Need a great 21st birthday cake idea?

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Here's a 21st Birthday Cake that doesn't take itself too seriously! It’s a novelty Beer Mug Cake with a sense of humor that your guests will remember.

Sure, turning 21 is a big deal but you don’t want to get too serious about it.

The most surprising thing about this super fun cake is the very realistic meringue beer foam. It's an easy technique that opens up tons of great decorating possibilities. check out the ice-cream cone cupcakes or the donut cake for more inventive uses of meringue.

And don't forget to pick up some great .

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ingredients

21st birthday cake - beer mug cake

Meringue ‘foam’ for the top of the beer mug – make this the night before

To make the meringue foam :

3 large egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¾ cup granulated sugar
gallon size Ziploc bag or piping Bag

preheat oven to 200° F
in the bowl of your mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy.
add the cream of tartar and beat until the whites hold soft peaks when the whisk is lifted.
add the sugar a little at a time and continue beating until the mixture holds stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted from the bowl.
take a piece of parchment paper that’s large enough to line a cookie sheet and draw or trace a circle that’s about 5” in diameter on to the paper.
flip the paper and place it on a cookie sheet.

using a piping bag without a tip or a gallon size Ziploc with a 1” hole snipped in the corner, pipe a large meringue swirl to fill the circle, as shown.
bake for 1 ½ hours or until the meringue is dried out and crisp to the touch.
open the oven door a tiny bit and leave to finish drying out overnight.

Cooks Note: You will have a lot of extra meringue – just pipe yourself some cookies and bake them at the same time as the ‘foam’. Yum!

you’ll Also Need

21st birthday cake - beer mug cake

Four six inch cakes - Classic Moist Chocolate Cake is perfect
Filling - Whipped Chocolate Ganache is amazing

Decorator’s Note: I’m listing exactly the colors and techniques I used for the 21st Birthday Cake as pictured, to demonstrate a technique rather than an exact blueprint. You can adapt this design to suit any occasion so adjust the colors accordingly.

1 recipe of buttercream
orange, blue, red and yellow candy colors
White candy melts
Ziploc sandwich bags
Cake board with lots of room around the cake
Newspaper
Clear contact paper
Wax or parchment paper
A few handfuls of peanuts in their shells

Decorator’s Note: Try to color match your buttercream and candy melts. If you use candy colors for both jobs, this is much easier.

baking

21st birthday cake - beer mug cake

bake the cakes and cool completely.
level the cakes and split each into two layers horizontally. This will give you a total of eight layers.
place the first layer on a cake circle and secure with a dollop of buttercream to stop it from sliding around, then continue filling and stacking to seven layers high.
add a crumb coat - this is a very thin coat of un-tinted frosting you apply to 'set' the crumbs.
refrigerate the cake(s) for an hour or so to let the crumb coat set.

Shield Decoration

21st birthday cake - beer mug cake

Decorator’s Note: This is a great technique that has endless possibilities. It’s perfect for sporting team logos, corporate logos or family crests as well as intricate patterns. It’s a much easier way to add detail that trying to pipe directly on to the cake and it adds more dimension that traditional piping techniques! Please don’t feel intimidated – if you want to keep this design super easy just pipe some free form swirls on the side of your cup with your frosting and skip the chocolate background. You’ll still have a fantastic finished cake.

photocopy or print an image of the finished design (in this cake, a Fire Department shield) in the size you need on some plain paper.
put a sheet of wax paper over this.
melt the white candy melts in a small microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until smooth and liquid.
add royal blue candy color a drop at a time and stir, repeating until you reach desired shade.
using a medium artists brush fill in the shield shape. Make sure it’s fairly thick (about 1/8").
put aside for about 20 minutes to allow the chocolate to set, while you tint your buttercream colors.
put each color of tinted buttercream into a small Ziploc bag with a tiny hole snipped in one corner.
peel the paper from the chocolate shape and pipe the details of your particular design on to the smooth side of the chocolate shield.

Mug Handle

21st birthday cake - beer mug cake

melt about ½ cup of white candy melts and tint to match the body of the beer mug.
on a piece of plain paper draw a handle you like for you coffee cup and cover the drawing with a piece of wax or parchment paper.
using the handle of a spoon, dollop the chocolate on to the wax paper and spread quite thickly to fill the outline of the handle shape.
put aside for about 30 minutes to allow the chocolate to set, while you assemble your cake.

assembly

21st birthday cake - beer mug cake

cover your cake board with newspaper and tape to the bottom of the board to secure.
cover the newspaper with clear contact paper to prevent the newspaper disintegrating – eating soggy newspaper is never good!
put about 1/3 of the buttercream into a bowl and tint orange.
frost the side of the cake all over with the orange frosting.
place your cake on the cake board towards one corner and secure with double-sided tape.
using a Ziploc bag with a 1” hole snipped in one corner and some white frosting, pipe a ring of frosting around the top edge of the mug to rest the meringue foam in.

gently position the beer foam on top of the mug, as shown.
use a small serrated knife to cut 1” wide slits where the ends of the handle will meet the body of the beer mug and gently push the handle in to the slits.
put a dab of buttercream on the back of the chocolate shield and position where you like on the cup.
arrange the peanuts next to the beer mug and secure with some buttercream, as shown.

Your 21st Birthday Cake is done! Now go get a well deserved cup of coffee and sit back for a few minutes to admire your handiwork. Remember to take a picture while your masterpiece still looks perfect.

let's throw a 21st birthday party

Got a great 21st Birthday Cake? Check. Now all you need to complete your party theme is co-ordinating party supplies.

You can find everything you need right here. Check it out:

Beer Man Costume (Plus Size) Price: 64.99 Retail Price: 64.99	Beer Man Costume Price: 54.99 Retail Price: 54.99	Beer Keg Halloween Costume Price: 49.99 Retail Price: 49.99	Beer Keg Halloween Costume (Plus Size) Price: 44.99 Retail Price: 44.99	Beer Bottle Adult Costume Price: 39.99 Retail Price: 39.99
Beer Pong Costume Price: 29.99 Retail Price: 29.99	Beer Stein Purse Price: 14.99 Retail Price: 14.99

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