Birthday Cakes!

Well it’s been a while since I posted on here and I have SEVERAL birthday cakes to share with you, so I’m going to start with the oldest one & work my way through..!

So first up, I have a cute little cake I made for a 4th birthday… The brief was something pink & girly, & not too elaborate as there was a budget to be adhered to!  This cake was my standard vanilla Victoria sponge, with a jam and buttercream filling, and I covered the whole cake with bold fushcia pink icing!  The decoration was kept quite simple, but I made sure to include the birthday girl’s name – Chloe – with lots of ‘4’s, hearts and flowers which Chloe likes, and I added some sparkle using a some edible dusting powder.

Victoria Sponge Blog Chloes Pink Cake

Chloe’s Pink Birthday Cake

The next birthday cake is a slightly more unusual one..! My friend Paula was holding a Science Party for her daughter Elizabeth’s 10th birthday, and they asked me if I could do a themed cake.  I knew the goodie bags were going to be wrapped in biohazard tape, and I thought the black & yellow biohazard symbol would make a striking focal point for a cake! So after replicating the large biohazard triangle out of fondant icing for the top of the cake, I made some ‘tape’ to wrap around the side of the cake, again with the bold black and yellow colour scheme.  I added a little bit of ‘gore’ to the cake by adding a knife cutting into it, and using small bits of red icing to look like blood trickling out of the wound! I also sat some molecules on the top to add to the Science theme, which were balls of various colours of icing, held together with pieces of uncooked spaghetti.  Elizabeth was really pleased with the cake, and had a great time doing exciting science experiments at her party! And I was pleased to get a party bag from her, which contained Toxic Waste & eyeballs in test tubes amongst other things which looked too disgusting to eat!!

Victoria Sponge Blog Biohazard Cake

Elizabeth’s Science Party Cake

Victoria Sponge Blog Biohazard Cake 2

Biohazard symbol on top of the cake

A few months ago I had a request from a family friend called Claire for a fruit cake, which I had never made before. She was celebrating her 50th birthday & just requested a fruit cake, & left all the decorating up to me.  I asked around for some recommended recipes, & decided to go with the recipe which had the clearest, step-by-step instructions as fruit cake was very new to me! So, I began about a month before Claire’s birthday, and spent hours following the detailed & somewhat complicated instructions! I ‘fed’ the cooked cake brandy over a week, and then left it to mature for 3 weeks.  Then a couple of days before her party I set to covering it in marzipan and rolled fondant icing.  As it was a fruit cake & I thought it would be better without a mass of icing decoration, I decided to simply make a present bow & some curled ribbons in subtle colours, & also used cutters to add lots of ’50’s randomly over the cake too.  Luckily I had done a little research & found a good video on YouTube which showed me how to make the bow, & highlighted the need to make these decorations the day before so they can dry overnight before being stuck on to the cake!  Claire was delighted with her cake, and I was also really pleased with my first attempt at a fruit cake.

Victoria Sponge Blog Bow and ribbon cake 2

50th Birthday cake with bow and ribbons

Victoria Sponge Blog Bow and ribbon cake

My First fruit cake!