Use a rubber duck as an inspiration for a cake.
Duck-themed parties are ideal for baby showers or a child's first birthday. There are many creative ways to make a duck cake, involving varying degrees of difficulty and skill. Plain sheet cakes can be adorned with rubber duckies or you can use a three-dimensional cake pan to create a centerpiece cake. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Tub Cake
Create a bathtub cake with rubber ducky decorations. Bake two 9-by-13-inch cakes and set one on top of the other with a thin layer of frosting in between. Hollow out a 1-1/2-inch-deep rectangle on the top cake to create a "bathtub," leaving about a two-inch border around the edge. Frost the top and sides of the cake, leaving the "floor" of the bathtub uncovered. Fill the tub with prepared blue gelatin and place a rubber ducky on top. Cut V-shaped notches in two large marshmallows and press mini marshmallows into the notches for the faucet taps. Pipe some colored frosting in an "H" and a "C" on top of the taps. Use a black licorice pipe for the spout.
Cake in a Basin
For this cake, you will need a 3D duck cake mold and a blue-colored tin tub or container. Bake the cake according to the cake pan's directions. Use a #21 decorating tip to pipe yellow frosting on the duck. Smooth orange icing over the beak and use white icing for the eyes with a blue candy-coated chocolate for the eyeball. Place the cake onto a foil-covered shoebox or layered pieces of cardboard to raise it to the top of the blue tin tub. Add blue food coloring to melted almond bark or white chocolate, then dip cookies into it to place around the duck for "bubbles."
Pull-Along Duck
Make a duck perched upon a wagon to resemble a child's pull-along toy. Use a 3D cake mold to create the duck form. Frost it with yellow and orange frosting. Then bake a 9-by-13-inch cake to use for the wagon. Cover it in fondant. Roll additional fondant to 1-1/2-inch thickness and press a round cookie cutter into it to create four wheels. Use a licorice string for the handle. For a cake that actually rolls, insert a wooden dowel into the front and back of the wagon and attach the fondant wheels to the ends of each dowel.
Duck-Shaped Cake
Use a duck-shaped template to create this sheet cake. Bake two 9-by-13-inch cakes and allow them to cool. Place them in the refrigerator for about an hour to make cutting easier. Find a duck shape from a coloring book or a shower invitation and enlarge it to the desired size. Place the template over each cake and cut. Layer the cakes with a thin layer of frosting in between. Use a star tip to pipe on yellow frosting. Add an orange beak and outlines for wings and eyes with black frosting.
Tags: 9-by-13-inch cakes, Bake 9-by-13-inch, Bake 9-by-13-inch cakes, cake mold, duck cake, eyes with, frosting between