Christening cake- your recipes/decoration ideas here please!

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DSs christening is next month, and after orginally planning on getting someone else to make the cake, I have balked at the 90 quid cost for a small cake and thought "Sod that, i'm going to make it myself!"

I actually do quite like baking, and I reckon i'd be okay with decorating something too, but am stuck for recipe and decor ideas.

Can I be nosy and ask people who made/make their own celebration cakes what recipes you use? Also creative types, what decor might be good for a baby boy's Christening?

-Cake must feed 60 people (small slices)

-Thinking maybe chocolate or victoria sponge-type for the actual cake but open to suggestions for something equally tasty

• Is white-roll on icing the way forward, and if so, how do you make this fit smoothly over a round cake? (this might be another thread I have to start)

• How do you make coloured icing decorations i.e. pastel coloured baby blocks?

• Is it better to buy edible decorations and if so does anyone know a good place I can buy them from (I live in London) or an online store (prob easier)?

Cheers!

Bumpy!

We've just been to a dedication service on Sunday for someone in our church. The cakes were works of art!

They had a tiered stand with lots of cupcakes on each tier that were simply decorated with plain white sugarpaste with baby boots on the top. On the top tier was a cake about 20cm in radius which was again quite a simple design. I think it was inspired by one from Lindy Smith's "Celebrate with a Cake" book. It had a white base covering, the curved surface was decorated with lots of cut out daisies but I'm sure you could tweak this bit for a boy, with baby blocks or something. On top of the cake was a sugarpaste model of a baby with a blanket wrapped round her.

http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/ChristeningCakes.htm This is her page on christening cakes.

Regarding roll out icing, , if you want to make it smooth then I suggest a cake smoother.

You need modelling paste to make 3D decorations as they set better and have a better consistency for this purpose.

Hope that helps as a start.

Try link again

Ooooh boogiewoogie those cakes are lovely! Don't think I can come up with a cake that fancy though, although I can make a mean cupcake so that might be a good idea to make some of those with a big cake on the top- i'll perhaps look for a big cupcake stand then.

I don't suppose you know where I can buy a cake smoother and the modelling paste do you? Is modelling paste easy to use? Do you dye it or do you buy it in a variety of colours?

You can get a cake smoother from Lakeland for about £5 or so.

Modelling paste is simply sugarpaste with a dash of gum tragacanth added to it so yes, you can treat it as you would treat sugarpaste. You can buy the Dr Oetker stuff from supermarkets and that normally has GT in it already.

I did my DD's christening cake myself (I've just uploaded a pic to my profile if you want to see it) that was the first cake I did on my own and I'm now looking at starting up a business making and selling them!

If you need any help with it, I can talk you through it. For ease, you can bake the cake early and freeze it. Make sure it is well wrapped in greaseproof to stop frsotburn, and take it out 12 hours before you want to decorate it

Thanks BoogieWoogie!

Imnotaslimjim- your cake is gorgeous and that's the kind of thing i'm looking to make but with blue bits instead of pink! I would LOVE it if you would be kind enough to talk me through how you made it

What kind of cake is it?

Would you mind please telling me what ingedients i will need for both cake and decorations, and what sized tin you used?

Think I will make beforehand and freeze for ease, as plan on baking cupcakes as well the day before!

Of course I can talk you through it!

That one is fruit cake on the bottom with vanilla madeira on the top. But you can have pretty much whatever you want. Madeira lasts longer after you've cut it (so if you don't give it all out after the christening it'll keep for 5-7 days)

That is a 8 inch on the bottom and a 6 inch on the top.

Let me know what kind of cake you want to make it from and I'll talk you through it from there.

Hi Imnotaslimjim, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, have been manically busy the last few days! Think I will make both cakes madeira- I would really appreciate it if you could talk me through them and the decorations and what I need to buy exactly. I'll PM you if that's okay?

For a lazy kind of icing, I bought 2 colours of ready-to-roll icing from a cake decorating shop (think Hobbycraft sells it as well) - mine were mid pink and light pink as I had girls. I also bought a flower punch (like a forget me not size/shape) - don't know if blue flowers would look OK on a boy's cake?

Basically I rolled a strip of the mid pink to go round the cake, then used a fluted edge tin bigger than the cake diameter to cut a circle from the pale pink icing which I put on top like a table cloth. I added a sleeping baby figure bought from the cake shop, and an "on your Christening" silver colour decoration.

I punched little flowers from the rolled out mid blue icing and put these on the cake around the baby figure, sort of crowded near the figure then tailing off. Hard to explain, haven't got the photos in digital format as they were on negative film!