Whoops! I have realized it's not just over a month since my last post, to be fair it was my birthday at the end of June so it was a little hectic, but now I have some time to sit down and show you my Birthday cake!
I have made my own cake for the last couple of years, so I decided that this year was no exception.
Inspired by a cake design I had seen in a Peggy Porschen book, I decided to create a domed birthday cake. I bought a special mould from Lakeland, and the following images show how the bake turned out!
1. I used a standard quantity of my favourite vanilla chocolate marble cake in the mould, however in hindsight, perhaps a quantity and a half would have been better, the overall cake was a little on the small side. I balanced the tin on a crumpet ring and put that on a baking tray in the oven to stop it rolling around.
2. I then cut the cake in half and filled it full of chocolate butter cream (one of my favourites!) Always easier to do this in a blender as then the icing sugar doesn't go everywhere and you can get it really soft and fluffy. I then used the other half of the butter cream to cover the cake completely, forming a crumb coat for the icing to stick to.
3. I also decided this year that I would cover the cake board which very simply meant covering it in a layer of icing. I did do this all in one day and quickly realised it would have been best to do this the day before and leave it to harden and dry, as it was very easy to mark with fingers or tools. I also think adding a border of ribbon around the side of the cake board would add an extra professional touch.
4. To make my scalloped border, I cut out a long strip of icing the correct width and length, and then used the plain side of a cutter to make the scallops. I found it was quite difficult to get the scallops the same all the way along, so I would recommend using a clean ruler to make a slight imprint along the rectangle as far down as you want your scallops to go, and then use that as a guide. Mine were a bit higgeldy piggeldy, but who doesn't love a bit of that!
5. I then used my little icing flowers that I had made the previous weekend. I added one to the point of every scallop, sticking them to the cake with a strong mixture of icing sugar and water. Tip: Don't make it too runny or the flowers will just fall off, and nobody has that many fingers to hold them all in place until it all dries! I then put my sugar roses and leaves on the crown, and used a couple as decoration on the sides at the base.
6. The finished cake was delicious, it cut well, held its shape, and there was just enough of everything to make it taste amazing! I kept the cake on its stand under a light wrapping of foil and it kept its freshness for a good week and half, and even after that it was still pretty tasty! All in all a hit I would say.
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