One of my favorite flourishes to use in cake decorating is sanding sugar. It’s more commonly used to sprinkle on cookies before they bake, but trust me when I say it’s an excellent addition to frosted cakes. Besides the extra sweetness, there’s something wonderful about that extra bit of texture and crunch between your teeth when you take a bite. I use it here to create colorful patchwork, and even though creating quilting on cake may sound daunting, I promise it’s a snap!
I used multicolor sanding sugar for some of the patchwork in this cake, but I think pastel pink and baby blue sanding sugars could be used to make an adorable baby blanket cake for showers.
To get started you’ll need to gather the cake mix ingredients and mix them all together.
Bake the batter in a 9x13-inch pan. When it has cooled, turn it out (upside-down) onto a large cake or cutting board, then frost it liberally with one container of Betty Crocker® Whipped fluffy white frosting. Refrigerate the cake and frost with a second layer to even the cake’s surface.
Score the top of the cake with the dull edge of a large knife. Make three lines vertically about every three inches.
Make two lines horizontally at three-inch intervals.
To make the edges of each square neat, I used a small piece of unused craft paper to hold at each scored line.
Pour a spoonful of sanding sugar against the paper and allow it to fall in a straight line onto the cake. Repeat with the other three edges of the square.
You can also omit the use of paper and pour a spoonful of sugar in the center of each square and gently push it to the edges of the scored lines with a spoon edge.
For the flowers, cut marshmallows in half using a pair of clean kitchen scissors. Dip the green marshmallows in to the green sanding sugar and the yellow marshmallows in the yellow sanding sugar. The sugar will coat the cut edges of the marshmallows.
Arrange five marshmallow “petals” into a flower shape (sugared-side-up) on top of each icing dot and press to adhere. Press a yellow sugar pearl into the center of each flower. Store loosely covered.
Ingredients
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1box Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ White Cake Mix
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Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
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1 3/4tubs (12 oz) Betty Crocker™ Whipped Fluffy White Frosting
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1/3cup multicolored (rainbow) sanding sugar
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1/3cup clear sanding sugar
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12green miniature marshmallows
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6yellow miniature marshmallows
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1tablespoon green sanding sugar
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1tablespoon yellow sanding sugar
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6yellow edible jumbo sugar pearls
Directions
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1Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with shortening or spray with cooking spray. Make and bake cake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan, using water, oil and eggs. Cool 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
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2On 13x9-inch cake board or platter, place cake upside-down. Cover surface of cake with 1 container of the frosting, using off-set spatula. Refrigerate cake 45 minutes or until frosting is firm.
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3Apply second coat of frosting to cake, evening surface and filling any gaps that may be present at bottom edge of cake.
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4Score top of cake with dull edge of large knife to make 12 squares. Decorate alternate squares with multicolored sanding sugar. Fill in remaining squares with clear sanding sugar.
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5For flowers, cut each marshmallow in half using clean kitchen scissors. Dip green marshmallow halves into green sanding sugar; dip yellow marshmallow halves into yellow sanding sugar. The sugar will coat cut edges of marshmallows. Place dime-size dot of frosting in center of each white square on cake. Arrange 5 marshmallow “petals” into flower shape, sugared-side-up, on top of each frosting dot; press to adhere. Press yellow sugar pearl into center of each flower. Store cake loosely covered.
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