My *Asterisk* Life

It’s only Wednesday, and I’m already missing my Labor day off. The long weekend was both fun and restful, with boat rides, BBQs and pool time. My Aunt Roe had a BBQ on Sunday for the holiday, and I was in charge of bringing a dessert. My cousin Cretia gave me the idea to make a hula dancer cake, and I’ve been itching to have a reason to make it for weeks now! I decided she was a good cake for our end of summer Labor Day celebrations.

Her directions were to use an 8” square cake, a 9” round cake, and a 9”x13” rectangle cake. Making those sizes would require about 2 boxes of cake mix (1 box for the large rectangle, another for the square and circle). I did not have those size pans, so I improvised. I used 6” square, 8” square, and 5” round pans and only 1 box cake mix.  (I think as long as you have a variety of pan sizes, you could bend the rules a bit and make the design work with any size pans).

After the cakes are cooled, use a serrated knife to cut the body shapes out of the square cakes. I found it easier to place the cakes in a line and cut out an hourglass shape. 

Then, use the leftover triangles for the arms and legs and assemble the body. I trimmed some of the cake to make her look less angular.

Now time to frost! Frosting this cake is the hardest part, especially around the edges where you’ve cut. Use flesh colored food coloring from Wilton. You can get them at Michael’s or A.C. Moore. As you can see, some dope in my house mixed the caps up on my food coloring, so my hula dancer came out looking like she had a really bad, Velveeta cheese, spray tan experience. (For the record, I am that dope).

She made me crave Mac & Cheese after this…but I’m still dieting!

I let my nieces take over from here with the decorating. We cut strips of blue and yellow Fruit Roll-Ups and twirled them for the skirt, and used strips of orange and red roll-ups for her hair and Froot Loops for her eyes. Jenna even though to put one eye “a little under her hair so it’s like her hair is in her eyes.”

Her coconut bra is made of thin mints and Twizzlers, and some slivered almonds were scattered throughout her skirt and used to make a bracelet. Her nose is the tip of a marshmallow ice cream candy, and we had her hold the rest of the candy.

This was such a fun cake for me and the kids, and at the end of our BBQ, she was eaten all up! Our cake came out cute, Cretia’s came out even cuter! Thanks Crea!