Soccer Ball Birthday Cake

by Vinita Balani

The challenge to try out a 3-D soccer ball birthday cake for my soccer enthusiast son was a challenging and daunting one! Though, once it was ready, I was quite satisfied at having tried something different and creative.

Steps to make a 3-d soccer cake:

Step 1: Baked the base using a square cake pan.

Step 2: For the ball, I baked the cake in two small glass bowls to get two semi-circles. Left to cool.

Step 3: Iced the base with green icing and icing in two layers. The first a very smooth layer. Dip the scraper in a glass of water and run over the uneven icing gently to make it smooth. Let it set in the fridge for a few minutes before starting on the second layer with icing decorating tubes.

Step 4: To make the ball, I glued the two semicircles together with chocolate icing. To fix the ball now onto the center of the cake, I used straws cut into 4 small 3-inch pieces. I inserted the pieces on the four corners of the base of the ball, fixing the other end into the center of the square cake base.

Step 5: To make the pattern on the ball, using a small blunt knife to mark sections for the lines and the hexagonal shapes so they are proportionately placed. Then, went ahead to complete the icing - brown and cream.

I used Crisco shortening, icing sugar, beat at medium speed for around 5 minutes for the icing.
The cake was baked on a cardboard covered with foil and was chocolate flavor.