I never imagined I would ever make a 3D cake. It just didn’t cross my mind, until it was requested for a co-worker’s birthday celebration. My task? Bake a cake in the shape of a bowling ball.  At first, I panicked. How in the world was I ever going to make this, with the limited time I had? After researching for quite a while, I discovered that Wilton made a sports ball pan set which ultimately made my life so much easier. Securing the mold was the easy part, now I had to think about the flavor and the part that made me want to cringe: the design.  I scoured the web looking for a good chocolate cake recipe (with the added request of no nuts) and somehow through my food voyeurism, came across a unique recipe for a Root Beer Float Cake from Honey & Jam. I was ecstatic. I gathered all my ingredients, went home and began the task, which couldn’t have been completed without help from my sister.

The ball pan set turned out great and the added work of assembling both halves with frosting made it that much better. My word of advice for using such a set would be to make sure that you grease both halves thoroughly either with vegetable shortening, or my favorite PAM with real flour.

Although I like to make everything when I bake from scratch, right down to the pie crust and custard, it was a work night and I was at the point where I was beginning to feel my eye balls in their sockets – never a good sign, so I settled with store bought vanilla buttercream frosting, but not before I added semi-sweet chocolate chips and root beer. That, I have to say, without being too cheeky, was the icing on the cake.

Next came the decoration. The pan set advised using a #3 Wilton tip, but I figured I’d just up the ante and use a #16 to cover more ground in a shorter amount of time. That turned out to be a slight mistake, as my bowling ball cake kinda sorta morphed into what one of my co-workers referred to as “an enemy from Super Mario Bros.”

My baking rarely requires the use of pastry bags and tips, and so, the entire process took a bit of getting used to. The actual finger holes for the bowling ball cake were the hardest part to fill in – the frosting turned out to be not very well suited to spherical shapes and kept running off. My solution? I quickly stuck in the fridge where it hardened up to the point where it was decipherable as a shape.

Despite the few mishaps I had, I knew it had turned out well when everyone loved it more than I had expected. A few requests for the recipe and a few second helpings solidified that I had gotten the job right. Needless to say, I think I’ll take quite the long breather before I attempt a bowling ball cake again. The root beer float cake recipe on the other hand, is one that can and should be used often – the root beer adds so much flavor to an ordinary chocolate cake that will have your guests wanting more.