What little girl doesn’t dream of becoming a princess? It’s a stage most girls go through, and if your daughter is having a princess moment, make her a crown cake for her upcoming birthday and she’ll be the envy of all her princess friends. It’s not hard to make a crown cake that’s beautiful and impressive. Yet, her friends have likely never seen one before and will be thrilled. Even if you’ve never decorated a cake you’ll find a crown cake very simple to make.
Start by greasing two round cake pans and following the instructions for the cake. You can make a homemade cake or a boxed mix; that’s your choice. The flavor of the cake is also up to you but, since it’s a princess cake, you might want to choose something in a color that will go along with the theme, like a white cake, cherry cake or another light color. Confetti cakes are also nice; the various colors that show after the cake is cut are very appropriate. After baking the cake, and allowing it to cool, ice one cake and stack the other on top. Ice both cakes now with white or pink frosting. If you want, you can cover the top of the cake with shredded – even tinted – coconut. You have many choices when it comes to creating the crown you want.
Use graham crackers to create the sides of the cake. Place the wrong side of graham crackers against the cake, positioning them side-by-side, and going all the way around the cake. It might be necessary to leave small spaces between the graham crackers depending on the size of the finished cake. You’ll be able to perfectly align the graham crackers if you place a graham in one place on the cake, then go to the opposite side and position that one. So, if the cake were a clock, position a graham cracker at the “12” position, then at the “6”. Now place one at the “3” and one at the “6”. Continue this pattern until the cake is surrounded by the graham crackers and they’re evenly spaced.
It’s up to you if you want to decorate the graham crackers, then put them on the cake, or if you want to embellish them after they’re attached. If you’ll be using a lot of frosting around the edges of the graham crackers it can be difficult to pick them up and position them on the cake. However, having the graham crackers lying flat as you decorate them is a real plus. Choose the method that’s easiest for you.
There are so many different things you can use to finish the crown. One of the best looks for it is to attach small cookies to the top, center area of each graham cracker. Heart shaped cookies, square cookies turned to be diamond shapes, or similar cookies work great. Put a dab of frosting at the top of each graham cracker and press the cookie into it. Continue embellishing the crown by adding candies and similar foods to the top of each cookie. M&M’s, cereal circles or even Skittles are perfect for creating a jewel on top of each cookie. Attach them with frosting, positioning one candy on the top, center of each cookie.
Add a blob of frosting to the center of each graham cracker and stick in a Life Saver or other jewel-type candy. The blob of icing should be able to be seen around the edges of the inserted candy. You can even take the time to make a star burst pattern on the graham with the frosting before positioning the candy. With the cookies mounted to the top of the graham crackers, and a jewel candy embedded in each one, it’s a nice finishing touch to draw stripes of frosting along the bottom of the crackers. However, you can do any pattern you want. Mount the cookies to the top of the graham crackers, then go around the perimeter of the crackers with frosting, or omit the candy and just draw squiggly lines of colored frosting, horizontally, all the way down each graham. Use candy sprinkles, strips of red licorice, cereal circles or similar foods to give the crown the look you want.
Your little girls’ eyes will light up with excitement when she sees the beautiful crown cake that looks like you spent a fortune! Her friends will all line up for a slice of the unique cake and they’ll be talking about it for a long time to come. Only you’ll know the real truth about the princess crown cake, though, and that’s that it cost next to nothing!
