Slam Dunk Basketball Cake!

On Tuesday, the winner of our office college basketball pool asked me if I'd make a basketball cake to bring in on Wednesday.  It seemed like a pretty simple cake that he had in mind, so I said yes.

All he wanted was a sheet cake with a basketball on top.  He said it could just be a flat image of a basketball, but I thought a more 3D version would be cool.  The only specific request was that the cake flavor be "marbled".  So as soon as I finished up dinner, I ran to the store for cake supplies and got to work.  Four hours later the cake was complete and the kitchen was cleaned up.  Definitely my quickest cake turn around ever!

I think this would be a good time to mention where I get my cake baking genes from.  Most of you probably know, but some may not, that my Grandma (Dad's mom) is an expert cake maker.  For as long as I can remember she's been making beautiful wedding and birthday cakes for people.  My sisters and I used to sit and watch her work at her kitchen table.  We were probably just hoping to get some cake scraps with a squirt of icing on top, but we were also mesmerized by watching her do things like basket weave and making roses out of icing.  Sometimes we'd get to go with her on a cake delivery to see the whole thing come together.

I hope that one day I can have the steady hand and piping skills that Grandma has, as well as learn how to stack cakes without worrying that the whole thing will collapse.  I've got a lot to learn, but I know that I can call Grandma at anytime with questions.  She even gave me a nice starter set of cake decorating equipment a couple Christmases ago, and I can finally say that they've been put to good use!  Thank you, Grandma for inspiring me to decorate cakes! :)

Now, here are a few pictures of the "Slam Dunk" cake.

People were pretty impressed by the basket weave icing.  But like Grandma always said, it really is one of the easiest techniques to do! 

Ready for some basketball action!

The cake is a 14" square topped with a 9" dome and took 4 boxes of mix to make.

My boss told me that it was seriously the best cake he'd ever had.  EVER! Haha.  I'll tell you my secret... I used box cake mix from Aldi :)