A baseball themed cake can be a creative addition to a child’s birthday party. It can also be a fun touch for an adult baseball fan’s party or a gathering of fans for a particular game. Whatever the occasion, there are a few simple steps to follow to make your own themed cake at home for a baseball related event. First, there are a few different options to choose from for how you would like to design your cake. A popular design that will be discussed here is how to make a baseball diamond on a regular flat sheet style cake. Depending on your piping skill and experience with cake decorating, using a rounded cake pan and going with a shaped cake may be easier. Two other options using a rounded pan or oven safe bowl are a baseball cap shaped cake or a cake shaped like a baseball itself. http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/baseball-cake.html

Though it seems like it would be more difficult, don’t let a shaped cake deceive you, as piping a design on a flat sheet cake can be tricky if you haven’t tried before. If you do not have much experience, you might want to practice piping off the cake first. You will need a steady hand and a good eye when piping directly on the cake. Sketching it out first will help you better get things to scale. If you plan to incorporate colors of a specific team, there are a few things to consider before beginning. Darker colors as well as reds tend to be difficult to achieve using food coloring and often result in a change in flavor of icing. http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3e30b2d9-475a-bac0-5d5c3db846dfd354To use team colors, if desired, while making decorating your cake a bit easier, use white as the main color and team colors in the details. Another alternative is to use pre-colored fondant, which can usually be found at a local craft store’s baking section. Fondant, similar in consistency to Play-Doh, can be rolled flat and cut into your desired shape or letter.

To make a baseball hat shaped cake, start by preparing the cake recipe of your choice. Use a ball shaped cake pan, such as a Wilton soccer ball pan, or an oven safe bowl to bake the cake into a rounded shape. http://www.wilton.com/idea/baseball-cake Prepare the bowl or rounded pan by using vegetable shortening and a pastry brush to ensure all areas of the interior of the bowl or pan are well greased. Sprinkle a small amount of flour into the greased bowl or pan and shake it around so the entire greased area is covered. If you notice spots that are still shiny, use more flour and repeat the process so your cake will come out easily and in the proper shape. Bake the cake according to your recipe.

When your cake is finished, let it cool for 10-15 minutes before removing it from the bowl or pan. To remove the cake, hold a tray or your cake serving board to the exposed flat side of the bowl or pan, then invert the cake so it will end up sitting ready to decorate once the bowl or pan is removed. After letting the cake cool for 3-4 hours, cut 1 inch off the widest area of the cake, then using the bowl or pan, cut the 1 inch slice in half, forming a crescent shape for the bill of the hat when placed against the rounded cake. http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Batter%20bowl%20baseball%20cap%20cake

Now that your hat is cooled and shaped, brush off excess crumbs and use just enough icing to make a crumb coat on your cake. Put the cake in the refrigerator for an hour or two to cool the frosting and keep bumpy crumbs out of your final product. http://www.cakedecoratingtips.writetopics.com/crumb-coat-secrets.html Next, ice your cake with your chosen color and allow it to set again before going back to add a team logo or other details. http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Batter%20bowl%20baseball%20cap%20cake If you choose to use fondant to cover your cake, leave the cake in the refrigerator covered overnight to cool completely before you cover it with fondant. Right before using it, roll your fondant out to about ¼ inch thickness and gently drape the fondant over the cake using the rolling pin to help. Carefully smooth the fondant starting from the top down over the shape of your cake. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/decorating-with-fondant-recipe/index.html

Making a baseball shaped cake is very similar at the start to making a baseball hat shaped cake. Prepare the cake recipe of your choice. Use a ball shaped cake pan, like the Wilton soccer ball pan, or an oven safe bowl to bake the cake into a rounded shape. http://www.wilton.com/idea/baseball-cake Prepare the bowl or rounded pan by using vegetable shortening and a pastry brush to ensure all areas inside the bowl or pan are well greased. Sprinkle some flour into the greased bowl or pan and shake it around so the entire greased area is lightly dusted. If you notice spots that are still shiny, use more flour and repeat the process so your cake will come out easily and in the rounded shape. Bake the cake according to your recipe. http://www.wilton.com/idea/baseball-cake

When your cake is finished, let it cool for 10-15 minutes before removing it from the bowl or pan. To remove the cake, hold a tray or your cake serving board to the exposed flat side of the bowl or pan, then invert the cake so it will end up sitting ready to decorate once the bowl or pan is removed. http://www.wilton.com/idea/baseball-cake If you are icing your cake, brush off excess crumbs and use just enough icing to make a crumb coat. Put the cake in the refrigerator for an hour or two to cool the frosting and keep your final coat smooth. http://www.cakedecoratingtips.writetopics.com/crumb-coat-secrets.html If you are covering your cake with white fondant, leave it in the refrigerator overnight at this stage. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/decorating-with-fondant-recipe/index.html For icing, make a smooth white icing layer over your crumb coated cake. Using a toothpick, create a guide line for your stitches and either pipe red icing in their place or use red licorice strings if you prefer. http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/baseball-cake.html#baseball12

For the sheet cake version, prepare a sheet cake pan by using vegetable shortening and a pastry brush to grease the inside of the pan. Sprinkle flour into the greased pan and shake it around so the entire greased area is lightly floured. If you notice spots that are still shiny and uncovered, use more flour and repeat the process so your cake will come out easily. Bake the cake according to your recipe. http://www.wilton.com/idea/baseball-cake When your cake is finished, let it cool for 10-15 minutes before removing it from the pan. Hold your cake board to the exposed side of the cake, then invert the cake so it ends up sitting ready to decorate once the pan is removed. http://www.wilton.com/idea/baseball-cake Brush excess crumbs off the cake and use just enough icing to make a crumb coat. Put the cake in the refrigerator for an hour or two to cool the frosting and keep your final coat smooth. http://www.cakedecoratingtips.writetopics.com/crumb-coat-secrets.html

Once the crumb coat has cooled, use a toothpick to sketch the baseball diamond onto the cake. To make grass around the field, mix green food coloring to white icing to make your desired shade. You can smooth the green icing onto the grassy areas you have sketched out, or if you feel comfortable piping the icing onto the cake, you can pipe grass as a border or in the outfield as well using the designated decorating tip. For the baselines, there are many edible things that can create the look of dirt as found on a baseball field. Some cakes have been made using brown sugar, others with crushed graham crackers combined with cinnamon and nutmeg. Depending on the flavor of cake you have chosen, you can choose a topping that compliments it well. Powdered or confectioner’s sugar can be used to create the look of the white lines, and white icing can be used for piping bases. Many party and craft stores sell baseball cake kits containing miniature player figurines that can add a three dimensional look to your cake.http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/baseball-cake.html