The Evolution of a Cake

The day has finally arrived to make the Easter Cake.  The cake has been baked, leveled, sliced in layers and iced. But, that is just the beginning. :)

I have the idea to make this an Easter basket.  The white icing is just the base layer, or crumb layer.  The crumb layer of icing is to hold the crumbs in place so that they do not appear on the outer layer of icing.  This layer of icing is usually thin and is allowed to set for about an hour til it is air dried.  Does not look like much at this stage, but it gets better. 

The basket-weave pattern is used to ice the side of the cake.  This gives the appearance of the basket.  It takes a little more time than just "throwing" icing on a cake with a knife, but not as much time as you would think and the results are really nice. 

You can not have an Easter basket without the grass!  Icing colored green and using a ribbon tip the grass has been put "in" the basket. 

The gum paste handle completes the look for the basket.  Chocolate Eggs added, sugar flowers and butterflies add eye appeal.