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When the end of the soccer season came around, and the team manager started
talking about the end-of-season party, I knew I was going to have to volunteer
to make the cake for the kids (and grownups.) What a handy excuse to use my new
ball pan, and grass-tip!
I made the base cake half vanilla, and half chocolate, to please everyone! I
filled the whole thing with vanilla buttercream, and frosted it with the same.
  The
soccer ball cake was lemon, with vanilla buttercream. I was in a bit of a
quandary thinking about how to fill the soccer ball such that when it was time
to serve it, people would have the right proportions of cake and frosting. In
the end I decided to layer it much as I would have any other shaped cake. Next
time I do something like that I'll also trim a little bit from each layer to
avoid the slight egg shape I ended up with.
  The
next step was to use the templates provided with the ball pan to cut some
hexagons and pentagons from white and black fondant, respectively. Then it was
time to apply the shapes to the ball! It was almost like magic, putting them on
and having them all just fit together around the sphere!
 Aidon cleverly
thought to pick up the camera and get a few pictures of me. I'm probably most in
my element here - caking AND math-geeking, all together! I couldn't get over how
VERY much the whole thing looked like a soccer ball, when I was done!
 I did a frozen
buttercream transfer for the team's dragon logo. Sadly, I forgot to do it in
reverse, so the final image on the cake was a mirror image of their logo. No one
mentioned it, though ;) A frozen buttercream transfer is pretty simple. First,
you just need to trace, photocopy, or print the image you want to create. Then
you lay a piece of wax or parchment paper over your image, taping them both down
if needed. Finally, you trace over the image with colored icing. Fine lines
first, and then fill in with color. Pop the whole thing in the freezer for at
least 15 minutes. Take the transfer out of the freezer, position the frosting on
the cake, and peel off the paper.
  I
didn't manage to get in-between pictures, sadly. I gave the base cake a base coat
of green, and put the soccer ball on the cake (supported by straws, I think ...
now I don't recall!) I applied the buttercream transfer, and the writing, and
started applying grass. The grass tip is great, but WOW did my hand hurt by the
time I was done, and boy did it take longer than I expected! I look positively
overloaded on caffeine in this picture, although I wasn't ;)
  The
cake was well received by the team, and the venue for the party had a nice clean
table on which to take an uncluttered photograph of the cake.
I'm not sure a soccer party would be complete without pizza!
The cake was well-enjoyed! There was some initial reluctance to cut into the
soccer ball, but eventually, much of the cake was decimated!
Additional Photos
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