It must be summer because we have had a bunch of mermaid themed baking going on at the Scoop. This week Jayden dove into making a surprising simple (but gorgeous) mermaid tail cake. This cake is based on the old stand by Wilton Wonder Mold Cake Pan. (usually used for the bottom of a dolls dress).

If you live locally we actually rent this pan out (only $2.00 a day with a $30 cash or debit returnable deposit).

Directions:

1. Bake the cake - this pan will take 1.5 Duncan Hines cake mixes. Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes. 

2. While the cake is baking cut your tail fin out of gumpaste or fondant mixed with CMC Powder (it has to harden so regular fondant won't do).  Download the printable mermaid tail template. 

3. Place straws or something similar under parts of the tail while it is drying to give it a bit of a wave - doing this will give the tail more of a 3d effect. 

4. Cut out the scales using a 1.5 " round biscuit cutter. We used three colours of fondant. By using two similar colours and one pop colour gives more of a iridescent fish scale effect. In our cake we used Americolor Gel Colors in Turquoise (one batch made with more drops so it was slightly darker) and Regal Purple. 

5. To insert the tail into the top of the cake, melt a bit of chocolate and use that to glue the tail to a dowel or craft stick. You can use a one of the your circle scales to cover the stick on the back.  Stick into the cake. 

6. Put a base layer of buttercreme icing on the cake (so you have something to stick the scales to). 

7. Starting at the top place the scales, alternating colours and putting in the odd pop coloured scale. Work your way down the cake row by row. As you to the bottom the last row of scales will be cut in half to go around the bottom of your cake.