Pink Purses and Me's Birsday!

Today is my youngest hungry puppy's birthday!  She is two years old, and the time just flies.  Last week, when I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, I was expecting a response along the lines of chocolate, vanilla, etc. What did I get?  PINK!  Definitely should not have been surprised.   There are certain cake ideas, however, that were not even allowed to present themselves.  There will be no princess castles or fairy wings.  Not in my house.  My girls are lucky I let a shred of pink in the house.  At all. Okay, not to that extreme, but I believe in more practical pink.  Like purses covered in white flowers.  I did a little research online to get some ideas of what kind of fun cake I could make that is pink, which was pretty difficult given the above exclusions.  When this baby popped up on my screen, the Birthday Girl saw it and yelled, "Me's Birsday Cake!!!".  And the rest, as they say is history.  


You can find the original instructions here.  You can use whatever cake and frosting flavor you want, just keep in mind that vanilla frosting is much easier to tint, unless you want a brown purse, then no tinting will be necessary.  I have never in my life heard of a Tootsie Roll Giant, and was unable to track one down easily, so I used chocolate Twizzlers instead.


Pink Purse Birthday Cake


Strawberry Lime Cake:
1 box (2 layer size) Strawberry cake mix plus ingredients to prepare the mix
1 packet (makes 2 quarts size) lime margarita Crystal Light drink mix, divided


Lime Frosting:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup (48 grams) shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 Tablespoons milk (as needed to reach desired consistency)
Remainder of drink mix (used for the cake)
Several drops of red food coloring


Decorations:
3 Chocolate Twizzlers
10 brown M&Ms
8 to 9 Marshmallows
6 Whoppers
1 sheet green fruit leather or Fruit Roll Ups
2 Tootsie Rolls


Prepare the cake according to package directions, mixing in 2/3 of the powdered drink mix.  Bake in 2 8 inch or 9 inch cake pans.  9 inch pans work just fine, but 8 inch will give your cake more stability as you frost and decorate.  After the cakes bake, remove them from the pans and place on cooling racks until they have cooled completely.


For the frosting, while the cake layers are cooling, combine the butter and shortening in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well blended.  Add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until fully incorporated (mixture may be dry and slightly crumbly).   Beat in the remaining 1/3 of the packet of drink mix, vanilla then the milk, a little at a time until the frosting is a spreadable consistency.  Place about 1/4 cup of frosting in a small ziplock bag, and set aside.  Beat several drops of red food coloring into the remaining frosting, until you reach the desired shade of pink.


To shape and frost the cake:  Trim the tops of the cooled cakes to make them level.  Spread a small amount of frosting on one cut surface, then place the other cake layer on top, cut side down.  Cut a strip 1 inch from the edge of one side of the layer cake, then from the exact opposite side, cut a strip 2 inches in from the edge.  Place the cake on a serving platter, deeper cut side down.  Spread the pink frosting all over the cake and smooth it out.


To decorate the cake:  Cut a small corner from the bag of white frosting, and pipe small dots up each thin edge of the cake.  Attach a brown M&M to each piped dot.  Twist together the 3 chocolate Twizzlers and insert into the top of the cake in an upside-down U-shape, for the handle.  With a clean pair of kitchen shears, cut the marshmallows crosswise into 4 slices.  Arrange the marshmallow slices as flower petals along the top of the cake, using some of the white frosting to secure them to the cake.  Using the white frosting, attach a Whipper to the center of each flower.  With your kitchen shears, cut small leaf shapes from the green fruit leather, and tuck them underneath the marshmallow petals to make leaves.  Press the 2 Tootsie Rolls together and place on a small piece of wax paper.  heat in the microwave for 5 seconds to soften, then roll out on the wax paper.  Cut out a design or letter using scissors or a small cookie cutter.  Press the design or letter onto the front of the cake.  Be Creative!  Serves 12 to 14.


Enjoy!  -Cardamommy