DIY Cake Plate

I’m pooped. I just walked in the door from the six hour drive back from Illinois. What a week. Our house sold, praise the Lord! So I spent last week in Illinois with Anna, packing. We moved all weekend. There was crap upon crap upon crap. Stop collecting things. Now. If you never try a single recipe on this site or take any of my tips and tricks, except this one nugget of advice, I’ll be ok with that. Because when you have to move it, the pile will consume you. And you will be tired. And grouchy. And borderline mental by the time it’s over. So please, people, I’m begging you…..quit collecting things. Fight the urge to hoard. You’ll thank me.

In the midst of the crazy, I had a chance to do a good thing. I got to bake another cake for Decatur’s New Life Pregnancy Center annual auction dinner. I know it sounds silly, but I find my zen when I have covered the kitchen counters, and all my clothes, and even my hair in butter and powdered sugar. It just takes me to a happy place. Granted, a diabetic place. But still, a great place. This red velvet cake with white chocolate icing has been featured on here before, so go there for the recipe. I filled it with white chocolate ganache, from this site. Not a lot new in terms of recipes, so I decided to share a short, easy tutorial on making your own cake plate. Baking for me has so much to do with presentation. And this was cheap and super easy! You may have seen this on Pinterest, because that’s where all great ideas come from. If not, here you go. You’re welcome.

Your supplies include: a candle stick, any candle stick. A plate you love. A can of spray paint in a color you love. Epoxy. Some heavy books. Material to protect your work space.

I found my candle stick at Hobby Lobby ($6) and my plate at Target ($5). Make sure you like the face of the plate, and that it coordinates with your paint color. You won’t be painting the face plate.

Mix your epoxy according to the directions and use it to secure your candle stick to the bottom of your plate. Then stack your books on top to help it set. Mine took about a half hour to set to the point that it could be handled.

When your epoxy is set, spray paint the entire cake plate while the plate is face down on your protected work surface.

You’ll want to do several thin coats. Let it dry completely before handling it or it will be tacky and your paint will pull right off the surface.

Then bake something delicious and serve it on your new, fabulous cake plate. In fact, do it this weekend for your mom. Make her Mother’s Day with a special baked treat and her own unique cake plate to keep. My cake went second in the dessert dash at the auction, right behind the $1,000 bid. And it wasn’t my dad (which is really truly a first). I like to think it’s because the cake plate added an extra special touch. Unfortunately, this cake plate met its demise the day after when it got knocked over. So be kind to your cake plate.