So I got this cupcake cake pan for christmas and have been dying to use it. My sister-in-law asked me to make my niece’s first birthday smash cake and I knew this would be my mold. Keep in mind, her birthday isn’t until, April, but I wanted to start practicing for the big day. This pan is from Nordic ware.

I decided to use my basic chocolate cake recipe and buttercream icing. I am not great decorating cakes and making the icing look smooth, so I found a different way to decorate the bottom half. After the cake was done baking and cooling and pan was cooled, I melted chocolate melts (I bought green ones) and i painted the inside of the bottom part of the pan with chocolate and let it sit. I suggest putting it in the fridge. Also, I did 3 coats when I only needed about 2. You need enough so it won’t break and not too much so the cake won’t fit.

To assemble, I did have to cut a little bit off of the sides of the bottom to have it fit in the chocolate. I then put icing on top and put the top of the cupcake on top of it. I then decorated the top. I used a star tip to make roses and filled it in with stars around them. I added pearls for an accent.

Here is the chocolate mold and cupcake parts:

Results: better than I thought! I should have painted the chocolate higher on the bottom because it wasn’t smooth at the top and I had to fill with icing to hide it. I think I’m getting better at roses so that part is exciting! I really like the way it looks, especially with little accent cupcakes around it!

Grades:

Cake: A

Icing: A

Decorating: B+