Friday, May 28, 2010

Edible Tiki Hut Tutorial

I made a Tiki Hut for the top of my Luau cake.  I thought I would show you how I did it.

This is how the cake ended up-Totally Stacked! I will get to my opinions later. First, the making!
Our birthday girl asked for one cake to be funfetti-I made the bottom 10" cake out of funfetti cake mix.  I figured there needed to be one that was PINEAPPLE, it was only fitting for a Luau!  The top cake was 8" and made out of that.  Now you should know that it takes 2 cake mixes for a 10" pan that has 3" sides, 1.5 for the 8"-that left just enough left over for a 6" for my family and the cake I baked in a canning jar to make our lovely Tiki Hut!   

I grabbed a couple pineapple cake mixes from the shelf and began to plot. Making it like a pineapple upside down cake sounded yummy, but it needed to be frostable. That lead me to bake it like an upside down cake, let it cool, then cut it in half, put the top on the bottom and the bottom on the top. Confused? I made it like a sandwich, with the pineapple topping as a filling. There After ward, tasting the extra cake I got out of the mix, I could have gone with white cake, skipped the upside down topping and just went with THIS...

I searched for pineapple filling on All Recipes.com and found THIS recipe.  IT WAS FABULOUS!!!  One reviewer said it was sweet.  She is crazy!  It was perfect.  It tasted like custard, or vanilla pudding, but it was PINEAPPLE!!!  You could just eat it with a spoon.  YUMM!

Anyway, to speed this along, I made this cake from those up above.  Loved it!  I am kind of sad I added the flowers, cause that lead to adding MORE flowers and I totally admit I over did it.  It makes me sad all over again to see this cutie.  No use cryen', On to the TIKI HUT! 


So, started with a small cake-again, baked in a wide-mouthed canning jar.  Frosted it with canned white frosting dyed brown. 

I had to search high and low for shoestring potatoes, not at Walmart, but finally found them.  I wanted the Tiki Hut to be totally edible.  Most I have seen were made with toothpicks.  Lay those babies on there-such an easy job you could have you 5 year old do it. 

The next thing was to make the windows and door.  I could have done it with frosting, but I didn't have any fondant handy and not a drop of black food coloring.  That was when I decided to melt down some of these I had left over. 

I bought them 'cause I thought they looked like coconuts, or at least close enough without having to do anything to them.  The technique I actually learned at the Family Fun website for the Volcano Cake I have made several times.  I was actually trying to talk the mother into a volcano cake, but she liked this option instead.

This is tinfoil, in case you can't quite tell. I folded it into the forms, as best I could anyway, of the door and windows.


Throw some candies in a pan and turn on the heat.  I am a terrible person because I cannot possibly wait for the candy to melt at a normal temperature.  I just turn it on, like med high(or slightly higher :0) and let 'er go.

It starts to look like this.  When it is completely melted the candy is all bubbly.  Don't worry.  The bubbles go away when it cools. 

Pour it into the molds.

I couldn't believe how fast it set.  Like 2 minutes.  It was a little warm, but I couldn't resist pealing the tinfoil away to check it out. 


I used my kitchen scissors to chip away any roughness and ...what?  imperfections from my molds?  Well, I never!?!

I took this picture, then I trimmed more and "glued" in place with frosting.

My TIKI HUT looks a little like a bald grasshopper.  Smear a little frosting on top, and apply the first row of shoestring potatoes.

Here is a front view...

Here is a top view... the next step, add more frosting and another layer of potatoes.  The frosting application is easiest if you pipe it on.  I didn't, did it the lazy way (knife) and it was WAY more work.  I think I ended up adding about 3 more layers. 

If you want it less bug-looking, you could have just one window.  I used brown sugar on top of the cake for the sand, by the way.  I have also used mini rice crispies in the past, or graham cracker crumbs.  

Finished product. 

From the top...
And the front, with way too many flowers :0)  The girls at the party loved it.  To a 12 year old, there can never be too many flowers, especially if you can eat them!

5 comments:

  1. GREAT JOB on that cake!!! So super cute!! AND it looks yummy too!! I may have to try that one! :)

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  2. This is AMAZING. I keep looking at it over and over I am in awe

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  3. Hi..I’m Barb….Great job on the cake!
    I am from Fri. Hodgepodge...
    I am your newest follower. I hope you will get a chance to visit my blog @ santasgiftshoppe.blogspot.com
    & get inspired by something for your family/home. I hope you will follow me as well. Nice to meet ya new friend!!!

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  4. That is a great idea! I am tempted to attempt this cake, maybe not quite so complicated, for my younger daughters 2nd birthday. I was thinking colorful swedish fish would go well instead of the goldfish.

    ReplyDelete

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