Easy Birthday Cakes

Kids seem to adore cakes with characters on, but if you follow those books, it can get a bit complicated.  Not to mention you need all sorts of cake tins of different shapes and sizes.

This is the way I made my 2 of my daughter's birthday cakes.  It was pretty easy and received lots of compliments.

1. Packet Mix x 2
I got 2 packets of cake mix from the supermarket - Home Brand ones - and I made them up according to the directions on the pack.

2. Roasting Tray
I put the entire mixture into one of my non-stick roasting trays which I lined with gladbake (or a cheaper equivalent) and sprayed with canola oil spray.  The trick is always not to overcook these or they get really dry.  Put a timer on for about 5 minutes less than a full cake and then just test it with a skewer.  If its still liquid when you test it, give it 10 to 15 minutes more then test again.  If its only a little bit too moist, give it another 5 minutes.  A few crumbs should cling to the skewer when you pull it out.  Let it cool in the tin (so it doesn't break).  When you're ready to tip it out, I put the chopping board  on the cake and then turn it upside down.  I then put the display board (which is also usually a chopping board covered in foil) on top of the cake and then turn it over.  That way you don't risk the cake falling apart.

3. Make a design
This is probably the hardest bit of the lot (and its not hard).  Draw a picture, or trace a picture from a colouring book, onto a piece of greaseproof paper.  Make sure the picture is no bigger than the cake.  I draw in pencil with an eraser handy.  But it doesn't have to be a great drawing, it just has to be a decent shape to put on the cake.  The trick is to not have any thin legs or similar because the thin parts tend to break more easily.  Stick to big shapes and you're laughing.

4. Transfer design to the cake
The way I do this is to secure the piece of greaseproof paper to the cake using toothpicks and then using a big, sharp carving knife, cut through the paper into the cake around the design.  You only need to cut the outside edges as you'll fill in the inside details with icing and other decorations.

5. Decorate the cake
I start by covering the cake with butter icing which I've coloured.  My basic butter icing recipe is margarine (cause it's softer and easier to spread!) with lots of icing sugar (or icing mixture) and a little milk if I need to thin it out.  I'm pretty free with quantities.  I just taste to check that it's sweet enough.  Then I add food colouring drops until its the colour I want.  Doesn't take much to colour all the icing.  The only thing you need to be careful with is that butter icing tends to be quite yellow.  If I need a white icing or a pale blue (it often tends to go greenish with butter icing) I just use icing sugar/mixture mixed with milk and/or water till its a spreadable consistency.

I usually get a spoon to dump a whole lot of icing on the top of the cake then I spread it on the cake using a wide butter knife which I dip in hot water to smooth out the top.  If I get any on the decorating tray, I usually use a paper towel dipped in a little water so it's just damp to wipe the extra away (a la Iain Hewittson, if you've ever seen his cooking show).

To put the details in, I either use a piping bag (which I am no expert at!  But the more I practice, it definitely improves) or you can buy ready to pipe icing from the supermarket.  Cakemate makes a great one called "glossy decorating gel".  I like the black one for putting lines on the cake (e.g. mouth, nose etc - see the Dorothy the Dinosaur cake).  Just be careful because that gel doesn't dry out and stays wet on the cake (as my daughter discovered when she stuck her finger in it!)  Having said that, last time I didn't have money for bought icing so I made a dark line by adding lots of cocoa to butter icing and piping that (see the Shrek picture).

Other details can be done with decorations - smarties, jelly beans, licorice (also good for adding black lines).  I like making eyes by cutting a white marshmallow in half and then adding a dark brown smartie or the cut out black part of a licorice allsort for a pupil (see the picture of Shrek).

And that's it!  Not only do have a cake in the shape of a character, but its also big enough to feed all the kids (and their parents!) at their birthday party.  I've got orders in from my girls for a Wiggles cake for my soon-to-be 3 year old, and a "Castle" cake for my eldest when she turns 5.  If I'm happy with how they turn out I'll add those pictures as well.