Fun In The Sun Beach Cake
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Having a beach themed party? This beach cake with candy shells and beach umbrellas is going to be perfect!
I’ve been dying to make a “beachy” cake since we moved to Florida and now I finally had the chance. It was my mother-in-law’s birthday and since she loves Florida almost as much as we do, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. While I’m definitely no cake expert, this is simple enough for anyone to do (and I have to admit, it’s pretty fun too).
Originally I had something bigger in mind but since there were only going to be a few of us, I decided to start off small. I used 8 inch rounds for the cakes and while they were baking, I started on the shells and coral. I really liked this plastic candy mold but if you you want your shells even smaller, this shell mold will do the trick too. To make the multicolored shells I wanted, I melted candy melts and gently swirled the colors together. Then I spooned it into the mold, tapped it to get the air bubbles out and leveled the top with a straight edge. The shells went into the refrigerator to harden and the fondant came out.
This next part was a little trickier, though the more you do it, the easier it gets. If you’ve never worked with fondant, it takes a little getting used to at first but you get the hang of it. The secret is to use a little corn starch to keep it from sticking to everything. I’ve read that you can also use confectioner’s sugar but the corn starch seems to work pretty well for me. Be sure to keep what you’re not using in a plastic bag because the fondant can dry out pretty quickly.
Though you can buy smaller packs in individual colors, I found it more economical to buy a larger box of white fondant and color it myself. Put a little corn starch on your hands and cutting board, then squeeze a drop or two of food coloring on the fondant and knead it until it’s well blended. I recommend starting with just a little color because you can always add more as you go.
I picked up this Sea Life mold because I thought the coral was so pretty. I like the border too but I’ll use that when I make a bigger cake. When you fill your mold with the fondant, I recommend just doing one shape at a time. Fill the shape with fondant, making sure you push it far enough down to fill the entire cavity. Once that’s done, scrape the excess fondant off the top with a flat edge, wiggling it a little as you go so it doesn’t pull the fondant out. I found that my icing smoother works pretty well for this job. Do this part slowly for the best results…it’s totally worth it when you’re done! Once you’ve leveled the top, turn the mold over and very slowly let the coral “fall” out of the mold, pulling gently if you need to.
Next you’ll want to color your icing to get that perfect shade of blue, then level your cakes and put them together with a layer of icing in the middle. As you frost the cake, start with a swirling motion, then pull your icing spatula away from the cake to simulate waves. Do this all around the sides and on just one side of the top (the other side will be your beach).
Crush a few graham crackers in a plastic bag and spread them around the other half of the cake.
To make the waves crashing on the shore, I made a line of white frosting at the water’s edge, then a line of blue frosting right behind it.
Using a knife, I made circular motions across the top of the icing, swirling the two colors together. I put the graham crackers on first but they kept getting stuck in the crashing waves. I may try to make the waves first next time, adding the graham crackers afterwards.
I went back and added a few more dots of white frosting along the top, swirling as I went, until I had it just the way I wanted.
Now it was time to add the coral and shells and I really loved the way they turned out!
You can’t go to the beach without a beach towel, right? This was one of the easiest things to make. I rolled out a some purple fondant, then a little yellow and cut them into the sizes I needed (don’t forget to add a little corn starch to your rolling pin first). Then I just added the stripes to the top of the towel (oops, forgot to take that picture…it was getting late!).
I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do the beach umbrella so I found this great tutorial online. The only problem is that it was extremely top heavy and kept falling over unless I stood it completely upright (I would have preferred it at a tilt). I would also roll the fondant thinner next time and maybe paint the top with Wilton gel instead of adding a second layer of yellow fondant. Live and learn, right?
I cut a decorative straw for the beach umbrella, then added a few extra fondant shells around the crashing waves. My four year old couldn’t control her excitement about going to Granny’s house…not because she wanted to see Granny so badly, she just couldn’t wait to get her hands on this cake!
This was the perfect sized cake for our little gathering and we all enjoyed it. However, next time I’m going to think even bigger…stay tuned…
If you liked my beach cake, you may want to check these out too:
How To Make The Best Castle Cake Ever (For The Non Martha Stewart Mom)
How To Make The Ultimate Rapunzel Cake (And It’s Easier Than You’d Think)
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You make the coolest looking cakes! I never thought of using molds the way you do. This looks great.
Thanks so much Jamie! I don’t think I could possibly do it without molds…that’s what makes it easy 🙂
One of the cutest cakes I’ve seen!! I’ll bet it’s eaqually as yummy!!
Thanks Andrea! It was definitely very yummy!!!
What a cute idea!
Thanks so much Christina!
Fun and great looking cake. I wish I would take more time to decorate the cakes and cupcakes because I think they are adorable. Your instructions seem pretty straight forward and simple.
Thanks! You should try it…if I can do it, anyone can 🙂
Oh my gosh how dang cute!!!!! You are so talented !
Thank you so much! 🙂
Wow, you’re so talented! This is such a fun cake and looks DELISH…but too pretty to eat. 🙂
Thanks for the compliment but we ate it anyway…LOL!
That cake is amazing! What a great idea – I pinned this for future reference!
Thanks Lauren! I really had fun making it!
This is absolutely adorable!!!
Wow, this cake is so pretty! You are really talented.
You are so sweet…thank you!!!
This is so darling! My daughter’s 1st birthday was a beach theme – wish I had this then! Maybe we need to duplicate the theme again! 🙂
They never remember their first birthday…you can definitely do it again next year 🙂
Extremely creative and I love all the color too.
Thanks so much!
Very cute, Perfect for summer!
Thank you!
Okay, this cake is absolutely adorable! I love that you don’t have to be a professional cake decorator to make it. This is awesome! Definitely saving for later!!
Thanks so much! Yes, I’m definitely not a professional but it was easy to put together! I love making cakes, as long as they’re not too complicated.
This cake is too cute! Perfect for a summer birthday party.
Thanks Jenna! That’s exactly what I made it for and it was perfect 🙂
That cake is adorable! I wish I could make one!
Thanks Dara! You can totally make a cake like this. It’s so easy, I promise!
This is an adorable cake, Lisa! For my daughter’s 9th birthday, I made a similar cake; it was my first one and I was quite surprised and quite pleased that it actually turned out! It was the beginning of many attempts at making fun cakes. 🙂
I’ll bet you had a lot of fun making it too, right? Making cakes is such a great creative outlet!
That is just the nicest beach cake, you have decorated it beautifully.
This cake is the cutest thing! It would be perfect for a summer birthday or party. Thanks for sharing at the Wednesday Showcase party.
I was truly looking at this and didn’t think I could do it. So easy though using the molds and your helpful hint of cornstarch! Thanks for the idea!
You’re so welcome! If I can do it, anyone can 🙂