy 22nd birthday, james!  i love you!
-kl