Birthday cake for 20 people- never made one, no equipment. Help Very APPRECIATED

Cat72

Hi
I haveto make or obtaining a birthday cake for 20 people for friday. I was between buying a plain cake and decorating it ( i am good at decorating cakes, but have found it difficult to buy a plain cake ) or making one myself. BIG problem is I have never made any cake before , never mind a birthday cake and have no tins etc for cooking it in.( however you have all converted me to the panasonic breadmaker and I am wowing people my bread, thanks ). The last time we bought a cake from our local bakers it was a fortune and I feel It was a total rip off. However I dont know what size of cake tine, and even where to get them.Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I dont know where to start , and sadly have no one else I can ask, or give me any help.
ps I am sorry I dont contribute much to this thread, only ask questions unfortunately just becoming educated to OS and cooking .:o

leni

you could do cupcakes i.e. decorate 20 smaller buns!

http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/misc/cupcakes/pict2.jpg

or you could do a plain maderia cake recipe or buy the sponge mixtures from the supermarkets (ASDA's chocolate sponge is nice with a chocolate spread and vanilla buttercream filling!

You can hire tins from your local cake shop for about £2 for 2 days (need to leave a deposit though) o

foreverskint

Not totally OS, but if you buy those BIG flan cases, the sponge ones that you can get in supermarkets.

Buy about 4, cut the fluted edges off, so that you have four circles, and then sandwich together with cream. I used to do this in a pub I worked in.

The cream would be flavoured with rum soaked raisins, and then more cream put on the top and sides and decorated with chocolate. This makes a huge cake quickly and with out too much fuss.

I know it's not DIY cake, but it's a good one for no tins/oven etc.

jessicamb

Could you make 3/4 smaller basic sponge cakes in a square tin and then 'add them' together with icing/decoration to make a larger cake?

angchris

i have seen cakes in m & s and also asda that are plain white and ready to be iced not sure if they are fruit or sponge cakes though. i would buy 4 of these and put them together or stack them and then decorate, good luck

janeawej

do you have a roasting tin? i foten use thsed for rectangular/square cakes if the edges are sloping i just cut them straight after coolong

easiest never fail recipe!

weigh eggs
same weight in
SR flour
butter/marg
gran sugar
dash of vanilla escence

cream butter and sugar till fluffy
add 1/3 flour and mix in 1/3 eggs and mix in repeat till all eggs and flour used add vanilla esscence,
bake 180 till springy in middle and a skewer comes out clean when inserted.

I would use either buttercream icing or roll out icing then decorate with a few fresh flowers from the garden (or a friends nice if u can get them from the garden of the recipient of the cake) this always goes down well

good luck

Fritha_2

I would do some buns (or cup cakes, or small cakes in cases depending on which area you're from depends on what you call them!)

You need to get two sets of bun tins (12 buns in each), you can get them from your local supermarket for not much money. You then need some bun cases so that your buns will not go everywhere! You'll need some scales to weigh the ingredients (I've used Tesco value ones for ages and have found them to actually be quite good! They're also reduced in Tesco atm) You'll need a bowl to mix the ingredients in and a spoon to stir them and that's all the equipment you'll need! If you need a recipe let me know :-)

Alternatively can't you make cakes in a breadmaker? Or even just make a sweet bread and look innocent? ;-)

nikiyoung

We have a local chemist that sells all of the decorating bit's where you can "hire" a cake tin think it costs about £2 per night to borrow. don't know but it might be worth asking in the shop where you get your cake decorating bits?
Good luck
Niki

bigmuffins

I have made delia's low fat moist carrot cake for several occasions in the past and is easy and tastes fab! Never have any left over!

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/low-fat-moist-carrot-cake,1130,RC.html

I reduce the amount of mixed spice though as is a bit overpowering in our view.
Make double quantity for 20 - can use roasting tin or as I do: the tray from grill pan (we have combined oven/grill with grill/roasting pan that doesn't have handle!) Any metal container should be fine and if has sloping sides - cut off and eat (cooks treat! hehe)

Can use philadelphia if can't get quark - or own brand cream cheese

Good luck!

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, a big pile of profiteroles with cream and choc sauce looks very impressive. Not too tricky to make, if you have a saucepan, wooden spoon, scales and baking tray.

If you can't find a recipe, let me know and I'll post mine.

Penny. x

Cat72

Hi guys
Its a 60th birthday so I will need to turnup with a cake or she will be devistated. Thanks for the suggestion about hiring cake tins but no one beside me does this kind of thing, in fact I will need to travel about 10 miles to even get a cake tin.
Some questions -
1 -I dont have any tins for cooking at , I was thinking about mixing it up in the breadmaker but was unsure if this would work, I suppose I would put it on dough mix.I was also thinking of the pre mixed icing, does this work ok ?
2- How soon can I make the cake to keep, as the party is on friday and I would like to be prepared as I could .
3- I like the look of the carrot cake recipe as she loves carrot cake, is this easy enough to make & could I then ice it with normal icing ?