DIY Winter Scene Cake Makeover

You guys… I just love shortcuts. I really, really do. This is the third cake in my ‘cake makeover’ collection. Which has really happened by accident, or laziness. Basically you take a grocery store cake- you know one of the ones with balloons or roses and you turn it into something that looks homemade and wonderful. But if you’re like me- you still tell everyone that you didn’t actually make it. And I was even more lazy this time (blame the pregnancy, really) and didn’t even bother taking it off the grocery tray it came on. Now that I’m looking at the photos I’m rolling my eyes at myself… that would have taken 1 minute… 2 tops. *SIGH* Anyways… This winter scene cake makeover is the easiest yet. AND it’s my favourite. Don’t get me wrong… that naked one was ah-mazing, but I just am loving bottlebrush trees and this is the first year I’ve had any to play with!

Here’s what you’ll need to make it happen in your life (like, tonight):

• Grocery store cake
• Metal spatula (these wilton ones are my go-to)
• Shredded coconut
• Bottlebrush trees
• Cake platter (because you’re not as lazy as me, I’m sure)

Can I let you in on a grocery store cake secret? You can actually walk right up to the bakery counter and ask for a cake that’s not decorated. They’ll look at you funny, but they’ll pull one out of the back and put a layer of base frosting on (it looks just like this!) and hand it over. Rad, right? But if you go in after hours (which I’ve been known to do), you’ll need to grab one off the shelf and scrape off the balloons and roses and whatever else they’ve got on there. Even better- when you walk up to the bakery counter, they usually ask you what type of cake and what type of filling… so it’s totally custom, but still for grocery store price. Okay, now that we’ve got that covered… ready to get started? Start by taking your spatula (metal ones are best for icing cakes, and I’m all about this wilton angled spatula since I took cake decorating before my wedding) and smoothing out the cake. I couldn’t decide whether to call this step ‘smoothing’ or ‘roughing up’ because you basically are just moving the icing around (if yours doesn’t have decoration) to make it sticky again.

When you’re all done with your spatula, take your coconut and start dumping it on the top, then using your hands to press it into the sides. This went SO quickly compared to the candy coated cake I used a similar method for. Icing was made to stick to coconut I’m pretty sure. When you’re all coconut covered, add the trees on top before adding more coconut around the bases of the trees. That’s IT!

Isn’t this winter scene cake lovely for something that took you ten minutes? 15 tops? I’m really in love with it. I served it at my weekly ladies small group- but I’d be happy to bring it along to any Christmas party (especially now that I know how easy it really is!). Tell me… do you enjoy a good shortcut around the holidays, or are you a from scratch type of person? I won’t be offended if you are… one day I hope to be ;)