How to Decorate a Bat Signal Batman Cake

Batman is a popular superhero for both young and old. This bat signal cake is sure to please the birthday child no matter how many candles are on the cake!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• oval shaped cake
• buttercream icing
• black food coloring
• yellow food coloring
• thin cardboard

1. Place your cooled, oval cake on a cake board. Crumb coat the cake by covering it with a thin layer of buttercream icing.

2. Set aside a small amount of buttercream icing to use for the black bat signal. Color the rest of the icing with the yellow food coloring. Ice the cake with the yellow buttercream icing.

3. Trace a picture of the bat signal on the cardboard. Cut it out, making sure no little pieces of loose cardboard are on the edges. Gently center and press the cut out of the bat signal on top of the iced cake. Lift the cardboard off of the cake.

4. Color the remaining buttercream icing with the black food coloring. Using a pastry bag and tip, outline the bat signal imprint on top of the cake. Thin the remaining black icing with a small amount of milk or water. Use the thinned icing to fill in the bat signal.

Tips & Warnings

• The black icing will be easier to color if you start with chocolate icing. Or, add brown food coloring first and then add black.
• The cardboard from a cereal box will work very well to cut out the bat signal. It is thin and easy to work with and doesn't result in a lot of little cardboard pieces around the cut edges.
• If you don't have an oval cake pan, bake a sheet cake and then cut it into an oval shape. I recommend using an oval template made out of cardboard to make sure it is a perfect oval.
• If you need more cake, bake 2 oval cakes. Spread buttercream icing between them and stack the cakes on top of each other.
• It takes a lot of black food coloring to make black icing. Use as little icing as possible so you don't have as much to color. Icing often turns gray first and can be difficult to get to black.
• The color of the icing will darken as it sits. If the icing is a really dark gray when you make it, it could still turn black.

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on 1/17/2009 That is an ADORABLE cake. Thanks for sharing! 5*