Ann Reardon

Laptop Cake

3d desk cake ann reardon how to cook that

 

This week I’m making a desk cake complete with a cute little laptop, deep enders book, Make It A Great Week mug, pencils and of course a camera. Watch to the end of the video to see how you can enter to WIN your very own laptop or camera.

COMPETITION has now closed. Thank you for all of the wonderful entries well done for starting your websites. Congratulations to the winners Mario Jan Bermejo (laptop) and Victoria Shiau (camera).

chocolate laptop desk cake tutorial

To make this desk cake you will need:

The Desk Cake Template

 

Triple quantity of my Buttercream Recipe
strawberry jam
350g (12.35 ounces) chocolate
2.5kg (5.51 pounds) white fondant
200g (7.05 ounces) brown fondant
brown gel food colouring
other colouring depending on what you want to make eg red for pencils
gold luster dust for pencils
silver luster dust for laptop
wafer paper and printer with edible ink cartridges or you can order your printouts online just search for ‘edible image printing’

Chocolate Cake:
600g (21.16 ounces)  of 70% cocoa dark chocolate
945g (33.33 ounces) or 4 cups margarine
24 eggs
6 3/4 cups or 1458g (51.43 ounces) caster (super fine) sugar
3 3/4 cups or 600g (21.16 ounces) plain flour (use GF flour if coeliac, this recipe has been tested with gluten free flour and works well)
3/4 cup or 90g (3.17 ounces) cocoa powder
4 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180C (356 degrees Fahrenheit). Place chocolate and margarine into a bowl.
Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave (30seconds, stir, 30sec, stir…).
Whisk in the sugar and eggs into the chocolate mixture.
Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together and mix into cake mixture until well blended.
Pour into 4 lined baking trays, mine cake tins are 38cm (14.96 inches) x 25.4cm (10 inches).
Bake for 15 minutes. Insert a knife into the centre to check if it is done, if it is ready it will come out clean.

1. Make your decorations for the top of the cake, these can be done up to a month ahead.
fondant pencil
2. Bake your cakes and leave to cool
3. Make your buttercream, cut your cake boards and supports to size
4. Assemble the cake layers with the supports as shown in the video.
5. Cover the whole thing in buttercream and take your time to make sure it is straight and flat.  Fondant doesn’t hide mistakes in the buttercream, rather it shows them up.  Once you’re happy with it refrigerate for several hours.
6. Cover the cake in fondant in sections as shown in the video.
7. Paint with brown food colouring to give the wood look.
8. Make a sheet of chocolate for the top and, once set, cover in fondant and paint with brown food colouring.
9.  Once the food colouring has dried add the desktop in to place and position your desktop items.
10. Take a photo before the party starts and then enjoy.

how to make a desk cake

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

90 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann,
    I have not received an email confirmation of my submission, and I fear I may have inputted my email incorrectly.

    • Hi Ivonne, once you’ve hit submit your entry is saved

  2. hi ann! i hope you dont disqualify mutiple entries of the same email contact and the same wix website address. i did so because i was apprehensivr on whether i submitted it correctly or not. thanks for this opportunity

    • hi jewel no problem, we will delete the duplicate entries for the same website keeping just the one entry for that site.

  3. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann,
    I am having a bit of an issue, once i submitted my link the page loads but there is no confirmation of the same, neither on the page nor on my email.
    Could you please help?
    Thanks

  4. Rating: 4.5

    i just subscribed can’t wait to make something

    • Welcome Ellie! So glad you are now part of the family. Happy Baking!

  5. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann ,
    I want to know if I will receive a notification once I have entered the competition. I did not want to enter twice so as not to be disqualified. Thank you.

    • Hi Omowumi,Thanks for entering. If your details were entered correctly then your entry would have been received.

  6. Rating: 5

    Hello Ann,
    I just finished working on my website and want to submit it. But, I actually want to continue working on my website and posting on it regularly even after the contest ends. On the submission form it says “You can continue to edit your site after submission right up until judging commences”. Does that mean that after June 1st I can no longer edit it? I wanted to actually start and become active in blogging.

    • Hi Isabel, You can edit it up to when judging commences. Any adjustments after judging starts may or may not be seen by the judging panel. You can certainly continue to edit and utilize your website post the competition. That is what it is designed for. All the best!

  7. Hi Ann,
    Thanks for giving this opportunity! I have just submitted my entry, but I’d like a clarification on this part of the TnC: WINNERS NOTIFICATIONS AND PRIZE CLAIMING
    Potential Winners will be notified by email on May 1st 2018, and listed under the Laptop Cake recipe blog post on howtocookthat.net and video on youtube.
    could it possibly be June 1st instead of May 1st (since the contest start date was May 11th)?

    Thanks for your time, and more Power!

    • Hi Kao, It is just a typo. Thanks for letting me know and it will be updated shortly.

  8. Rating: 5

    Miss Ann my name is Ashlynn and I am 11 you said that you love getting letter’s from your fans in the desk cake video and I was wondering if you didn’t mind can I send you a letter ???? If so please let me now what address I should send it to thanks
    GOD Bless

    • hi Ashlynn, yes I would love to get your letter 🙂 The address is:
      Ann Reardon, PO Box 202, Chirnside Park,
      Victoria, Australia 3116.

  9. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann!
    I’ve been following your website regularly for the last three years. I love your cakes and the research and planning you put into them is really commendable.
    I’m actually facing a couple of problems whenever I try to make any of your cakes. One problem is that I live in India, and many of the ingredients you use aren’t available here. Another problem is that I can never make ganache because the weather here makes it impossible to just melt chocolate by pouring in hot cream. Could you please provide a buttercream alternative for your recipes? I’m well aware of the difficulties faced when using buttercream, but it would facilitate things if you could manage that.
    Another request is, could you please make a Hogwarts Castle or Marauder’s Map themed cake? The data for all of this would probably be available on Pottermore.com.
    Thanks!

  10. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann,
    Is it okay if my website contains more than one post? Im planning to make a website with lots of things in it and was wondering how many posts I can put in?

    • Hi Shima, Yes that is fine, but it must have at least one post.

  11. Rating: 5

    I wish im the winner of that camera, cause i really want camera for my taking pictures of my school and for sumerrr.I rrally love your videos Ann Reardon,and i subscribed to your channel since 2016 so its 2 years. And i wish im the lucky winner, when im mot its fine, but i really really wish im gonna win that camera, thanks all of this Ann Reardon!!

  12. me too, i don’t get a confirmation message too. So I entered 2 times with the same wix and email account names just to make sure I was included or not. is it ok?

    • Hi Rea and Iresha, Entries are coming in just fine, so don’t be concerned. As long as your details are entered correctly and your entry meets the set criteria, then you are in the running!

  13. Rating: 5

    Mrs Ann,
    Please help me .
    I accidentally submit my website twice please help me what I do now? Am I qualified please tell me.
    Thank you and sorry for troubling to a busy person like you.

    • Hi Iresha, we will delete the duplicate entry still keeping one of them.

      • Rating: 4

        Thank you so much .

  14. Rating: 4.5

    Hi Ann! I really want to enter the contest but i’m only 14. Can I make a website but have my mom enter it instead? Thanks!

    • Hi Aidan, glad you are so keen but this competition has terms and conditions that you can read by clicking on the link provided. These require entrants to be 18 or over.

  15. Hi Ann, I have a quick question. I couldn’t figure out how to get a pretty layout so I deleted my website and started again but I had already submitted my website to the sweep. is it okay if I submit the new one if I use my other email? I just don’t want you to think I am trying to get more than one entry! thanks.

    • Hi Holly, check out the terms & conditions via the link. Especially Point 5 which indicates how many entries can be submitted: Each Participant may submit only one (1) Entry for each wix account such Participant holds. For the avoidance of doubt, Participants who have more than one account may submit one (1) Entry for each account.

  16. Am I the only one unable to choose a design other than the basics? I’m not able to choose a cool layout like in your video.

    • hi holly, I am using the free templates in the video so you should be able to use any of those. Please contact wix if you need help with that.

  17. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann, the website I made is for my dads construction company, if You show it in the video that would help, but if you do show it in the video can you please note that ITS IN THE UK ONLY, thank you for your time and goodluck to everybody that’s entering

    • Hi Marja, It would be good to pop that information up on your site if you haven’t got the address their already!

  18. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann, I have made by blog. Not sure if it was done correctly. It is not about food, its more about beauty and health.
    The link is http:link removed.

    • Hi Michelle, You can choose the focus or topic as long as it is in line with the terms and conditions listed.

  19. Rating: 5

    Your work is always amazing! I have been a long-time viewer of six years and am so happy for how much your following has grown. I love watching your videos every week and have enjoyed seeing your content evolve over the years!
    Good luck to everyone!
    -Ashley
    Unlicensed to Mom

    • THanks Ashley!

  20. Rating: 5

    Mine isn’t a blog, so the “post” is me explaining what a video I made and the website as a whole is about. It is also the homepage. My website is a one-off thing, it isn’t something I come back to and add posts too. Does that work? Also, I have everything on one page, but in clearly marked out sections, is that fine too? If you don’t understand what I mean would you mind looking at it? https://floppyflorpsproduc.wixsite.com/why-jurassic-park Thank you!

    • G’day Caleb, I had a quick look, you have a landing page but no seperate posts so we can only judge you on the landing page (33% of the judging criteria). You’d need to add a post with a photo/video that you created on that post with at least 50 words. Hope that helps.

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