How To Decorate a Character Cake

The cake is the star of any celebration, and a character cake isn't just a delight to eat, but a wonderful party decoration. Anyone with young children and a limited budget has considered decorating their own character cake. A custom-made cake can run $30 to $100, and in these tough economic times you never want to have to tell your child "No."

Wilton makes cake pans in the shapes of your children's favorite characters. Here's how to get started.

It's vitally important to know how much batter it will take to fill the pan. It usually takes at least two boxes of cake mix if you choose to use a packaged mix. When using your favorite cake recipe, increase it as needed. Make sure your character cake is completely cooled before removing it from the pan for decorating, otherwise the icing will melt.

Divide the icing into the amounts needed for the different colors. You can use vanilla frosting and add food coloring, but it is easier to buy frosting in the colors that best represent the character on the cake. Few things are more likely to make you want to pull out your hair than your little one insisting that the character is more of a fuchsia pink, rather than hot pink, and it doesn't look right. Luckily the cake pans usually come with a chart and instructions on what tips and couplers you will need for your icing bags. If you lose the instructions or purchase the pan secondhand, the manufacturer's website will likely have instructions and tips on how to decorate the cake.

You can also go online and consult forums and discussion boards. It will be easier to decorate your character cake if you use a Lazy Susan to turn the cake.  If you don't have a turntable, be careful not to smudge your work as you go along. As you're using the icing it may become a bit soft. To harden the icing simply put it in the refrigerator for about five minutes to get it to stiffen back up. The icing bag sometimes takes a bit of practice, so often its a good idea to scoop off the areas that don't meet your expectations, put the icing back in the bag, and redo them.

Let the icing harden for at least an hour before serving. Decorating a character cake takes a bit longer to make than a simple layer cake, but you'll love the end result.