EB Awareness Cake

In the city I am from, in the hospital that I was born, a little boy came into the world on August 23, 2012.
Easton Dominick Friedel is his name and this sweet baby was born with a rare condition called EB ~ Epidermolysis Bullosa . Until now I never knew it existed.

I'm pretty sure baby Easton has touched everyone who has come across his story. He has brought together a family, a community and is touching hearts in parts of the world most of us will never see. In the few days he has been on this earth this little boy has done more for humanity than most people will accomplish in a lifetime. I was honored when I was asked to make the cake for his fundraiser.
Honored and determined to make this the best cake ever, pouring my heart into it as we have all poured our hearts into Easton. It feels so great to be able to do something that will help this family and this strong, sweet baby that I wanted to share it with all of you.
I lost sleep trying to come up with the perfect design.
Children with EB are called' Butterfly Children' because their skin is so fragile so I knew I had to have butterflies on this cake. I wanted to capture his parents love, and offer words of encouragement, and sentiment.  It had to be cheerful, colorful, and fun. It had to be perfect!

As I explained in an earlier post I no longer use boxed cake mixes even as a base for my cakes. In choosing to do so I have to say finding the perfect Vanilla Cake turned into real project. I always took vanilla cake for granted, what could be easier?! Plain old Vanilla.
HA!
I tried at least a dozen recipes, most were dry, some were too dense and almost like a pound cake, some too crusty, some not stable enough. I was about to give up and only offer chocolate cakes and then I thought to go through my Great Grandmother's recipe box. There is was, Vanilla Butter Cake, I had to at least try it. I was not optimistic, I was beginning to think Vanilla cake required a special je ne sais quoi that I just don't  have.
It made it through my in house taste testers with flying colors, so I took a bite. THIS was the one.
Here it is for anyone who is on a quest for a no fail vanilla cake recipe, if it worked for me it can work for anyone. Note : this cake is a yellow cake.

Vanilla Cake

1 cup softened butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
7 tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla

Prep pans by lining with parchment and greasing the sides.  Preheat oven to 350 degree.
In a mixer beat butter until smooth, add the sugar and beat again until smooth. Then add the eggs and whip until fluffy. I let the Kitchen Aid go for at least 5 minutes.
While that is mixing, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture alternating with the milk, and vanilla. I start with dry and end with dry. Do not over mix. When you add the dry only mix until it is just incorporated, then add more milk.

Pour into the prepared pans and bake 30 minutes, test, if not done continue baking but check cakes often.


  For the butterflies I used the same design that was used on Easton's EB awareness pins that were designed special for him.
I used the bright color in the butterfly wings as the color scheme for the cake.

The top tier I used my tappits to cut out the words love, strength, hope, and courage and attached them to some gumpaste rectangles.
The middle tier I made a medallion of a mother and father holding a baby. I used a blue butterfly to represent Easton. The awareness ribbon for EB is red so I chose to use a red band around this layer.

The bottom I wanted bright and cheery. I cut strips of the fondant and wrapped them around the cake. I cut each strip , placed them all on a piece of lightly greased wax paper and lifted it all up and pressed onto the cake, starting in the middle and working may way around the sides. I ran my fondant smoother over the stripes with the wax paper still attached and once I had them pressed onto the cake firmly, I sloooowly peeled off the wax paper.
Next I added a few more of the stained glass butterflies and and decorated the board with an awareness ribbon  and my message.

I want to thank all of my followers who subscribe right here on Blogger and those who subscribe through email for taking the time to read this post. I am hopeful that many of you clicked on the link and let baby Easton touch your heart too. Please spread the word about this horrible disease and keep him in your thoughts. I am hoping for an opportunity to make this little fighters 1st birthday cake too!