Starfish Cake! There's nothing fishy about it. Disclaimer: No starfish were harmed during the creation of this cake, although I may have stepped on my cat's foot a couple of times as he kept raiding the baking pantry for the canola oil. Yes, friends, my cat, Reggie, loves to lick the canola oil bottle. That's normal, right?
I took my basic White Wedding Cake recipe (see below) and added some Meyer lemon juice and zest, securing the layers together with Dillman's Farm (local to me) Red Raspberry Jam. Covered with Peggy's Faux Fondant recipe, tinted a sandy brown. The starfish are molded from fondant and are enhanced with some food-safe peach colored shimmer dust.
I made this cake as a "thank you" to a friend who knitted me a shrug to wear during a wedding I was in over the summer. I can't wait to wear the shrug this coming fall (we were outside a lot and in a hot church for the wedding, so I wasn't really ever cold enough to wear it!)
And, as an FYI: I typically would steer away from using any kind of boxed cake mix product, but if you're willing to ingest all of the stabilizers and such in cake mix, I really recommend giving this cake a try! It's too good to pass by. I'm working on a version of this cake that will hopefully be just as good, minus the boxed mix.
White Wedding Cake Recipe (with Meyer lemon and raspberry!)
1 (18 ounce) box Pillsbury white cake mix
1 cup organic unbleached white flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2/3 cup Meyer lemon juice (if you like a more pronounced lemony flavor, increase to one cup)
2/3 cup water (adjust water and lemon amounts to equal a total of 1 1/3 cups liquid)
Zest from 1-2 of the lemons (again, depending on your lemon loving levels)
Splash of vegetable oil (for a more dense cake--can be omitted to save calories!)
1 teaspoon organic vanilla
1 cup light sour cream
4 large egg whites (You could use 3 whole eggs if you want to give it a more yellow color naturally.... or you could do your heart a favor and just use the whites!)
Directions:
1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large mixer bowl to incorporate thoroughly.
2. Add liquid ingredients to mixer bowl, adding egg whites last.
3. Mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the batter starts to rise slightly, and looks well incorporated. Don't forget to scrape the sides of your work bowl and get any extra bits of deliciousness from the bottom of the bowl.
4. Pour the batter into prepared pans (greased and floured)
5. Tap the pans lightly on the countertop to remove any bubbles. This makes the cake uniform and dense, and it won't crumble apart when you remove it from your baking pans.
6. This will make 2-8" layers of cake, and 6 cupcakes to snack on while decorating.
The key to this recipe is low and slow--preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and set the rack in the middle of the oven. The 8" pans will take about 30 minutes to bake. Of course, ovens vary, so stick a tester in the center of the pan. When it comes out clean, it's done!
My friend had a cake party after we left to try to get rid of the cake (not that it was "get rid of it" bad, but "get rid of it before I eat it all" good!)
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