Life in Stepping Stones

For my son’s birthday this year, he requested an Aladdin theme! I got to make two different desserts for him to celebrate: cupcakes for his preschool class and a cake for his birthday celebration (read “How to Throw a Birthday Party During the Pandemic” for details on his Aladdin theme decorations).

I was originally planning to make a yellow cake, but due to the pandemic’s shortage of, well, everything, the stores only had gluten free chocolate cake mix available. I’m actually thrilled because the King Arthur Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix is AMAZING and was a huge hit with both his preschool class and our family alike.

Cake and Frosting Recipes

To bake the cake and cupcakes, follow the recipe on the box for King Arthur cake mix:

• 1 Box of King Arthur Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/3 cups of water
• 4 large eggs

For the cupcakes, I had to keep them in the oven for about 40 minutes, instead of the recommended 18-22 minutes! Maybe my oven is just slow, but they were nowhere near done with the time recommended. Other than that, they turned out perfect and I can’t complain! For the cake, I had to keep it in the oven for about 50 minutes, instead of the recommended 25-30 minutes. I recommend putting your oven on the time listed on the box and then checking from there.

I love making my own frosting every year too.

This is my dairy free frosting recipe:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup Earth Balance Soy Free Butter, softened
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 tbsp Ripple Vanilla Pea Milk (I use the small lunchbox size containers that don’t need to be refrigerated for baking)
• Liquid food coloring (I love this brand of Gourmet Food Coloring Liquid)

Mix the ingredients together and add milk for thinner consistency and add powdered sugar for firmer consistency.

For cupcakes, I like a slightly firmer consistency so the frosting holds nicely. Whereas for the cake, I use multiple consistencies: thinner for the crumb coat and base layer, firmer for the decorations.

Aladdin Cupcakes

This was my first time creating a two-toned frosting design, and I’m obsessed with it now.

Step By Step Instructions

1. Separate the frosting into two bowls.
2. Add purple food coloring to Bowl A.
3. Add blue and green food coloring to Bowl B and mix together to make aqua.
4. Put together your piping bag, using the medium star tip on the end, and place standing up. I used a canning jar to keep it held up and supported.
5. Spread the purple frosting around the sides of the piping bag, leaving the center empty.
6. Put the aqua frosting in the middle.
7. The initial squeeze comes out as just one color, but after running it for a little bit, the two tones will appear together.
8. Starting from the outer rim of the cupcake, wrap the frosting around the top, slightly overlapping as you make your way into the center.
9. Add gold and red sprinkles as desired.

Aladdin Birthday Cake

I baked the cake a few days in advance and then froze it, wrapped in saran wrap and tinfoil.

In addition to the frosting and cake mix above, to make this cake you need:

• Ghirardelli White Chocolate Melting Wafers
• Large and Mini Marshmallows
• Wilton Grecian Pillars for Cake
• Medium length Lollipop sticks
• Glue dots
• Aladdin cake topper toys

To make the mold for the balcony, you need:

• Thin cardboard or card stock
• Scissors
• Parchment paper
• Stapler

White Chocolate Balcony

My first mission was to make the white chocolate balcony! First, I cut a piece of card board into the size I needed for the cake. I curved it, and then traced it while holding it up, onto another piece of cardboard (this is for the bottom). After tracing it, I cut out the bottom and taped it to the curved piece to hold it’s shape. I then cut a piece of parchment paper and stapled it onto the curved cardboard. I laid the curved cardboard down so the rise of the curve was lifting up towards me and parallel with the table. I then placed it onto a baking tray that I lined with parchment paper.

Afterwards, I melted the white chocolate in the microwave per the package instructions (make sure to melt on medium heat!) and mixed it until it was fully melted. I put the melted chocolate into a piping back and piped the pattern of the balcony railing. The chocolate does not run when put down and holds very well! I then placed the tray in the refrigerator for five minutes and let the chocolate set.

After it was set, I took it back out, removed the chocolate from the parchment paper mold, and stood it up on the parchment paper lined tray. I melted more white chocolate and piped it onto the bottom, creating the balcony floor. Be sure to pipe it right up along the balcony. After finishing the floor, I placed the tray in the refrigerator for another 5-10 minutes to set.

The remaining chocolate I dyed blue and mixed together with the white chocolate in a piping bag to create the standing Genie smoke. I drizzled the patterns to my liking onto parchment paper and place it into the refrigerator to set.

Marshmallow Cloud

To make the marshmallow cloud next to Aladdin, I used three large marshmallows and three mini marshmallows. I cut the tops off each of the large marshmallows and stuck them to the tops and sides molding them as they stuck to create a more cloud-like shape. I then placed a mini marshmallow on each side and one on top.

Floating Aladdin

I purchased and used these Aladdin Cake Toppers for this cake. I used a glue dot to hold Aladdin to the magic carpet. From there, I cut four medium lollipop sticks down to size (to make them a nice height next to the pillars) and placed glue dots on the top of each stick. I then stuck the bottom of the magic carpet to the sticks. The glue dots held well and they also came over easy so my son could play with the toys after!

Frosting the Cake

For the base layer of the cake, I combined Navy Blue and black food coloring. I kept a thinner consistency as I mentioned earlier and frosted the cake. Normally I do a crumb coat and another coat, but the cake was still very frozen when I started and I didn’t end up getting any crumbs into the frosting! My next step was creating the clouds. I added powdered sugar to my frosting to help firm it and I used a medium round tip to pipe it onto the cake, along the sides, in a swirling motion. I then piped clouds on top.

Using the two-toned frosting technique I learned earlier from the cupcakes, I made a blue and purple frosting to create the genie smoke. I used a smaller tip to pip the smoke pattern onto the cake. Once it was mostly completed, I place the Genie into the smoke. I then piped a little more frosting around the base of the Genie to cover it.

I piped small yellow stars around the sides using the star tip and piped the message using a small round tip.

Final Touches

Lastly, I placed the pillars on top of the cake. I pipped yellow frosting onto the tops of each to help hold the balcony in place, and then placed the balcony on top. I piped remaining frosting on the bottom of Princess Jasmine and Raja to help them stick to the chocolate balcony. Once the balcony was set up, I placed Aladdin, already attached to the lollipop sticks, onto the cake. I put the marshmallow cloud in front to help blend the look of the sticks. For my final touch, I added the small pieces of blue chocolate I had made as Genie smoke by the lamp, leading to the smoke frosting pattern, and added a few more chocolate pieces in front of the marshmallow.