Scooby-Doo Dog Bowl Cake
- Level: Intermediate
- Yield: 8 servings
- Total: 1 hr (includes setting time)
- Active: 40 min
Ingredients
Decorations:
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
One 2-ounce piece orange fondant
One 2-ounce piece purple fondant
One 2-ounce piece green fondant
Blue sugar pearls
Buttercream:
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch fine salt
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream
Leaf green food coloring gel
Orange food coloring gel
Sky blue food coloring gel
Cake:
Two 8-inch round vanilla cakes (from a box mix or from scratch)
Five to six 1-ounce packets mini bone-shaped graham crackers, such as Scooby-Doo! Baked Graham Cracker Snacks
Directions
Special equipment:
a small offset spatula; a large offset spatula; a small daisy-shaped flower cutter, 1 1/2 inches in diameter or smaller; 2 piping bags fitted with medium plain pastry tips; a small paintbrush; a 6-inch cake round- For the decorations: Make the flowers by very lightly dusting your work surface with confectioners’ sugar. Roll out one piece of fondant to slightly less than 1/8 inch thick and use a small daisy cookie cutter to cut out flowers. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining 2 colors, making sure you clean the previous color from your work surface before continuing. Use a pastry brush to brush off any excess confectioners’ sugar from the flowers.
- Fill a small bowl with water. Use the rounded end of a small paint brush to make a small round indentation in the center of each flower. Brush the indentation with a tiny bit of water. Add a sugar pearl to each indentation. Set aside to let dry.
- For the buttercream: Combine the butter and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high until smooth and light, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat on low to combine. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of the cream. Continue beating on medium-high until light, fluffy and spreadable, 2 to 3 minutes, adding the last tablespoon of cream if it seems too stiff. Remove about 1 cup of the buttercream and divide between 2 bowls. Color one bowl vibrant orange with the orange gel and the other vibrant green with the green gel. Put the orange and green buttercream separately in piping bags fitted with medium plain tips and set aside. Color the rest of the buttercream vibrant blue with the blue gel.
- For the cake: Level the cake layers by trimming off any domed portion with a serrated knife. Set one cake layer on a plate or cake stand. Spread the top with a layer of blue buttercream. Top with the second layer, cut-side down. Set a 6-inch cake round on top, centering it. Use a serrated knife to cut down along the round at a 45-degree angle, shaving off the edge of the cake to create a slope all around. Dust away any crumbs with a pastry brush. Spread the cake all over with a thin but even layer of blue buttercream. Refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes.
- Frost the cake smoothly with the remaining blue buttercream. Pipe a green border around the base of the cake. Pipe an orange border around the top layer at the point where the cake starts to slope to make the rim of the dog bowl. Press the candy flowers around the sides of the bowl to decorate it. Fill the space inside the orange rim with a heaping amount of bone-shaped graham crackers.
Cook’s Note
If you’d like to save buying three different colors of fondant, you can dye your own but make sure it’s very brightly colored.