American Baker in Germany

 This cake was for my daughter's first day of school. It's a big deal in Germany. And they also have a tradition called a Schultüte, which is a cone-shaped decorated container with toys or treats or school supplies in it that is gifted to the school child on their first day. To celebrate this day, my daughter wanted a cake that looks like a Schultüte. So, here we go. I started out by baking a 6-inch square chocolate cake. I cut it from one corner to the middle of the opposite side. And I placed it on a large cake board like this. Using off cuts, I filled in some parts to build them up. I stuck them down with buttercream. I carved it with a small serrated knife and frosted it with buttercream. Then I covered it with pink fondant. Then I made a small book out of fondant. And I placed it on the cake board. I put the word Mathe (Math) on the cake. And I placed my daughter's name on the cake board. I placed a fondant ribbon on top and a large bow. And I placed butterflies and fl...

This cake was for the daughter of a friend of mine. She's starting school this year and the first day of first grade is a big deal in Germany. New first graders get a cardstock cone decorated and filled with school supplies and treats called a Schultüte. My friend asked me if I wouldn't mind making a Schultüte cake for her daughter's first day of first grade. She wanted lemon cake with lemon buttercream and the color blue for the cone. Otherwise, just decorate it for back to school in general, but please include pencils somewhere. This is what I came up with. First of all, I'd never made lemon cake before. On recommendation, I tried the recipe for Ritz Carlton Lemon Pound Cake and it's super light and fluffy. I can recommend it. To make it a bit more lemony, I added some extra citric acid which I found in packets at the grocery store. To make the lemon buttercream, I used my recipe for American buttercream and substituted lemon juice for the milk. And for good mea...