Strawberry Shortcake Cake

A quick and easy cake design made the perfect whimsical touch for my 3-year old’s birthday party earlier this spring. Rather than spend days before the event buried in fondant and intensive cake preparations, I kept things really easy and did this cake out of a cherry-chip box mix and vanilla buttercream frosting.  A few fondant touches and a Straberry Shortcake doll as a topper make this girls birthday cake design a cinch to put together!

Colors are the key to making a simple cake really pop. Here is a close-up of the green beaded buttercream border. You can see where I used a damp fingertip to flatten the points that were left from application with the piping tip. The white polka dots are finger-flattened buttercream as well. The flowers and cake board covering are all done out of fondant.  I always like to add a finishing splash of color and polish by wrapping the cake board in ribbon. The red mirrors the top of the cake and balances the colors out a bit.

To keep things simple for this birthday cake, I used a toy doll and embellished it with some fondant decoration. The stem shooting out the top is floral wire with fondant rolled around it. I left 3″ at the bottom to insert to the cake.

To accompany the cake and develop the Strawberry Shortcake theme, I also made a few cake pops out of Rice Krispy Treats and dipped them in red chocolate with some sprinkles. They  added a little of a wow factor to the party without taking up so many hours of preparation as an ornate cake design. The packaging and display of these goodies is really what makes them something special.