Toilet Paper Cake

I decided I wanted an Oreo cake for my birthday, but had not decided how to decorate it.  Then these became a trend on YouTube, and I had to buy into the joke.

This design is several years old, and mainly reserved for Over-the-Hill parties or bridal showers.  Poop cupcakes can adorn the display at a party.  Which no one is having right now.  I digress.

There are all-buttercream versions of this, but I decided the easiest way to do it was a strip of fondant around the outer edge.  Buttercream just doesn't drape.  There are pattern sheets and rollers for fondant you can buy, but I haven't been working much and discretionary spending is non-existent.  I'm grateful I do still have a job.  So I picked through cookie cutters and decided on the last piece I have left from my old Easy Bake Oven supplies from the '80s, an odd little cutter with four designs on it.

You can go for realistic dimensions if you want, and make a 2-layer (2-ply?) 4" cake.  I did a 2-layer 6", which is close enough, and made cupcakes with the remaining batter from the original recipe.  Everyone will get the joke.

2 6" cake layers, preferably a white or light cake
White buttercream frosting
Cocoa powder or food coloring for core
Filling of choice
About 8 oz white fondant
Toothpicks and/or cookie cutters for deisgns

1.  Trim, fill, and crumb coat cakes on a cardboard cake circle.  I didn't trim mine flat enough and ended up with a ton of filling.  I tried to compensate by making the crumb coat thin, and you can see above that it showed through the fondant.  Chill to set.

2.  Do a top coat on the cake in buttercream, just to make sure the cake won't show through.  Reserve about a tablespoon of buttercream for later.  Make the frosting on the top of the cake a minimum of 1/4".  Measure the height of the cake.  Chill while you roll the fondant.

3.  Roll a strip of fondant 1/8" thick on a well-cornstarched surface 24" by the height of your cake.  Mine was 3-3/4".  Trim even, then lightly press designs into the strip.  Make lines to square off the "sheets" of TP.

4.  Smooth the buttercream before doing the fondant.  I finally remembered to save a butter wrapper for the purpose.  It's like wearing a wax paper glove and does a great job.  Moisten the surface of the buttercream with water and carefully transfer the strip of fondant to the cake.  It should extend at least one square past the circumference so it can be draped.  Trim off any fondant that is too high above the rim of the cake or extends too far at the end.

5.  Turn the remaining buttercream a light brown, either with food coloring or cocoa powder.  Use a small, round cookie cutter to cut a 1/2" deep hole in the center of the cake.  Excavate it (snack) and line the hole with the brown frosting to be the core.  With a comb frosting tool or a toothpick make circles around the top of the cake to resemble the cut end of a TP roll.

6.  Do not freeze cake once the fondant has been applied, but it can be refrigerated, covered in plastic wrap, for a day or two.  Allow to come to room temperature for serving.

Serves about 8, more if you make the cupcakes

Difficulty rating  :)