So for my sons first birthday I attempted some large moulded cakes. I figured that if I start now I might get it right by the time he is old enough to actually understand what’s going on. I really was getting carried away when I was looking at all the possibilities for children’s cakes, such fun! I’d like to say I showed some restraint and settled on one cake but I just couldn’t. So I decided on a number one - relatively straightforward was my thinking and then took a gamble on a train cake.
The tins were Wilton ones as was the food colourings, all ordered online. The sponge I settled on was Nigellas buttermilk birthday cake (from How to be a Domestic Goddess) which she said works for moulded tins. I have made it before in a standard 23cm ring and it was fine but for some reason it didn’t come out right in the moulded tins-I followed the baking time but I think I underbaked it, so it was far too firm and stodgy, although that may also have been due to being stored in the fridge too long….so next year with the train cake I shall have to experiment with a standard Victoria sponge cake or an American pound cake which is what the instructions that come with the tin stipulate….here's some mid-process pics:
I went with fresh cream for the icing with the number 1 and buttercream with the train.
The train cake instructions said to pipe on the icing which I thought looked like too much faff so I decided to spread the icing on. It wasn’t the right thing to do at all. I guess there was a reason why they said to pipe it on….the cake is quite shaped and moulded and it was really hard to spread the icing on at those angles and near impossible to get smooth on the sides…so this is what my first go looked like I hope to improve upon it….I figure the boy will get into Thomas the tank engine at some stage so I have that in mind for the future, that is if I don’t move on to dinosaurs and cars and what not….
The tins were Wilton ones as was the food colourings, all ordered online. The sponge I settled on was Nigellas buttermilk birthday cake (from How to be a Domestic Goddess) which she said works for moulded tins. I have made it before in a standard 23cm ring and it was fine but for some reason it didn’t come out right in the moulded tins-I followed the baking time but I think I underbaked it, so it was far too firm and stodgy, although that may also have been due to being stored in the fridge too long….so next year with the train cake I shall have to experiment with a standard Victoria sponge cake or an American pound cake which is what the instructions that come with the tin stipulate….here's some mid-process pics:
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| grease tins well with some vegetable shortening or the Wilton cake release-they unmould beautifully |
The train cake instructions said to pipe on the icing which I thought looked like too much faff so I decided to spread the icing on. It wasn’t the right thing to do at all. I guess there was a reason why they said to pipe it on….the cake is quite shaped and moulded and it was really hard to spread the icing on at those angles and near impossible to get smooth on the sides…so this is what my first go looked like I hope to improve upon it….I figure the boy will get into Thomas the tank engine at some stage so I have that in mind for the future, that is if I don’t move on to dinosaurs and cars and what not….
the mini cookies and cream cheesecakes I made were more successful so I’ll tell you about them in the next post. Here's some pictures of the rest of the party food.....
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