Coolest Gift Box Birthday Cake 31

by Melanie
(Virginia Beach, VA)

Homemade Gift Box Birthday Cake

I had a friend who I just could not figure out how to decorate her cake. I decided since I told her her cake would be my birthday present to her, why not make it literally a Gift Box Birthday Cake. Searching this site, I loved the quilted/diamond shape design and the gift that had a box top. I combined the two.

I made a three layer 9 inch square cake. Covered it in buttercream. Cover the entire cake with white fondant. I etched on the impression of diamond shapes with the blunt side of a butcher knife. Added on the edible pearls by dabbing with icing and pushing them into the fondant. To make the box top look I cut out a square 1.5 inches larger than the top of the cake. I used dark chocolate fondant for a nice contrasting color. I have never covered a square shape, instead of smoothing it out, I got lazy and just folded the corners.

I was pleasantly surprised with the nice gift-wrapped look this gave the cake. I had done the bow several hours before starting my cake. I cut out small rectangles of fondant. Folded the ends over a balled up napkin and pinched in the ends. Let it dry/harden and then took out the napkin pieces. The ribbon ends were just laid on top of spoons and just held their curved shape. I dusted the ribbon with good pearl dust on the outside and lilac pearl dust on the inside. The contrast defined it more as a ribbon.

The flowers are gum paste that I purchased pre-made at a local cake decorating store. Overall, the cake was very simple to decorate, just time-consuming, but worth it for the reactions it got.