Coach purses are popular designs for birthday cakes.
Coach handbags are one of the more recognizable branded purses in the United States. They symbolize glamour, wealth and quality. The bags come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors and designs. Creating fondant-covered cake shaped like a Coach hand bag is a fun and unique way to celebrate the birthday of a purse lover. Fondant is a dry icing that can be rolled, molded, shaped and impressed to create different looks and shapes. It is the perfect food for designing the perfect birthday cake. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Identify the Coach handbag that you would like to replicate as a cake. Measure the base of the handbag by length and width. Measure the height of the handbag.
2. Prepare any flavor of cake batter that you prefer. Fill both 11-by-9 cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for the length of time in the recipe. Cool baked cakes on the cake rack.
3. Knead the fondant until pliable. Separate out portions of fondant to add different colors as needed. Retain the largest amount of fondant for the base color of the Coach handbag. Knead in two or three drops of food coloring to create the color desired for each portion of fondant. Pack each color of fondant into its own ball and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Using the rolling pin, roll out each color of fondant on a flat surface until each ball of fondant is a thin sheet.
4. Cut out multiple shapes of the letter 'C' as it appears on the chosen Coach handbag design. Alternatively, use a cookie cutter shaped like a 'C.' Mold the handle, latches, zippers and trim out of the appropriate color of fondant. Fondant is very pliable and can be molded into any shape desired. Lay a sheet of wax paper over the shapes and allow to set while preparing the rest of the cake.
5. Remove the cakes from the cake pans. Cut a thin, flat layer from the top of each cake. Cutting a layer from the top of each cake creates a flat surface that will ensure stability of subsequent layers. Cut both cakes to the width and length measurements of the handbag. This may create three or four cakes that can be layered to achieve the height of the Coach handbag.
6. Spread a layer of buttercream icing on top of one cake. Stack another layer of cake on top of the iced cake. Ice and stack cakes until the height measurement of the Coach handbag has been met.
7. Sculpt the cake to reflect the shape of the Coach handbag using the bread knife. Trim corners to round edges. Cut small sections in the body of the cake to create lumpy-look for hobo-style Coach handbags.
8. Spread a thin layer of buttercream all over the cake. Crumbs will show through the icing. This technique is called "Crumb Icing" or "Dirty Icing." Scrape away excess icing with the spatula. The fondant will fall off later if the buttercream icing is too thick. Set the cake in the refrigerator for two hours to set the icing for the fondant.
9. Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Roll the base layer of fondant around the rolling pin. Unroll the fondant over the Coach handbag cake. Smooth down over the cake and trim the excess using the knife.
10. Paint the back of trims, handles, zippers and letter decals with a drop of water. Press trims, handles, letter and zippers into the base layer of the fondant to recreate the design of the Coach handbag. Press the water tipped fondant decorations onto the base layer of fondant.
11. Mix luster dust with a small amount of grain alcohol to form a liquid glitter. Paint this liquid glitter over C-lettering and the visible base layer of fondant to create that Coach sheen. Paint over trims too if appropriate to the design of the Coach handbag design.
12. Spray with butter spray to add over all shine to the cake. Some bakers use a clothes steamer to bring out color vibrancy. If you choose to steam, move the steamer in small circles for just a couple of seconds on each side of the cake.
Tags: Coach handbag, base layer, base layer fondant, Coach handbag, layer fondant
