Booties 'n' Rattles Cake
Country Woman
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When Mary Cicio expects a crowd to appear at her house at Youngwood, Pennsylvania, she's sure she adds this cake to the menu. "It's easy to make and feeds a bunch," she says. You can simply frost it, or follow the easy instructions here to bring forth an adorably adorned dessert for a baby shower!
SERVINGS: 20-24
CATEGORY: Dessert
METHOD: Baked
TIME: Prep: 1 hour Bake: 25 min. + cooling
Ingredients:
- 6 eggs, separated
- 1-1/2 cups butter, softened
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons grated orange peel
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 cups buttercream frosting
- Pink and blue food coloring
Directions:
Let separated eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and orange peel; beat well. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well (batter will be thick). In a small mixing bowl and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff. Fold into batter.
Pour into a greased and floured 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Transfer to a 15-in. x 12-in. covered board.
Place 3/4 cup frosting each in two small bowls; tint one pastel pink and one pastel blue. Set aside 2-1/2 cups white frosting for trim and border. Cover and set bowls aside. Frost cake with the remaining white frosting.
Using dental floss or a sharp knife, mark a straight line lengthwise down the center of the cake. Mark an additional lengthwise straight lines, divide the cake into four equal sections. Mark four lines widthwise, dividing the cake into a total of 20 squares.
For booties, insert plain pastry tip # 8 into a pastry bag or a plastic bag with small hole; add pink frosting. In alternating squares, pipe an elongated dot, raising up at one end to from the heat (see Photo 1).
For rattles, use plain tip #8 and blue frosting. In each of the empty squares, pipe one large dot and one small dot, leaving 3/4 in. between dots. Use plain tip #2 and blue frosting to pipe a line connecting the dots (see Photo 2).
For trim, use plain tip #2 and reserved white frosting. Pipe a bow and trim on each bootie and a bow on each rattle.
Use star tip #20 to pipe rows of white shells on top of the straight lines. Pipe a row of shells around top and bottom edges of cake. Yield: 20-24 servings. Editor's Note: Use of a coupler ring will allow you to easily change tips for different designs.