J’s Birthday- Cakes Of The Past And Yet To Be

Cakes Of The Past

I may not be Mary Berry but I can bake a cake, my most favoured recipe being the classic Victoria sponge. Each and every year since J was born I have baked him a cake to remember. I clearly remember wanting to do better than the bog standard icing sugar and smarties birthday cake that I had become accustomed to making year in and year out for Paul. I decided not to push the boat out too far and opted for a simple single-coloured iced cake with In The Night Garden figurines for my sons first birthday cake. I may have been able to bake a cake but decorating one was a different ball game. I was surprised how easy it actually was (once I gave up trying to make my own royal icing and accepted that buying pre-packed was the way to go) and was fairly pleased with the finished product.

The following year I kept things ‘simple’ with a simple single-tiered circular cake, decorated with icing pens and layers of hand dyed royal icing to make Bob The Builders face. It was such a simple cake to make that I somehow ended up making three of them; one for J’s nursery, one for J’s actual birthday and one for J’s party.

On J’s third birthday I decided to set myself a challenge. I had never made a two-tiered cake before and decided for whatever reason that now was the time to give it a shot, mainly because J had pointed out a two-tiered Toy Story cake that he fancied whilst assisting me in cake browsing online. It was basically just two cakes, each iced differently and then stuck together, finished off with some lettering and figurines. J loved it and I was fairly proud of the results if I do say so myself.

A year later I decided to do yet another two-tiered cake. This time I experimented with some paper covered wires to create icing stars popping from the top-tier of the cake. I then cut out different coloured squares to make a gaming racecourse around the cake for a ‘Sonic The Hedgehog‘ themed cake. It wasn’t my best creation but it did the job and J seemed happy, that’s all that matters really!

I must be a gluten for punishment as for J’s fifth birthday I once again made a two-tiered cake, the reason being that I was expecting a house full of party guests and needed to ensure that there would be enough to go around. I set myself yet another challenge, this time the cake would be topped with hand-made icing figures rather than my usual plastic figurines that I had cheated with each year beforehand. Each and every Angry Bird and Bad Piggy was hand crafted and placed on top of the cake to make the entire cake an edible masterpiece. Whilst it may not have looked professional, it was made with love and to me that’s all that really matters. Although, don’t quote me on this when I am in the middle of an icing meltdown mid cake decoration!

The following year was set to be a particularly large party and so I baked four cakes which then became an extra-large two-tiered birthday cake. I set myself a new challenge as this particular cake required structures with windows to be built and placed around the cake to create a city skyline. I then learnt how to make piping icing and desperately tried to keep a steady hand to pipe spider webs onto the cake. I am not particularly good at drawing spider webs never mind piping them onto a cake! I was fairly pleased with how the cake turned out though and after seeing J’s reaction to his Spider Man cake, I was happy with the end result.

Each birthday it seems that my kids want something a little different and a little more challenging when it comes to their birthday cake. They seem to think that I can concoct any cake that they fancy, the more imaginative and elaborate in design the better. Whilst I am always up for a challenge, I have my limits when it comes to cake design!

Cakes Yet To Be

This year J has requested to have a Minecraft themed birthday cake. I have scoured the depths of Pinterest and have found this particular cake which I will do very my best to recreate for my soon-to-be seven-year old.

The Main Cake Idea

The Second ‘School’ Cake Ideas

J’s birthday is on a school day and therefore I will also need to bake a cake to send into school with J to share with his friends. I cannot decide between a simple square cake which the Teacher can then cut up, or to create individual squares for each child. Please let me know which you think would be more appropriate.

OPTION 1: Minecraft Creeper Single Cake

I guess this would be a fairly simple cake to bake as its just a square covered in more squares.

OPTION 2: Individual Minecraft Creeper Squares

Then, there is the other option of creating something entirely different for his ‘school class cake’ which is a little less ‘Creepy’ (they are meant to be Creepers apparently) and a bit more ‘Smiley’. J has recently become a fan of Adventure Time and I wondered whether to use this as an alternative theme for his ‘school cake’. Once again, there is the question of whether to create one large cake which can be chopped into segments or to create individual cakes for each child.

OPTION 3: Adventure Time Single Cake

Which one would you bake though, Fin, Jake or both?

OPTION 4: Individual Adventure Time Cupcakes

I cannot decide what to do for the ‘school cake’ and after asking J am still none the wiser as he likes them all. Hmm… perhaps I could do a vote, actually that’s a grand idea! I will create a poll and let you decide…

[alex_poll id=”1″]