Red Velvet Malt Ball Cake...and Cake Leveler Guard

Some very beloved coworkers and friends are moving to another work location, effective tomorrow. Today we had an "Eat-All-Day Farewell" for them, with Cake and Punch at 3:00 p.m. I provided the cake - a bunch of years ago, I made a cake for another work farewell, for a person who REALLY liked chocolate...being short of time to do a lot of fancy decorating, I baked the cake, threw on some homemade frosting (real butter!), and then dumped mass quantities of Whopper's Malted Milk Balls, along with an assortment of milk, semi-sweet, mini, and white chocolate chips on top of the freshly-frosted cake. A "star" was born! Not to mention, the cake itself was Red Velvet (Duncan Hines) - a cake marriage made in Cake Heaven! It has become a much-asked-for favorite at work events calling for cake. Here's the cake before we whacked into it:

And another showing the lovely red cake...I was so busy dishing up slices that I almost forgot to take a pic of the "inside"!

I use Wilton cake pans - this was the 12"x3" using the Heating Core in the middle - it takes two cake mixes and bakes a thick cake that must be sliced. A few years ago I got the Wilton Large Cake Leveler which made the job a breeze! The serrated blade "easily levels and tortes cakes up to 18 inches diameter. Adjusts up to 3 in. high-just twist feet to lock into desired height notch and glide the stainless steel blade through your cake." It works slicker than deer guts on a door knob! (Some day, I will tell you where I heard THAT saying...and why it sticks in my head to this day!)

A bit of a close-up of the "business end" - the blade:

The love affair with the Large Cake Leveler lasted about a year, then the tri-fold plastic guard that came with it and kept me from slicing my fingers on that very sharp blade gave up the ghost - yellowed and split, I retired it to the landfill. Needing something to save me from certain finger amputation, I made a cute (yes, it had to be cute!) cover for it. Two strips of fashion fabric, 3 1/2" x 20," plus 1 of cotton batting, along with 19" of pink (yes, pink!) 3/4" velcro was all I needed! Sandwich the batting and fashion fabrics, right sides together and sew around, leaving an opening on one long side. Turn, press and apply the velcro, sewing the opening shut.

Fold in half around that nasty (but highly effective!) blade. That's all it takes! The sharp edge has not cut the lining at all - the velcro keeps everything in its place. I am STILL tickled every time I need to use the leveler - that homemade guard works SO great! (And it's cute - did I mention that?!!!) You may not NEED a Wilton Large Cake Leveler...but if you find yourself in the market for one, make your own guard for it - it's prettier and longer-lasting than the plastic doo-hickey that it comes with.

Now...here's a secret about me...I have more than ONE HUNDRED shaped, Wilton pans. When the kids were little, I made cakes galore - Mickey Mouse, rocket ships, Uncle Scrooge, guitars, bowling pins - you name it, I gots it! Just like a LOT of other things in my life (43 sets of dishes and way too much fabric to mention), I AM a collector...but it does keep me off the streets :-) Uh...well....kind of.....