please help birthday cake drama

pretz_2

Hiya Ladies/Gents

I'm deseperately in need of some advice as its my DDs' 3rd birthday on Tuesday and on the Friday we plan to take her to the zoo for a small tea party and day out with family and friends.

This is where I need some help as she has asked for a dinosaur cake and not being a master baker I searched high and low for a ready made shop brought cake but was completely unsuccessful. So now I am having to make one and have no idea of how long it will last for I have been and brought all the ingredients and icings etc.

The cake is a red velvet cake with a cream cheese filling and foundant icing over it, now does anyone have any idea how long this will last and how far in advance can I make it, it will be used on the friday, also what can I used to stick the icing to the cake as my daughter is allergic to all forms of fruit so jams won't be possible to use.

Thanks in advance and sorry if I've posted this in the wrong board but I though it would be something most people on here would know about.

Pretz

shegha

not sure how long the cream cheese will last as fondanrt icing should not realy be kept in the fridge.
If you used buttercream in the middle and cover the cake on the out side to stick the icing the cake could be made on the wednesday and still be fresh.
hth

greenbee

To give yourself plenty of time, why not make up the cake and cream cheese frosting now, then freeze it? Take it out to do the final decoration, which you can do while it is defrosting, and it should be fine for another 24 hours.

I'm not sure, but you might be able to use a plain sugar syrup to stick the fondant to the cake. You may be better off asking on a dedicated baking forum though.

And I recommend using paste food colouring for the red velvet rather than liquid, as otherwise you can sometimes get a faint flavour of something a bit strange!

Good luck!

ravylesley

Hi Good luck with the cake it sounds like a great I've just googled red velvet cake and its basically a rich moist chocolate cake coloured red.An unusual choice but I am sure it will be delicious.I agree with the cream cheese filling as Buttercream would be far too sickly.But be careful when you make the filling as the cream cheese can go runny when overworked so mix until just combined and dont over beat. I used to work in a bakery and used sugar paste all the time and if you go into a specialist cake shop you can buy the goop that the professionals use to stick cake and icing together.It is non fruit based so should be fine with your daughter

As for the storage times Id say that as long as the cake is refridgerated it should last at least 4-5 days.If by fondant icing you mean the ready to roll out stuff you can buy in the shops then I would say it will be fine in the fridge for a couple of days but dont add any extra decorations such as royal icing piping as they are hydroscopic and will absorb moisture from the damp air in the fridge and ruin

Lesleyxx

pretz_2

Right so far i think i am going to make the cake now and freeze it, then i plan to ice it on the thursday night so the filling should survive till the friday lunchtime when it will be needed.

Do you think it will defrost in time?

also do you think it would be ok if i made a thin paste of water and icing sugar to stick the cake and icing to each other?

this cake is becoming more of a pain then i intially though

thanks
pretz

pretz_2

Hiya
Sorry its been so long since the original post, well i wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that helped i dont know what the cake would of ended up like lol.

I have to say that i never realised how much effort actually goes into making a birthday cake and now everyone that makes them has my full respect this said i did actually quite enjoy it and will do this more often and my daughter was so impressed with the results and now i wanted to share with you all my results as hopefully it will encourage someone else to try and make a birthday cake from scratch rather than buying from a shop.

heres the pictures

fresh out of the oven

before being sandwiched together

side view sandwiched together

volcan 'erupting'

side view of cake

top view of cake

now fingers crossed that this works

pretz
xx

Miss_Liquorice

Wow, the cake looks fantastic, well done!

pretz_2

thank you i was rather pleased with it lol

jet77

Well done you!!! It looks great

juliapenguin

Amazing! It looks so good. When my son was younger, I never ever asked him to choose what sort of cake he wanted as the only party cake I can make is a cat-shaped one! He had a cat cake every year until it was uncool to have a cat one and then he just had a round chocolate fudge cake.

kazwookie

Well done it looks lovely

Good luck on your day out