Since it seems like most smash cakes end up more smashed and smeared than eaten, a simple box cake is perfect. I used one box of cake mix, and one tub of white icing that I tinted blue with food coloring. You can use mini cake pans or Corningware dishes about the same size, then just prepare the cake according to box directions and bake.Since it seems like most smash cakes end up more smashed and smeared than eaten, a simple box cake is perfect. I used one box of cake mix, and one tub of white icing that I tinted blue with food coloring.
Once cooked and cooled, slice the rounded tops off with a sharp knife to give each cake a flat top. Originally I planned to make a three tiered cake, but once I had them all prepared, it just seemed too tall and decided on two tiers.
To finish, add a little frosting between each cake layer as you stack. Then just spread frosting over top! Usually, it’s preferred to spread a thin layer of frosting, called a crumb coat, and then go back over with a thicker coat of frosting. Whichever way you do it, just get some frosting on, it’ll all be smashed around soon enough anyway.
To garnish for a sky cake, I used sugar paper and cut out clouds… so easy!
SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR THE RAIN CLOUD CUPCAKE TOPPERS: Modeling Chocolate (you can use fondant, but I like modeling chocolate for this purpose because it doesn’t get as hard as fondant and kids like the taste.) If you need a good recipe for modeling chocolate go here. This is the recipe I use. Black, Yellow and Blue Gel Color Blue Edible Sparkle Dust (make sure all the dusts you use say edible…some are not and will just say nontoxic on them) Dark Edible Silver Dust Super Pearl Edible Dust Black Sparkle Edible Dust Lemon Extract Cornstarch/Powdered Sugar (just to keep the modeling chocolate from sticking to the board) Blossom Cutters (two sizes) (similar: here) Small Petal Cutters (two smallest sizes) I used two, but if I made these again, I’d just use the bigger of the two sizes. I also squeezed mine closed a little to give it more of that rain drop look. Small Fondant Roller Popsicle sticks (get the longer ones so there’s enough room for them to go all the way to the bottom of the cupcake.) Brushes (of course, brushes you only use for cake decorating.) You want to have two colors of modeling chocolate, one blue and one a light gray. For gray I just mixed in a tiny bit of black. Tip: Wilton’s black gel color seems to have a purple tint and you might not always see it until the next day, so I add a TINY bit of yellow and it cancels it out.
Roll out your gray modeling chocolate. I used my pasta roller attachment on my KitchenAid, but you can use the small fondant roller for this. I used the notch bigger than the ‘1’ on my machine, which I guess would be a zero. You don’t want it to look too thick, but it needs a little thickness to adhere to the popsicle stick, so probably an 1/8 of an inch thick.
Use your bigger blossom cutter and cut out as many as you have cupcakes for. Then do the same for the small ones. You want a big blossom and a small one for each cupcake.
Now cut both sizes, but not in half exactly. Cut about the bottom 1/3 off and cut them at weird angles. Save the bottoms that you cut off (from the bigger blossoms)…we’ll use them later. Turn your bigger blossoms face side down. Paint some water on the back where the popsicle stick will go and a little around it. Place a popsicle stick there. Push it down just a little. Place a little folded up paper towel under the sticks so they’re level. Place one of the mini clouds you cut from the smaller blossom cutter, over the back of the popsicle stick…it acts like a bandage to keep the stick stuck onto the modeling chocolate. Now, leave them face down and set them aside to adhere fully. I let them sit over night because it was late and I was tired, but you don’t have to let them sit that long. An hour is plenty of time.
Next, use your petal cutter (I used an inch size petal cutter) and cut out two for each cupcake. I cut out the smaller size too, but next time I would just use my bigger cutter for the front and the back.
Take your blue edible sparkle dust and mix it with a little lemon extract. Paint it onto all of the raindrops…you don’t have to paint both sides. It’s not gonna look pretty at this point…just wait for it. Let the extract evaporate a little. Then take your DRY blue sparkle dust and ‘pounce’ it onto the front of each raindrop. I used quite a bit because I love me some sparkly. They should look like the bottom left picture at this point. Next, take a small brush and use a little dry super pearl dust and dust a little in a crescent shape to add a little highlighting to your raindrop…bottom right picture. Oooo pretty.
Now, back to the rainclouds. Turn your popsicle sticks back over and you want to now take those bottom pieces from the bigger blossoms that you cut off and attach them to the bottom of your cloud. You saved them right? Note to self, don’t let my fingernails grow this long, or I’ll end up stabbing the modeling chocolate as you can see in the left cloud.
Now the fun part! Mix together the dark edible silver dust and the black sparkle dust. Take a brush and go along the edges of the cloud…the main one and the little one. You want to brush it on the edges and then draw it in just a bit, but not all the way to the middle. Take a little empty squirt bottle and use it to blow air onto your cloud to get off all the leftover dust sitting on it. Then take your brush and use a swirling motion to blend the dust, just make sure you leave the middle of each cloud fairly light.
You can dust the backs too, if you want.
With your clouds and the big raindrop facing down, add a little water to the middle of the back of the raindrop and attach the popsicle stick to it. Then use the other raindrop, glitter side up, over the back to seal it. (See, I used a smaller petal cutter, but I think a large one would work even better, but, this is the back of the topper, so it’s your choice. Let it sit for a bit to attach very well…maybe 30 minutes. When you pick it up and turn it over to the front side, it’ll look like the bottom right.
Now all you have to do is stick these babies into your cupcakes!
Ingredients 3 egg whites ¼ tsp cream of tartar ¾ cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip together 3 egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar and mix until soft peaks form. With the mixer of high speed, gradually add the sugar, one tbsp at a time, making up the sugar is completely dissolved before each consecutive spoonful. The egg whites will slowly turn glossy and bright white. Add vanilla extract and mix to incorporate. To test your meringue, rub some batter between your thumb and index finger. You want the sugar to be completely dissolved. If you can still feel the grains of sugar, continue mixing for another minute. Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe cloud shapes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 1½ hours. At that point you should be able to lift the cookies off the parchment paper easily. At that point, turn off the oven and leave your cookies in overnight to dry out.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip together 3 egg whites on medium speed until frothy:
Add cream of tartar and mix until soft peaks form:
With the mixer of high speed, gradually add the sugar, one tbsp at a time, making up the sugar is completely dissolved before each consecutive spoonful. The egg whites will slowly turn glossy and bright white:
Add vanilla extract and mix to incorporate. To test your meringue, rub some batter between your thumb and index finger. You want the sugar to be completely dissolved. If you can still feel the grains of sugar, continue mixing for another minute. Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe cloud shapes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet:
To get the right shape, pipe 3 dots at the bottom and then 2 dots on top. Add a little swirl here and there… Bake for 1 1/2 hours. At that point you should be able to lift the cookies off the parchment paper easily. At that point, turn off the oven and leave your cookies in overnight to dry out.
