Castle Birthday Cake Design

Sweet! How to make a castle birthday cake with Bubble Tape. Easy, step-by-step recipe, diagrams and pictures
By Karen Tack

Ingredients:
5 sugar cones
2 Kids Cones (mini-ice cream wafer cones)
3 pink ice cream wafer cones
3 Tbsp light corn syrup
½ cup pink decorating sugar
1 (8-inch) round cake
1 (9-inch) round cake
1 jumbo cupcake, paper liner removed
2 cans (12 oz) whipped vanilla frosting
1 roll Bubble Tape
¾ cup Smarties
Orange and pink Runts
2 bags sour gummy Life Savers
2 rolls Necco wafers
What you'll need:
A serrated knife
A pastry brush
A bread knife
A serving platter or a cake stand
Craft scissors or a pastry wheel
For the turrets:
Trim 2 of the sugar cones with a serrated knife so they can fit, mouth to mouth, into the Kids Cones.
Trim 1 pink wafer cone, 2 inches from the base, for the top of the cake.
Heat the light corn syrup in the microwave 5 to 10 seconds until bubbly. Caution: Hot corn syrup can burn and should not be handled by children.
Pour the pink sugar into a dish.
Brush the sugar cones with corn syrup and roll in the pink sugar to coat.
Press the sugar cones upside-down into the wafer cones to make the turrets; set aside.
Trimming the cakes:
Using a bread knife, trim the tops of the cakes to make level. Trim the 8-inch cake down into a 6-inch round.
Place the 9-inch cake onto a serving platter or cake stand. Place the 6-inch cake on top and to one side of the larger cake.
Place the cupcake on top of the two cake layers and to one side, as pictured.
Decorating the castle:
Spread the cakes with vanilla frosting and make smooth.
Trim one long side of the Bubble Tape with clean craft scissors or a pastry wheel to make a decorative edge. Press the Bubble Tape along the bottom edge of the top 2 cake layers.
Press the Smarties into the circumference of the base of the largest cake. Press the orange Runts around the upper circumference of the middle cake layer. Press the pink Runts around the upper circumference of the bottom cake layer.
Cut the gummy Life Savers and Necco wafers in half. Place the gummy Life Savers and Necco wafers in a decorative row along the top edge of cakes (see photo).
Add the cone turrets on top of cake using the trimmed cone for the highest cake. Press into the frosting to secure.
Pour the remaining pink sugar on top of the bottom cake layer.
Cake Anatomy:

How do I ... prepare my baby's formula?

Infant formulas are available in many different forms, including those that are ready to feed, which comes in 32oz cans and requires no preparation. Once opened, ready to feed formula must be refrigerated and used with forty eight hours. Ready to feed formulas are usually the most expensive.
Formula can also be concentrated in 13 oz cans, and require dilution with water on a 1:1 basis (one ounce of water for one ounce of concentrated formula). Powder formulas are prepared by mixing one scoop of formula with two ounces of water. Powder formulas are usually the least expensive. When comparing formula prices, check to see how much formula the can makes, since many cans that look like they are the same size do not make the same amount of formula.

If you live in a city with sanitized water and you are preparing bottles one at a time, then boiling water or sterilizing the bottles and nipples isn't necessary. You may be able to use this water out of the tap and bottles can be washed in hot soapy water or in the dishwasher. If you are not convinced that your water supply is safe or if you are using well water, then you should boil the water for five minutes before preparing formula.

Boiling the water when preparing infant formula was universally recommended and was then thought to be unnessesary. In 1993, an outbreak of cyclosporiasis from contaminated water in Milwaukee prompted officials to again recommend that water be boiled when preparing infant formula. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics does recommend that water that is going to be used for infant formula be boiled. If you don't want to boil the water first, you could use 'sterile' bottled water instead. Bottled water that isn't marked sterile should probably still be boiled.

You should discard any formula in the bottle that is not finished during the feeding.

Your baby may accept formula prepared with cold water, or he may prefer to have the formula warmed. You may warm formula by briefly placing it under hot running water, using a bottle warmer or on the stove. Do not warm formula in the microwave, as it can produce hot spots in the bottle that can burn your baby. And always test warmed formula before feeding it to your baby.

If you are using ready to feed formula or are preparing concentrated or powder formulas with bottled or filtered water, then you may need to give your baby fluoride supplements when he is older. Check with your doctor.