The first thing that comes to my mind during Easter and spring is carrot cake. Now, who doesn’t love a scrumptious carrot cake? With it moist carrots, a hint of cinnamon, and don’t forget the cream cheese frosting. I personally like mine with nuts. A beautifully decorated cake makes the perfect statement during the holiday and is inviting to any guest… But I know what you’re thinking. This is about making a fake cake, and again I know what you’re thinking. What is a fake cake? and what is its purpose?
What is a fake cake, aka fake bake?
It’s two questions you’re probably asking. What is a fake cake/bake, and what do you do with it? Decorations, it’s all about the little details when it comes to decorating your home for the holidays and how long could a real cake last sitting on your table? I know on mine it wouldn’t last one day.
It’s a decorative display you can put out year after year. Have you ever gone into a bakery shop and seen all the goodies displayed? Well, most likely they are fake. They are the perfect item for photo displays. So now that you know what it is and what it’s for, let’s make a fake carrot cake!
Here is what your going to need
- Piping tip
- Piping bag
- Apple Barrel paint in antique white
- Round foam disks from the Dollar Tree, I used 5 disks total
- Corn cobb bedding for the nuts
- Dap Lightweight spackle I get mine at Lowe’s
- plastic bowel for your frosting
- Air-dry clay for the carrot you can also use Model Magic clay
- large popsicle sticks
- hot glue gun, this is the one I use
- Glue sticks
Now that you have all your supplies together you will want to start with forming your cake base. Take the five foam discs and glue them together stack them up as evenly possible and glue one at a time with hot glue.
Next, let’s prepare the fake frosting. Get your bucket of light weight spackle and scoop some into your bowel. Now you don’t have to use the brand I’m using but it does have to be light weight, no other product will work. I know that the Dollar Tree carries some small containers but I have not tried working with it. Amazon also carries a brand that seems to be popular.
Frosting the cake
Once you have some spackle in the bowel add a small amount of the antique white acrylic paint. If you added too much you can add a little bit of white acrylic paint to get it the shade you want. Mix it real good so that it becomes smooth and looks like real frosting.
Using the popsicle stick start frosting the sides of the cake. I usually hold it in my hand and rotate it. Don’t worry about the top of the cake for now, and it doesn’t have to be perfect because it will be covered with fake nuts.
This is what you will have. Place the cake on a piece of wax paper or something that it won’t stick to. Now let’s add the nuts. Corn cobb bedding is what I use. You can usually find this in the pet department. I add a good amount of these to a deep container to prevent a mess.
The easiest way is to roll the cake in the “nuts”. Be sure to pat them down as you go so that they stick to the spackle and don’t fall off. Once the cake is dry they will stay put. Turn it to make sure all areas of the sides are covered then place it on a flat surface with wax paper. Carefully add some frosting to the top of cake. Get as close to the edge as possible without disturbing the sides.
Making it pretty
Add your piping tip and add some for the fake frosting to the bag. It’s a good idea to practice on a piece of wax paper to see what design you want to use. You can scrape that frosting up and put it back in the bowel, so that you don’t waste the product. I made small circular motions around the bottom and the edge of the top, but make whatever design you would like. I then added a larger swirl right on the middle top of the cake, sprinkled some fake nuts, added a little carrot.
Using some air-dry clay I made a small carrot to add on top, but you can use any embellishments you like. After 3 or 4 days the cake will be dry enough to handle. I placed it on a decorated cake board, but this is optional. Check out my video on how I made this amazing carrot cake.
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