English Teapot Cake

English Teapot Cake
Dorcas Annette Walker

Usually the weekend of Mother’s Day I go down to Nashville to celebrate my grandkids birthdays, which are both in May. Since I won’t be with my daughter this year, I got to reminiscing past years and ended up thinking about my grandmother’s silver tray handed down to me, her oldest granddaughter, when I got married. Every Christmas my grandmother used her silver tray with her table decorations. I usually put the silver tray on my table at Christmas as well. The rest of the year it sits on a high shelf with oil lamps. So I decided to get it down and use it with my English Teapot Cake that I made for Mother’s Day in honor of my English grandmother. Even though my grandmother and mother are gone, I have lots of memories.

I’m not a professional cake decorator like my sister, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to decorate cakes. I’ve eaten some beautiful looking cakes that tasted horrible, were too sweet, or had inch-thick frosting, which my sweet-toothed husband loved. My rule of thumb in cooking is that food should first taste good and then look beautiful. Since trying my hand at cake decorating I’ve ended up with some non-perfect cakes, but they always tasted good. Interestingly enough it is my cake disasters like the tall layered engagement party cake that leaned like the Eiffel Tower and the peanut/chocolate groom’s cake top decorations that melted sideways, but still said “she made me do it” for my son that people remember instead of my perfect cakes. So if you’ve always wanted to decorate cakes don’t let the lack of professional training stop you. You may end up making a masterpiece that everyone will remember.

Today there are books on cake decorating, gels, and prepared decorative items to help a novice out. Just use your imagination and have fun. Whenever I’ve made my English Teapot Cake for a ladies meeting or birthday it has always been a hit. If the frosting isn’t perfectly smooth tell everyone that your cake is an antique teapot. Preparation time for the English Teapot Cake can take several hours. This large cake serves around twenty.

English Teapot Cake

2 pound cake mixes
1 c cooking oil
1 c water
4 eggs
¼ tsp butter flavoring
1 pkg of fondant icing
6 cups of frosting
couple drops of chocolate syrup

Beat together the cake mixes, oil, water, eggs, and flavoring on high for two minutes. The batter will be stiff. Pour half of the batter into a greased sports cake pan and bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Use a small amount of the batter to make a cupcake for a teacup and the rest for a second cake. Cool, level off the top of the cakes with a sharp knife, and then frost the first cake positioning it rounded bottom down on a paper doily. Frost the middle and the second half, putting them together to form the teapot. Roll and shape the fondant into a handle and spout. Let harden for a couple of hours. Decorate the teapot and teacup. Use a couple drops of chocolate syrup on the top of the teacup to look like coffee or tea. Garnish with a large silk rose on the top of the teapot!

Weekly tip: To tint frosting use a toothpick when adding color. Mix thoroughly before adding more color. By mixing different colors you can get a wider range of shades!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com