DIY: GOLF BIRTHDAY CAKE

For W's 25th birthday, I knew I wanted to surprise him with an awesome cake. Since we are both gluten intolerant, making his cake myself was not only more affordable but was also way more fun! So where did I go for cake inspiration? Pinterest, of course. Going through moments of complete distraction and suffering from severe hunger, I finally decided to make him a golf-themed birthday cake with his age on the flagstick (I mean, does it get any cuter than that?).

Being in a serious time crunch, I decided to turn to the ever so convenient GF yellow cake mix from King Arthur Flour. This was my first time ever using this brand and it definitely won't be my last. I consider myself to be a chef, not a baker! Nothing intimidates me more like a couple of 8-inch cake rounds.  This mix was dummy proof - even for this baking dummy who doesn't own cooling racks! (Don't worry, that shelf in your microwave that you have probably taken out because it divides the surface area by half -- it makes a great cooling rack). 

While my cakes were baking in the 350 degree oven, I combined my Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla frosting with my Wilton green gel food coloring. A little goes a long way with this gel, but that's what I needed! Gel food coloring tends to mix better with store bought icing -- traditional food coloring can make the icing too liquid-y and no one likes that.

This cake is a lot easier to decorate than it looks! I filled my plastic decorating bag with my darker green icing and used Wilton's Multi Opening Tip (#233) to create the grass effect. The trickiest part to me with the decorating is actually getting the icing in the bag without having icing cover every inch of my kitchen. This just takes practice! If you fold the bag sides over while holding the pointed end with your left hand and putting the icing in with a spatula, it's a no mess job. No mess, no stress. To create the grass effect, hold the bag and tip steady with your left hand while gently squeezing with your right. Warning: once you get the technique down, it becomes addicting. 

Your cake is iced, and you are almost done! Last step is to make the flagstick. I cut a rectangle out of red card stock, folded it in half, and glued in a toothpick. How easy is that? For the actual golf hole, I cut a hole out of black card stock and placed the flagstick in the center. 

This cake was a huge hit! My boyfriend loved it, the waiter at the restaurant said it was one of the coolest cakes he had seen, and it tasted like the lovechild of poundcake and yellow cake. It doesn't get much better than that!

[K]