Homemade Graduation Cake Ideas

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Graduation Cake Recipe

The best of the graduation party ideas is a great cake, A must for any celebration. Graduates of all ages love cake graduation party ideas.

This cake is very easy to make as all the ingredients are mixed together in the same bowl.

Graduation Cake Cooking Tools

• Wire rack for cooling the cake
• 2 circles of greaseproof paper – 17.5cm (7 inches) across
• 2 X 17.5 cm (7 inch) sandwich cake tins
• Mixing bowl
• Pastry brush
• Wooden spoon
• Palette knife.

Ingredients

• 115g of softened margarine
• 2 large eggs
• 115g cater sugar
• 115g self-raising flour
• 2-3 drops of vanilla essence
• A pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder.

For a lemon cake, add the grated rind of a lemon and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

For an orange cake, add the grated rind of an orange and 1 tablespoon of orange juice.

For a chocolate cake, add 30g sieved cocoa powder to replace same amount of flour.

Brown chocolate topping and filling, 115g milk chocolate and 2 tablespoons of soured cream.

White chocolate topping and filling, 115g white chocolate and 2 tablespoons of soured cream.
 

How to Make The Sponge Graduation Cake

1) Set the oven to 170 degrees centigrade/325 degrees farenheight/ gas mark 3. Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl.

2) Mix all the ingredients together with the wooden spoon, then beat the mixture hard for about 2 mins.

3) The cake mixture should drop off the spoon easily. If it seems too stiff, stir in two teaspoons of water and beat it again.

4) Divide the mixture between two greased and lined cake tins and smooth it level. Bake the cakes for 30 minutes until firm.

5) Slide a knife around the edges of the tins to loosen them and turn them out on to a wire rack. Remove the wax paper.
 

Covering the Graduation Cake

1) Break the chocolate up into small pieces and put in a bowl. Pour in the soured cream. Heat a saucepan of water over a low heat.

2) Stand the bowl over the saucepan of water. Stir the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate has melted.

3) When the cakes are cool, turn one of them upside down and spread half of the chocolate frosting on it with a palette knife.

4) Put the other cake on top of the frosting, then spread the rest of the frosting smoothly on top of the sandwich cake.
 

Alternatively here is a deluxe creamy fudge frosting:

• 50g of margarine
• 200g of frosting sugar
• 3 tablespoons of milk.

1) Place the ingredients in a bowl and place the bowl over a saucepan of water and stir until melted.

2) Leave until cold and then beat until thick and glossy.
 

Writing with Frosting on Your Graduation Cake

First of all you need to make the frosting. To do this just mix frosting sugar and water together until the required consistency is reached – soft enough to pipe but firm enough to maintain shape. Add any food coloring desired.

Next you need to make a piping bag:

1) Cut out a piece of greaseproof paper 25 cm square and fold it in half diagonally.

2) Fold one corner of the folded triangle into the middle point to make a cone.

3) Fold the other corner of the triangle around it so that the three points meet.

4) Then tuck the points inside the cone to hold it firmly in place. Snip the tip off the cone.

To pipe the frosting simply fill the frosting bag with frosting. Fold the top of the bag down over the frosting and press gently to squeeze out a thin ribbon of frosting through the tip of the cone.  

Buy Used Graduation Cake Pans

You'll only use them once so why pay more!

Simple Decorating Ideas for A Themed Graduation Cake

Simple Decorating Ideas For a Pirate Cake

1)Cover with chocolate frosting – should probably be black but dark chocolate will look much more appetizing.

2)Using greaseproof paper, cut out a template for a skull and cross bone.

3) Next lay the paper on top of the cake and use a piping bag with a biggish nozzle to pipe little blobs of white frosting to cover the template.  

Simple Decorating Ideas For Clown Graduation Cake

1) Create a zigzag design round the edge of the cake using small pieces of red liquorice strings or red piped frosting. Colored candy coated sweets look nice placed between the zigzags.

2) Make circles for the eyes out of chocolate drops and add any colored sweet for the eyeris with a chocolate drop on top for the pupil.

3) Add a cherry for the nose.

4) Create the outline of a mouth with the red liquorice string or red piped frosting and fill in with hundreds and thousands.

Simple Decorating Idea for Oriental Cake

1)Cover with chocolate frosting – should probably be red, black and gold but dark chocolate will look much more appetizing.

2)Using greaseproof paper, cut out a template for a fan, parassol, or oriental characters.

3) Next lay the paper on top of the cake and use a piping bag with a biggish nozzle to pipe little blobs of white, red, black or gold frosting to cover the template.

Casino Decorating Idea

1) Cover the entire cake in white frosting. 2) Use alternate milk and white chocolate coins to decorate around the edge of the cake. 3) Get some ready-to-use fondant frosting and mould it into 2 small cubes to make dice and just pipe some black frosting dots onto the side. 4) After some practice you could also attempt to write a message on the cake. Something short like “Congrads (name of graduate)”.

Graduation Cake Photo Decorating Idea

A graduation cake with their photo on it would be fantastic and what's more it is completely edible!

I am afraid you cannot do this yourself though as you need a special printer AND the edible paper AND the edible ink cartridges. Far better to just ask at your local supermarket or cake shop.

Mardi Gras Mask Graduation Cake Decorating Idea

1) Instead of using 2 circular cake tins, try using oval ones instead. 2) Once the cakes are cooked and cooled, slightly cut the edge off both shapes and place them together so that they resemble an eye mask. 3) You will also need to cut out holes for the eyes. 4) Next, cover them completely with frosting – yellow would be good to symbolize gold. 5) Cover the mask in sweets of your choice. 6) The stick attached to the mask could be made of a long strand of thick black liquorice.

Fifties Record Graduation Cake Decorating Idea

1) Cover the sides of the cake with white frosting. 2) Add some black food coloring to the frosting and spread it smoothly onto the top of the cake. 3) Use a fork to trace circular marks - the idea is to make it look like a vinyl record. Like a record, make the label using a different colored frosting. Pipe a message on the top of the label – something like “Congrads (name of graduate).

Hollywood Star Graduation Cake Decorating Idea

1) Completely cover the cake in frosting 2) Pipe the outline of a star shape on the top of your circular cake in a contrasting color. 3) Again, in a contrasting color pipe the message “(name of the graduate) Reach for the Stars.

Safari Lion Graduation Cake Decorating Idea

1) Cover the entire cake in lemon colored frosting. 2) Pipe the lion features using black frosting very similar to the Wiltons cake below. 3) Using orange frosting and a wider nozzle on your piping bag pipe blobs of orange around the edge of the cake to make the mane.

Luau Graduation Cake Decorating Idea

1) Completely cover the cake in white frosting. 2) Next cut a grass skirt drastically leaving only the waistband and a couple of inches of skirt. 3) Attach the waistband around the side of the cake. 4) Now pipe a message on the top – something like – “Congrads (name of graduate)”. 5) Stick some colorful cocktail umbrellas into the cake to add some vibrancy.

Sea Graduation Cake Decorating Idea

1) Make the sponge cake using the ingredients/directions as described above.

2) Now cover the entire cake with yellow frosting or you could make it multi-colored like a tropical fish.

3) The fish body will be the circle when you are looking down on the cake from above. Add an eye using white and black frosting and then add fins using triangular wafers.

Superhero Graduation Cake Decorating Idea

1) Cover the cake in white frosting 2) Add yellow and red food coloring (individually) to the frosting and attempt to make the “S” for the superman symbol – see the clipart image displayed further up the page.

Wild West Graduation Cake Decorating Idea

1) Find someone local who will print an image onto edible paper for you – you need a special printer for this so no point trying to find the paper yourself. 2) Cover the cake in frosting with chocolate laced through it – will give it an aged look. 3) Now place the picture in the middle of the cake and pipe the message “Wanted” at the top.

Good luck with your graduation cake. A graduation cake is a brilliant focus for the celebrations.

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