Friday, February 25, 2011

Snow Day + Parent's Anniversary = Vertical Stripe Rose Cake

Today we had yet another snow storm and another day off.  I do love snow days but I would prefer not to be in school until July. . .so I am ready for the snow to end.  But I guess I don't have any say in that, do I?

I am a follower of I Am Baker and she made this cake for her birthday.  I fell in love with it.   I have been looking for an excuse to make it and I thought it would be perfect for my parent's 41st Anniversary.

I have also decided to start keeping track of the costs and time involved in baking and decorating a cake.  I am almost afraid to do this but I am curious. . .

TIME COMMITTED TO THIS 8" ROSE CAKE

Step 1:  Baking the cakes - for this one I simply used box mixes and only made one substitution to make the strawberry flavor; therefore, the cost for the cakes are minimal on this one.
  • Mixing cake mix
  • Preparing pans
  • Washing dishes
     Time:  50 minutes (25 minutes per box mix)

Step 2:  Checking Oven and Preparing Baked Cakes
  • Checking cakes in oven occassionally (5 minutes)
  • Removing from oven (these cool only a couple minutes before leveling - HOT!)
  • Leveling cakes with Agbay
  • Wrapping cakes for freezer
  • Placing in freezer
  • Clean-up 
     Time: 32 minutes (16 minutes per box mix)

Step 3:  Making a NEW Recipe for Whipped Buttercream
  • Ingredients out and preparing for recipe (5 minutes)
  • Creaming 2 ingredients (8 minutes)
  • Whipping next ingredients (10 minutes)
  • Combining the 2 batches (10 minutes)
  • Clean-up (7 minutes)
     Time:  40 minutes for 1 batch

Step 4:  Preparing and cutting the cake & Frosting the cake)

     Time:  35 minutes


TOTAL TIME: (50 + 32 + 40 + 35) = 2.61 hours



COST FOR THIS CAKE
$33.57

Cake:  (I simply used 2 box mixes and substituted one item to produce a strawberry cake rather than a white cake  Very inexpensive compared to my normal cake recipes.)  approximately $7.00

Frosting:  approximately $7.75

Time: 2.61 Hours x $7.25 (minimum wage) = $18.92

Items not accounted for:
  • Electricity for oven, microwave and freezer (oven was run a minimum of 2 hours)
  • Cost of pans, Kitchen Aid mixer, multiple baking racks, parchment paper, saran wrap, etc.
  • Cake decorating tools:  offset spatulas, tips, pastry bags, cake boards, cake plate,etc.
  • Dish detergent

If I were to make this cake again. . .
I would need a double batch of the frosting which would add an additional 40 minutes to make the frosting, additional 10 minutes to frost the cake
and ingredients for the frosting
$13.79

Total Cost would be: 
$47.36

(round up for unaccounted for materials):
$50.00

And, if I were to use my regular cake recipes
it would probably be $60






















2 comments:

  1. For next time, I will need to use a sturdier buttercream (probably my dream buttercream recipe) so the roses hold their shape better. The Whipped Buttercream frosting was too creamy to hold the shape.

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  2. Another note - - as I have been reviewing I Am Baker blog, I noticed I forgot 2 steps. I was to use a simple syrup on the cakes before freezing so to hold them together better. Also, after placing the different flavors together, I was supposed to refreeze using a wax paper belt. Oops.

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