Melissa Barlow - Easy Christmas Cut-up Cakes for Kids

Now you can easily bake and decorate your very own shaped Christmas cake! This book is full of easy cake ideas that you can make for special occasionsespecially Christmas. Choose your favorite pattern and surprise your family and friends with your creative genius!

Before you start baking, please do two very important things:

1. Ask permission from your parent or guardian.

2. Find an adult helper to join you in the funmainly to keep you safe but also to answer questions you might have about the recipe or ingredients. In this book you will use electric mixers, hot ovens, and knives. You need an adult helper and must always be careful!

The first step when making any recipe in this book is to read the whole recipe first. Search the cupboards to make sure you have the right pans for the cake youve chosen. Then gather all the ingredients together so they will be handy.

Now turn on the oven to the temperature noted in the recipe. Let the oven preheat (reach the desired temperature) while you grease the cake pans and mix the batter. An oven that has been preheated will cook the cake evenly. And pans that have been well greased will let the cake pop out in one piece after it has cooled a bit.

After mixing the ingredients together and making a deliciously smooth batter, carefully transfer the batter to the greased pans. Then your adult helper can help you carefully put the pans into the oven. Set a timer and then relax until it rings, dings, or whistles at you. To test for doneness, have your adult helper insert a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.

Let the cakes cool completely before you frost them. This will help keep crumbs out of your frosting. You can even bake the cake a day before you frost it.

Frosting is one of the most important parts of decorating your cake. Frosting can be messy, so be very careful as you decorate, and ask your adult helper to work with you.

To help keep you clean, wear an apron. To help keep your cake plate clean, stick little pieces of wax paper just under the edges of your cake. When you finish frosting the cake, just pull out the wax paper pieces and throw them away. Your cake plate wont have frosting all over it.

There are many yummy flavors of frosting that you can buy. Some of these are whipped, making them easier to spread. Sometimes you need frosting that is stiffer, such as for squeezing through a decorating bag to draw lines or make shapes. For stiffer frosting (or if you want to flavor it yourself), you and your adult helper can make these easy recipes instead of buying frosting from the store.

Beat margarine or butter, water or milk, and vanilla together with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add salt if using. Gradually beat in the powdered

sugar 1 cup at a time. If the frosting is too thick, add more water or milk by the teaspoon until it reaches the right consistency. If it is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.

*Substitute 1 cup regular vegetable shortening and clear vanilla if you want a whiter, less cream-colored frosting.

Beat margarine or butter, water or milk, and vanilla together with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add salt if using. Beat in cocoa powder. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. If the frosting is too thick, add more water or milk by the teaspoon until it reaches the right consistency. If it is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.

*Substitute 1 cup regular vegetable shortening if desired.

One of the most fun ways to decorate your cake is with frosting! If you use one of the homemade frosting recipes on page 8, you can put it into a decorators bag and use special tips that make cute shapes like dots, stars, and even flowers. You can also buy frosting that comes in tubes at the grocery store or craft store. You might want to use these instead of decorators bags. They are great to use for decorating and adding details to your cakes, and you can often screw on decorators tips. The tubes come in small and large sizes. The small tubes are usually filled with gel frosting and the large tubes with regular frosting. Both kinds come in all colors of the rainbow and are very easy to use.

Most grocery stores have food-coloring kits somewhere in the cake aisle. These work well, but sometimes the colors arent as deep or as dark as youd like them to be. You and your adult helper may want to go to a craft store and buy some Wilton Icing Colors. They are not expensive and will help you get the exact color you need. If there isnt a craft store near you that carries Wilton products, some chain stores like Wal-Mart do, or you can visit Wiltons Web site at www.wilton.com for products and icing colors available online. Just remember to be careful when using any coloring, because it will stain your clothes!

Now comes the best part. You can choose to decorate your cake with your favorite candy and other treats! You dont have to use exactly what is listed in each recipe. Just remember its best to use bright, colorful candy.

Some recipes call for different types of candies and cookies to use when decorating. For example, your cake may call for Oreos that are used for the wheels on a train, or black licorice for the arms of a snowman. Use what you think sounds best.

Just remember that the most important thing is to be creative and have fun. The possibilities are endless!