Making Shapes in Cakes

This instructable is about how to make a cake with cool shapes inside. It's a twice baking process that will be sure to impress your guests!

This is a simplified version of what I normally do using digitally created dynamic extruded shapes and food safe silicone molds. I hope you enjoy this instructable!

For this project you will need:

2 boxes of white cake mix

Oil

Eggs

Food Coloring

Parchment Paper

9X13 (or similarly dimensioned) sheet pan

(3) 4" springform pan (or small width cake pans)

cookie cutters (optional)

Oil your pan and line it with parchment paper. Then use the recipe provided on the box mix. Add your choice of food coloring to the batter and then pour it into the lined pan. Gently tap the pan against the counter to reduce the amount of air trapped in the batter. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until cooked through (roughly 10-15 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool. Then place pan in refrigerator for 1 hour until chilled.

Note: For even more control when cutting your shapes in the next step you may want to chill your cake in the freezer instead of the refrigerator!

Trace an outline of your pan onto a piece of paper. This will serve as your template so that you can see how what type of geometries might fit inside your cake. Transfer your chilled sheet cake to a cutting board and using cookie cutters or a knife - cut your chosen geometries. Place them on top of your paper template to see how they will fit in the cake pan. Depending on the depth of your pan you may be able to fit several layers of your sheet cake cutouts!

Builder beware: you would ideally like the depth of your shape to be close to the depth of the cake pan. Cake batter likes to move while it is cooking so the deeper your pan is - the more likely the shapes will shift during the baking process.

Line your 4" spring form cake pan with parchment paper and then gently lay one of your shapes into the bottom of the pan. Next, prepare the second box of cake mix (feel free to add any food coloring to this batter as well!). Place the batter around the shape until the batter is level with the top of the shape. You may need to tap the pan to level the batter. Continue adding layers and batter until the pan is almost full. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit until the cake is done (roughly 20 minutes). The cake should spring back when pressed. Cool the cake until room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.

Note: you will have much more batter than you need for one small cake - you may want to have several pans to bake more than one cake at a time or bake cupcakes with the rest!

Remove the cake from the refrigerator, de-mold it from the pan and remove the parchment paper. Cut in half and serve!