How to Make a Disco Cake
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Recipe, Equipment and Decorating Tips to Make a Disco Ball Cake
This was the first time I've ever attempted to make a themed cake and I had great fun doing. But more importantly my daughter loved it. The deliciously light and lemony disco cake was a wow a the party!
The Equipment
Cake pans for baking your Disco Cake
I invested in the Wilton Sports Ball Pan and it worked a treat with the recipe below. In fact, it was so easy and successful that I'm sure I'll be using this ball cake pan many times in the future. As well as two separate cake pans the set comes with two stands to balance the pans on in the oven and a comprehensive set of instructions.
Using one of the stands provided in the Sports Ball Pan set I stood the Disco Ball cake on a simple square cake. We had lots of party guests so needed lots of cake however with hindsight I feel that the 12" square cake pan I used was a little to large, I would definitely go for an 8" or 10" pan in the future.
The Recipe
Lemon Pound Cake
I chose lemon pound cake as the basis of our disco cake for two reasons. Firstly the birthday girl requested lemon cake and secondly Wilton advise that because pound cake is firm it offers the best results when using the Sports Ball Cake Pan.
This recipe makes 12 cups of batter which splits perfectly across the two halves of the Wilton Sports Ball Cake Pan (6 cups of batter in each half). Please note, the instructions that come with the Wilton Sports Ball Cake Pan advise four and a half cups of batter per pan, in my experience with this recipe this is not enough and results in a cake that is not a perfect ball.
For a square cake this recipe will make enough batter for an 8" cake pan. If you choose to make a larger 10" cake then you will need one and a half times this recipe and for a 12" square double the quantities below.
So here it is, the recipe for the deliciously light but firm lemon pound cake.
Ingredients
- 250g unsalted butter softened
- plus extra for the cake pan
- 3 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
- plus extra for the cake pan
- 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 2 lemons
- zest finely grated
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (approx. 2 lemons)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda (baking soda)
- 2 cups caster sugar
- 5 large eggs
Instructions
>> Preheat over to 350F / 180C or Gas Mark 4
>> Butter and flour cake pans
>> In a small bowl mix together the buttermilk, lemon zest and lemon juice
>> In a medium bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
>> In a large bowl, use a electric mixer (whisk) to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
>> Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one
>> With the mixer on low add approx. one third of the flour mixture, once combined add half of the buttermilk and lemon. Repeat this sequence before finishing by adding the final third of the flour mixture. Beat until just smooth - do not overmix.
>> Pour mixture into cake pans as required.
>> Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cooking time will vary depending upon the cake pan you are using. You can expect the ball cake to be ready in approx. 50 minutes, the square cake will take longer. Cover the top of the cake with foil if it is browning too quickly.
Decorating The Disco Ball Cake
Tips & Techniques
>> Use butter icing to join the two halves together and then cover the entire ball so that you have a 'sticky' surface.
>> After kneading some of the fondant icing to soften, roll it out before cutting into long thin strips. These strips will be the basis of your disco ball tiles.
>> Rest your complete ball on one of the cake pan stands. Begin the tiling process by working to create a line of tiles that follows the circumference of the ball. Try to keep your line level.
>> Now work up from the centre line to the apex of the ball. Placing a line of tiles all the way around the ball each time.
>> Once you have completed one half of the ball, turn it over so that the tiled top becomes the bottom and sits in the cake pan stand (this is a great way to hide any early mistakes and believe me the second half will be better than the first!)
>> Repeat the process, gradually building up the tiling on the remaining half of the ball.
>> Once the cake ball is completely tiled you can either paint it with edible glitter or use Sugarcraft Lustre Spray to turn it into a beautifully sparkly silver Disco Ball.
Sparkles and Fondant
More Great Birthday Cake Ideas
Decorating Tools
How to cover the square cake with fondant
The film advises that you use ganache to cover your cake, in my experience and on the advice of lots of other cake decorators butter icing is just as good (and much easier to make).
Finishing touches
>> Use spare fondant and a paper template to cut out stars that you can paint or spray any colour you wish. Once dry these will just stand around the base of your disco ball.
>> A sparkly ribbon wrapped round the cake adds a finishing touch along with birthday candles of course.
And now it's time to let you into a little secret; because I didn't invest in long 20" rolling pin I struggled to roll the fondant to a size large enough to cover the square cake. This meant I had two creases on the top of my cake. I used a paint brush to blend these 'mistakes' into my cake design by painting the two corners with yellow food colouring (the same colour as my diamante ribbon).
That's it, how to make a Disco Ball party cake. I hope you've found it helpful, I hope you have fun and I hope you come back and share the story of your very own Disco Ball cake.
Share a slice
Share tips, ask questions and tell us about your own disco cake
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Treasures-By-Brenda
Jan 3, 2012 @ 4:07 pm | delete
- Great cake. I try to keep my baking simple, LOL.
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Rebekah
May 29, 2011 @ 8:59 pm | delete
- Hi, is that batter amount for the disco ball cake as well as the base cake? Also, is it possible to make the lemon cake into a vanilla cake by substituting the lemon zest and lemon juice for vanilla essence? [obviously not the same amount though...] :-)
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Momsbusy247
Feb 14, 2011 @ 1:42 pm | delete
- This would be very fun. I love throwing disco parties, they are the most fun. Blessed by your neighborhood Squid Angel
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susannaduffy
Feb 11, 2011 @ 3:33 am | delete
- Fabulous disco ball cake - who would have thought of such a way to make and decorate a cake
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Yourshowman
Nov 30, 2010 @ 10:03 pm | delete
- Yummy Lens.
welcome To Squidoo.
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