birthday party, cakes, diy desserts, diy projects

Baked: Mini Cakes

diy mini cakes leadmini cake 2mini cake 3

These mini cakes are so lovely and they’re perfect for entertaining!  Each is only 2″ tall, but is layered with bright Spring-colored cake and a beautiful icing rose to add a fanciful touch.  Personally, I think mini cakes are a much more beautiful and elegant alternative to cake pops or cupcakes.  Just looking at the ones in my fridge makes me want to throw a tea party!  Click “Continue Reading” for the tutorial.  

Materials Needed (for 4 mini cakes):

  • Vanilla cake mix (of your preference)
  • 3 different icing colors
  • Buttercream frosting (recipe HERE via Magnolia’s Bakery)
  • Small circle cookie cutter
  • 6″ round cake tin(s)
  • Optional: Icing tips (for roses, I used the Wilton icing tip #104), Candy topper

diy mini cakes

Directions:

1. First, make your cake mix.  I know a lot of people have their own preference when it comes to cake mix, so decided to forego directions with this.  Once your cake mix is ready, divide it into 3 bowls.  Now, select three icing colors of your choice.  For my mini cakes I used Wilton’s Willow Green, Ivory, and Cornflower Blue.  Using a toothpick, add a tiny bit of each icing color (separately) to the 3 separate bowls. Stir to mix. Now, you should have 3 bowls with 3 different color batters.  Pour each batter color into a 6″ round cake pan and bake.  Note: If you don’t have 3 pans, no worries, just do 1 at a time.

2. Once the cakes are cool, use a small circle cookie cutter to cut out individual circles.  You should be able to get 4 circles from each cake. Now, arrange 1 of each color in your preferred order to see what looks best for each cake.  Once you like your color order, on to the frosting!

3. Using your buttercream frosting, pipe a bit of frosting in between your 3 cake layers.  Add a swirl of the buttercream to the top to finish.  As you’ll see in the first picture, I also added a candy wafer for the cakes I left unfrosted.  If you want the inside colors to be the focus, take a seat and admire your mini beauty!

4. If you want to frost the exterior of your cakes, you’ll have to do a couple of crumb layers (w/ set time in between each layer). Once your crumb layers are finished, add a final (very smooth) layer.  For this, it’s best to use a small icing spatula and let it sit in warm water for a bit before use.  For additional decor, I also tinted some of the buttercream to the Ivory color and piped lines down my cakes.  For the icing roses, I am in no way detail-oriented enough to explain this part.  Sorry – believe me, it’s for the best!  As I have said before, watch YouTube tutorials on this – there are some great teachers on there!  The Wilton YT channel has a lot of very helpful videos.  And with a little bit of practice, you’ll be making icing roses in no time!

Look how pretty they are, I’d definitely urge you to take the time to teach yourself icing roses.  I can’t event count how many cakes these pretty little roses have come in handy for!

icing rose

Each cake truly is mini – just the size of a small teacup.  A lovely little cake indeed!mini cake

  1. Lauren

    February 21, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    These are so cute! I love all the cakes that are beautifully colored on the inside and frosted with a solid color. It’s such a nice surprise!

  2. stardustcoyote

    February 25, 2013 at 8:11 pm

    Hi! I love your blog and all your creative ideas!! My name’s Sierra and I think your aunt (?) is my mom’s friend Vicki Jones-Pittman. Well anyway my mom told me about your blog and everything and I am a fan. Keep up the great posts!

    1. alanajonesmann

      February 25, 2013 at 8:30 pm

      Vicki is my (very supportive) aunt! thanks so much for the sweet compliments, Sierra – totally made my night!!

  3. Charmaine

    January 7, 2015 at 1:42 am

    Love love love your little colorful cakes! Thank you for sharing. These adds surprise to simple elegance!

  4. YummyFoodRecipes India

    June 15, 2016 at 5:09 am

    Mouth Watering!! So excited to prepare mini cakes. Children certainly gonna love this yummy cakes. Thanks for sharing with us.

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