Birthday cakes

redmel1621

Hi all

Does anybody know of any good sites/books to get ideas/instructions on how to make a kids birthday cake....

I am very annoyed with myself actually, My son's birthday is on Sunday, last night I realised I hadn't sorted out a cake for him yet:o . It will be his 5th birthday and although he is not having a party (well family tea party) I still want him to have a 'proper' birthday cake.
So realising that I have probably left it a bit late to bake him one myself I nipped into the local Davies Bakery and ordered him one £6.75 for a little tiny thing:eek: , I didn't want a big one anyway as they always get wasted, but I think this is a bit pricey.:rolleyes:

So in 3 weeks time it is ds1 7th birthday and I am determined to bake him one myself....Now here's the problem....I have never baked a cake before!!!

If anyone could supply me with or guide me in the right direction for recipes/directions/ideas etc I would be eternally grateful.

Mel x

Thrifty_sister_2

one year for my son I baked a cake in a pudding basin, turned it out on a board, covered it with jam and then covered it with pebbles made from shop bought roll out icing. I used grey food colour to dye it.

I then made a sausage shape ( colourd green roll out icing) thinner at one end. spikes along it. cut a slit for a mouth and hey presto... a dragon outside his cave.

ok i did put a little more detail on it and cut a chunk out of sponge to make cave entrance.

My son was over the moon. He is 14 now and still reminds me of that cake.

Anyway good luck. I am sure you will come up with somthing great x

mrs_mix

Hi Mel
have you got an idea of the kind of cake you want and for how many people it would be for .
pam xx

redmel1621

Hi
nice one Thrifty sister, sounds great....

Hi mrs_mix, it only needs to be a small one maybe 6-8 slices, as there are 4 of us and i think my mum and mil may pop along. Like I say i have never made a cake before so have no idea what size this would mean. I don't mind if there are some leftovers as he could take small slices into his class the next day, or we could pass it along to my Brother and sister. it's just usually there is far too much and it gets chucked out.

I would love to be able to bake cakes, I feel it would be such a personal touch to do my kids cakes myself and a great acheivement......as well as cheaper.

I have no theme in mind just a boys cake...Cars, Animals, rockets, or tv characters, anything really.

Mel x

mrs_mix

OK I can help but I need to scout through my books just of the top of my head though would a UFO be ok as I'm pretty sure I have a design for one
in a book that I can simplyfy for you I will pm you later or tomorrow morning
pamxx

mrbadexample

redmel1621 wrote: »

I would love to be able to bake cakes,

If I can bake, anyone can bake.

When you get chance (not necessarily for the forthcoming birthday), try a chocolate yoghurt cake. It's really, really easy, and you get a nice basic cake. It's great as it is, but you could then start to tinker about with it (icing etc.) to practice with. It does make quite a big cake though, so you might want to scale it down a bit, if you can. (Don't ask me, I have to follow instructions to the letter!)

kippers

I once made a sweetie cake....

I made a bog standard, bung everything in a bowl and mix cake (6oz marg, 6oz s/r flour sieved, 1 tsp baking powder, 6oz caster sugar, 3 eggs ) put in 2 greased and floured cake tins, gas 5 for 25 mins.

I put jam or butter icing in the middle and melt chocolate on top. Before the chocolate sets i put loads and loads of sweets and lollies all over the cake and around the outside and finish with sprinkles to cover any little spaces that are left. Stick one candle somewhere (the sort with the candle being the age of the child) and the kids will love the cake as they get sweets as well as cake....much cheaper than buying a cake as well!

redmel1621

Thanks for the replies, I can't wait to have a try.

Mrbadexample - hehe I bet you find it easy really..

Is that a basic cake then 6oz flour, 6oz sugar, 6oz marge, and baking powder........

i didn't even know that.......

Mel x

mrbadexample

redmel1621 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I can't wait to have a try.

Mrbadexample - hehe I bet you find it easy really..

Is that a basic cake then 6oz flour, 6oz sugar, 6oz marge, and baking powder........

i didn't even know that.......

Mel x

Honestly, all I know is that if you follow the instructions in the thread, you get a great big chocolate cake that doesn't need anything extra doing to it - it's lovely just as it comes! You need better bakers than me to tinker with it! Give it a go - I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

muz

Go and have a look at your local library for a cake decorating book, most libraries have a few in stock.
If you would like to buy one, I would recommend Debbie Browns books. (Click on the book covers to see the cakes).