Football Season!

We celebrated our October family birthdays yesterday so I went with football themed cakes.  I didn't have a lot of time so these were kept pretty simple and fondant free.  I used a color flow technique for the logos, but had found a recipe online that didn't require Wilton's Color Flow icing mix.  You beat 1 egg white and approximately one cup of sifted powdered sugar until the mixture turns white and forms stiff peaks.  I added a little more powdered sugar to get a slightly stiffer mixture to draw the outside lines.  I then added very small amounts of water until I got a runnier consistency to fill in the insides of the design.  You want it to be runny so that it "flows" into all the corners and edges of the design.  For tight areas, you can use a toothpick to push it where you want it to fill in.   This icing dries very hard, but it needs about 24 hours to dry.  To prepare the work surface, take the picture you want to duplicate and tape it to a thick piece of cardboard.  Tape waxed paper over the picture.  Then use your icing mixture to trace the outside lines of the design.  Let those harden a little and then fill in the design.  When you are ready to use it, remove the design and wax paper from the cardboard.  Carefully peel off the wax paper and place it on your cake.  It's a really easy technique that adds a cool touch to your cakes.  As easy as it is, this is the second time I've used this technique and I've screwed it up both times!  The first time I used it was before I knew you were supposed to cut the tops off cakes to get a flat work surface.  My design came out perfect, but when I placed it on the rounded cake top, it cracked in several places.  This time I knew I had to get those cakes flat to lay my icing pieces on.  However, I made them the night before and even though they had been drying for a few hours, I wasn't even thinking when I laid pieces of saran wrap over them to sit overnight.  The next morning the saran wrap had stuck to them.  So even though they looked okay, they didn't have the smooth and shiny finish they should have had.  So with that said, here is the picture of the cakes. 

Houston Texas Cake & Texas Longhorns Cake

I wanted to add a chocolate football to the Texans cake, so I melted chocolate chips and poured it on a piece of waxed paper on a cookie sheet.  I put it in the fridge to harden, then let it sit out a little while to soften.  I used a football shaped cookie cutter to cut the shape out of the chocolate and then used the same icing mixture to draw the details on the football.  I kept it in the fridge until I was ready to add it to the cake.  They were a big hit with the family and ironically, my brother was dressed to match his cake!