Home-made cakes thread 2

shegirl

tealeaves wrote: »

hi, does any one have a good birthday cake recipe? i think i'll have to make one 3 days in advance (for decorating time). I usually make the all in one victoria sandwich but is there a madeira which is as simple, and can be made with same method? (one that will be firm but not dry etc).

thanks

Never tried a birthday cake with madeira but my basic madeira recipe is:

200g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
200g self raising flour
100g plain flour
grated lemon zest -from either 2 small lemons or 1 and a half big one lol

Still simple -cream butter and sugar until fluffy,beat eggs in one at a time,fold in the flour then the zest. chuck in oven for around an hour (up to 80 minutes depending on oven etc) on 170 and leave it for 24 hours before decorating.

Give it a decent beating though as madeira can be quite heavy.For a birthday cake I'd probably end up making two and sandwiching together rather than making a big one,but that's just me!

Just to add: to keep a cake moist you can make up a sugar syrup that you spread on top and on the top part of the lower cake if sandwiching.Heat 75ml of water and 75g caster sugar until it boils-keep stirring lol.Once cool just brush over the cake Works with cakes you've premade and frozen too.Haven't tried it yet though!

Golden_Anemone

shegirl wrote: »

Just to add: to keep a cake moist you can make up a sugar syrup that you spread on top and on the top part of the lower cake if sandwiching.Heat 75ml of water and 75g caster sugar until it boils-keep stirring lol.Once cool just brush over the cake Works with cakes you've premade and frozen too.Haven't tried it yet though!

Sugar syrup works best if you make holes all the way through the cake with a skewer while it's still warm and spoon the syrup over the cake so it sinks into the holes. It works really well to keep a cake moist. The BBC Good Food Easy Vanilla cake is a good example.

THE-WIFE_3

thank you for the link for the Easy Vanilla cake, it looks yummy!

bindiboo

Another fresh cream and fruit birthday cake. Eggless sponge.

This one was for a little 4 year old girl that likes scooby doo!

I made a frozen butter cream transfer for scooby! came out quite good.

nat82

Another fan of the Easy Vanilla Cake! It's delicious . I use it all the time now

sharalee99

Todays effort. Marshmallow cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. Cupcakes, with melted marshmallow centre, with vanilla frosting with mini marshmallow. WARNING WARNING-MARSHMALLOW OVERLOAD LOL

Vanilla frosting covered cupcakes by sharoncrieffy, on Flickr

Marshmallow mountain by sharoncrieffy, on Flickr

tealeaves

Thanks everyone. Will definitely give the sugar syrup a go and will try to make the simple vanilla cake. Fingers crossed it will work as im not sure I'll get a practice in before the real thing!

emmlouie

hi everyone, just found this thread today and wanted to say all your cakes look amazing!!! I love baking and so far have made my children's birthday cakes myself (they're currently 3 and 4). The last one I made was a Lightning McQueen cake but forgot to take any pics of it before cutting it up, am so annoyed with myself as it was one of my best so far.
I love looking at all of your pics, they are all really good.

moosetastic

grrrr im so annoyed tonight. got to get some decorations ready for the baby shower I baking for next week. Have bought a pram and a stork silicone mould from ebay, they have both snapped!!! :mad: now Ive had to order pre-made ones and cost me more money!

Question - does everyone use moulds, buy pre-made, make their own? thought I would buy the moulds as they are reusable and could use them again and again, but they have turned out to be the biggest waste of money ever! not happy

PoppyToms

Wow!! Just been looking through this thread and there is some serious talent on here.....the cakes and cakepops are amazing!