Smurfy Idea! Using Up Cake Cut Offs

Yu-Yu-yu-yu-yu-yu, yu-yu- yu-yu YUM! (now go back and say it to the smurfs tune...makes more sense... no really, I'll wait :) See where I 'm going with this?

This weekend I wrapped up making a Mario Brothers cake for little boy who rides my Dad's school bus. I overestimated on the icing though and was extremely long! Not wanting the icing to go to waste (or have to be frozen), I turned the overage into some sweet little triple decker cakes for the evenings dessert.  Being frugule I cut out circles with a round cookie cutter from the cake cut offs (so the cakes would be "level"). These cake circles where not all even layers, so what they lacked in evenness I made up for in buttercream filling!


I was finally able to get my mitts on a couple of 1M icing tips to make gorgeous swirls. This may very well be my new most favorite icing tip I have. My artilery collection is not really big yet...I can still contain it to one small container. I am however a sucker for punishment and find myself washing out my nozzels as I go when decorating (cupcakes/cookies). Perhaps in time I will learn and get me a few {who am I joking} a lot more so that I don't have to spend 8 hours icing! Then, I can have lots of pretty colours to work with!

Not too sure what happened this time round with the icing...it's the best buttercream I have ever made (and I make it regularly).  I actually opted to for-go the recipe I typically use and winged it.
You should try it and see if you like the results! I beat up the following:

Jo's Scratch Buttercream
{This batch is big, hope you made alot of cupcakes! - I covered a 6" x 4" tall cake and a 10" x 4" tall cake with icing to spare}

• 1 lb. of salted butter (softened to room temperature)
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 3-4 tsp. of pure vanilla essence
• a pinch of salt 
• 1 kg of icing sugar
• some water
• colour of preference ( I sed Wilton Sky Blue gel to get the smurfy shade of blue)

First I creamed the butter and shortening so it was nice and fluffy with my stand mixer. Then I reduced my mixer speed to slow (so I wouldn't be spattered to death) and added the vanilla and a pinch of salt. After it was all incorporated I started adding in the icing sugar in small quantities until well blended. Again, I did this on the LOWEST speed {I powder my nose, but not with icing sugar; and my husband appreciates there not being a white film of sugar EVERYWHRE in our kitchen.}  It began to get thick quickly to the point of large crumbs, so I added some water (a few tablespoons at a time) to bring the mix back to cream consistency.  Lastly, I added my colour and whipped it until it was completely blue.  Note: I used water to thin the icing instead of the traditional milk because I was concerned about spoilage... just a me thing.

I filled my icing bag with the 1M tip and piped away stacking the 3 layers of cake if a generous amount of filling. Squished as needed to make the little cakes stand level and topped them off with another dose of icing, sprinkles and those royal icing hearst for the "Mom" touch.

There was originally 4 cakes to be photographed, but only mine survived to photo shoot time. The kids said they looked like they had eatten a smurf..hence I present to you - Smurf Cakes.

Enjoy!