Simple Anna and Elsa Cake and Cupcakes

These simple Anna and Elsa cake and cupcakes are among a number of Frozen themed cakes I have had the privilege to decorate over the last couple of years. And this cake was for a repeat customer who keeps coming back to me for cakes every year!

A poster of a square cake with Anna and Elsa images in buttercream and a set of cupcakes decorated with characters from the movie Frozen

Anna and Elsa in Buttercream

(These are the only images of the cake and cupcakes I managed for this order. The others that I took with my phone camera were all so blurry ☹. And I so regret it now that I didn’t spend a few more extra minutes to take the cake outdoors for well lit images!!)

The first cake I made for little Abrianna was for her first birthday (click here to see how I decorated a Disney Princesses Cake for her) And this Frozen-themed Anna and Elsa cake was for her second birthday as requested by her mum. And this family loves cakes frosted with butter icing and so specifically requested for the cake to be decorated with butter icing. And since the theme was Frozen, they wanted both Anna and Elsa’s image on the cake. I also made some cupcakes to go with it. They were decorated with edible images and I added bead borders around each with buttercream.

I am not particularly happy with Anna’s eyes, and wish I had repaired them but I guess its too late now! See how I decorated Anna and Elsa cake and cupcakes below.

How to Make Anna and Elsa Cake and Cupcakes:

These were the main supplies used:

Cake and cupcakes – the cake was an 8-inch square cake baked using my butter pound cake recipe. The cupcakes were baked using my chocolate cupcakes recipe.
Buttercream – I used buttercream to fill the cake and to base coat the cupcakes. I also used buttercream to pipe Anna and Elsa on the cake.
Butter icing – this is basically a stiffer version of my buttercream and I used it to coat the entire cake.
Fondant – Fondant is only for the snowflakes and the name plaque. I used my homemade fondant.
Piping tip number 3, Piping tip number 18 - I used the round tip 3 to pipe all the outlines of Anna and Elsa, the white border that framed them both on the cake as well as the bead border at the base of the cake and the name plaque. And I used the star tip to complete Anna and Elsa's image.
Snowflakes plunger cutter - this cutter set comes in 3 sizes and I used it to cut out the fondant snowflakes I placed around the cake.
Disposable piping bags
Alphabet cutters- I used Clikstix cutters to cut out the birthday girl’s name.
Edible image – The cupcakes were decorated with edible images. I ordered these from a local supplier.
Anna and Elsa template – I used this template to draw Elsa and Anna on the cake. The template was basically a print out of Elsa and Anna off the internet. I resized it to fit the cake. I then traced the image on a clean greaseproof paper.
Shortening
Sugar craft knife - I used this to trace Anna and Elsa's image onto my cake.

And this was how I decorated the Anna and Elsa cake and cupcakes:

The cupcakes

For the cupcakes, once baked and cooled, I leveled the tops and applied a thin coat of buttercream. I then cut the edible images into circles and simply placed them on each buttercream covered cupcake. For the border, I used the round tip #3 and piped tiny dots of blue and white buttercream.

A set of 12 cupcakes decorated with edible images of characters from the movie Frozen

The cake

As for the cake, once baked and cooled, I leveled, filled and crumb coated it. And then, I applied a very thin layer of buttercream on the cake, such that the cake is still visible. The idea of this very thin coat is to enable me to place my template on the cake and trace out the pattern. Too much buttercream will make it too messy to trace the pattern.

With just a thin layer of buttercream, I was able to see the traced lines on the cake well.

Tracing Anna and Elsa's images on the cake

I traced the pattern with my sugar craft knife by literally cutting along the outlines of Elsa and Anna’s images. And by the time I completed the tracing, my template was literally in pieces. The trick is to start with the larger outlines and then slowly move to the smaller ones.

Once I had the pattern traced on my cake, I started covering the cake with butter icing. The first section was the dark blue background of Elsa and Anna, followed by the light blue icing for the rest of the cake.

Filling the images with icing

Next was the black outline for Elsa and Anna using my piping tip #3. Once the outline was done, I used my star piping tip #18 and filled both the images with buttercream stars, except for the eyes, which I used the round tip to fill. In piping the buttercream stars, it is important to pipe the star close to each other so that there is no gap between them that the cake underneath can be seen.

The frame on the cake

Following that, I did the white frame on the cake using again, the round tip.

And the final touches for the cake were in fondant. I cut out the letters, the white rectangle plaque and the snowflakes and placed them on the cake as shown. No glue was needed for the snowflakes that were attached to the sides of the cake as butter icing was able to hold them well in place. As for the fondant plaque and the letters, I used shortening to hold them in place on the cake board.

A square cake covered in blue icing with Anna and Elsa's images piped in buttercream

And that was how I decorated this simple Frozen-themed Anna and Elsa cake and cupcakes.

If you have any questions or need further clarity on how I decorated these goodies, please feel free to post them below. I will revert as soon as I can.

Happy Decorating 🙂