Tuesday 15 February 2011

Two-Tier Stacked Cake - 1st Birthday Cake

Not very good with posts this year.  Being up to lots of kitchen hi-jinks recently and finding the time to blog them is hard.  (Maybe spending my baby free-time on facebook is not constructive!)

Anyway....last week I was busy making a special birthday cake for my friend's daughter.  It was her 1st birthday on Saturday 12th February.  I was honoured that my friend had asked to make the cake and I was lucky enough that my friend had no specific requests for the cake.  It had to feed 20 people and it was to be a vanilla flavoured cake with fondant icing on it.

I decided that I would make a stacked cake so there would be more than enough cake to go round.  I made a 6" chocolate cake sat atop an 8".

All in all, I was pleased with the outcome.  I had some hiccups towards the end and learnt some valuable mistakes.  Most of all, my friend was overwhelmed with the cake and her friends and family all ooh-ed and ahh-ed.  Even the waiting staff at the restaurant admired the cake!


8 comments:

  1. Its a fab cake! Not being cheeky or anything but what were the things you learned thru mistakes? Sorry, i'm just bein nosey.. It does look great tho. Glad it went down well.

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  2. that looks amazing! Great job on the cake. The fondant looks really smooth and nice decorations. I'm glad this turned out fantastic. :)

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  3. Hi Lynne...not only your friend' family ohh and ahh ..me too...beautifully made stacked cake...I can imagine how nice this is. So what cake are you planning to make for Minh's first birthday :) I can't wait to see it. another 6 months for you to plan.

    Muax to Minh,
    Elin

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  4. lol Sarah! No, no cheekiness at all! Right, if I had to recreate this again I would:
    Use Sugarpaste to make the flowers - it dries harder then normal fondant icing.
    Make the flowers a week in advance so they dry fully, or stick them on the cake fresh - being semi-dry they were delicate and prone to cracking and crumbling when trying to stick them on.
    Stick the lettering on the cake board fresh - the dried little letters were fiddly to put into position!

    Thankyou Esther - there are imperfections in the fondant covering - not as smooth as liked - bit bumpy, but I'm glad you didn't notice! ;0)

    Thankyou Elin! No ideas for Minh's cake yet but am pleased that this cake has resulted in my cake orders! Will need to get inspiration from somewhere!

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  5. Wow! You have a real knack at doing all these pretty decorations. I've been decorating for a while now but my cakes never come out as smooth or as perfectly finished as this. Wow, wow, wow!

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  6. Thanks Shaz - I think if I wee to make more of these fondant covered cakes I should invest in some smoothers and polishers for the ultimate finish! My poor rough hands had to smooth the best they could!

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  7. Hi Plumleaf,

    I wanna make a nice cake for my son's birthday. Thinking of doing fondant but I have never done it before, so I was a bit hesitant. May I know if your fondant is store-bought from wilton and where did you learn the art of making fondant?

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    Replies
    1. Argh! I fear I am too late to answer in time for your son's birthday... Apologies Miss B!

      I do not make my own fondant but buy ready made block of fondant icing from the supermarket. There are many brands over here and the fondant can be called "Regal-Ice" or "Ready-to-roll Fondant". I namely use Dr Oetkar brand of fondant or supermarket own if not available. If using coloured fondant, I use Renshaw's. Only because it's time-saving than colouring your own, but you do pay the price.)

      I have never tried making my own fondant but am thinking of making Marshmallow Fondant (MMF) - I hear it tastes much nicer. I will probably google the recipe and go with the one I like the sound of :)

      I hope your son had a wonderful birthday and you enjoyed making the cake :)

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