Birthday Cake help

[MissBeehiving]

DS2 is 2 on Sunday and we're having a family tea party. He loves In the Night Garden. I have my doubts about it personally particularly that strumpet Upsy Daisy who drags her bed around ALL THE TIME (clearly a raving nympho) and Macca Pacca who has a touch of OCD with his compulsive washing. The Tomliboos are obsessed with getting those spotty trousers off and flashing anyone passing by. And those Pontipines need to have a bit of family planning advice. Nuff said.

Anyhoo...I need to find an ITNG cake - has anyone seen one in any of the supermarkets? Many thanks

What about figures? I used Timmy Time figures on DS1 cake a few years ago. Plus they can play with them after. You could still decorate it but the stress of getting the figures right is too much for me.

I haven't seen one in the shops and I am sure they will be out there. Someone will come along and tell you where.

I would recommend buying a box of figures though and a plain iced cake (if you are not the baking sort).

Then all you have to do is stick the figures on the cake and, voila, an ITNG cake with the added bonus of having toys ds can keep.

Having despatched DH to every supermarket known to man there does not appear to be one.

I have ITNG figures.

I'm fine at baking but have never done fondant icing, so would prefer to buy ready iced. Can you paint white fondant icing green or does the icing itself have to be coloured?

You can buy green fondant icing right - do you just stick it on the sponge with sieved jam?

No advice but at your ITNG analysis. DS1 is very taken by the way Upsy Daisy's skirt goes up, completely validifying your theory!

Why not make a cake in a pyrex bowl (if you have one) so that you have a hill?

Buttercream is best as foundation for fondant icing - cover cake, get it as smooth as you can (fondant does not disguise lumps and bumps, it accentuates them) and then stick cake in 'fridge until buttercream hardens.

Yes you can get ready-coloured green fondant - mostly from sugarcraft-type shops (or hobbycraft) - supermarkets tend only to sell the mixed colour boxes.

or buy a cake topper?

(lots more nicer/cheaper/both cake toppers on ebay, FWIW)

Oh yes Blue Upsy Daisy is a right sort . I still haven't worked out what the Wattingers do - they seem to be the shady side of the Pontipine family, although to have that many kids they must be at it like rabbits all the time, quite possibly in Upsy Daisy's shag pad bed.

Thanks Stealth that's helpful. I've found coloured fondant in cake shop locally and will be paying a visit tommorrow. Do you stick it to the cake board with buttercream?

I was thinking about something like this which looks fairly straightfoward The A level version being here. Any tips/hints?

I was thinking of something like this because you can cover cake and board in one go, but yes, that would work - your "easy" one has fondant figures and the "hard" one has plastic ones, but I know what you mean (cake stacking probably not reccommeded on 1st try). To cover cake board in icing, just wet the board slightly - no buttercream needed (you do need some to anchor cake onto board, though)

if you want to do grass exactly like your "simpler" example you will need a sugar shaper (don't bother unless you are planning to take this up as a hobby!) and the flowers would be done with a plunger cutter - which might or might not be worth getting.

Plastic figures all the way here. They are way beyond my modelling capability. I can do rounds/stones/stars no problem and was thinking of buying the flowers to stick on? As for the grass DS2 has a handy playdough hair making thingumibob which squishes out like that

In relation to the cake, DS likes sponge but will an all in one recipe be too light? Whaddaya think?

Buying flowers sounds like a good move - and a sugar shaper is basically a grown-up version of DS's playdoh thing. Top tip, though - knead a bit of vegetable shortening (Trex, or similar) into the icing before shoving it through playdoh extruder otherwise you will break DS's precious toy struggle.

For a plain cake/ bowl-shaped cake all in one should be OK as long as the icing is not too thick - to be on the safe side, an american pound cake or madeira cake recipe is a heavier (and therefore stronger) alternative.

Ooh top tips, thanks. I am going to the cake making shop in a mo and may attempt the cake (madeira sounds like the best bet) on my return. I may need my hand held

OK 3 tier Madeira cake made and covered with green fondant and on cake board complete with demera sugar coated floor to Makka Pakkas' cave with only one bout of tears.

Tommorrows challenge; stars, letters, boulders etc

Oh well done! I think we need photos!

Of course when I've had a chance to cover up the mistakes with artfully placed decorations

OK. Stage one pic on profile. A bit lumpy and bumpy but OK. Slight problem with Makka Pakka, he's gone AWOL Have asked DH to scour shops for MP.

Next on the agenda is the fiddly bits. Will update.

It's looking really good. I like the strategically placed wine

Do you want more top tips?

• you can 'polish' the cake with the palm of your hand or the back of a spoon and a little cornflour

-strategically placed rocks, flowers, and grass are, of course, crucial

• for a really "professional" finish, glue/pin a ribbon around the edge of the board

Random question - do you have a steam cleaner? (you're intruiged now, aren't you?)

Ahem, the is medicinal

Am loving the top tips. Thankyou I'm intrigued by the cake polishing let alone the steam cleaner -I don't have one unfortunately.

polishing the cake does work (works even better with a cake smoother)

Steam was a tip I picked up from watching "cake boss" (on some strange channel in the middle of the night - it is my guilty pleasure TV when DH is away) - if you steam a finished cake, it slightly 'cooks' the fondant and you end up with a shinier, smoother finish (as on the pumpkin cake on my profile).

Wow! That's not a blardy cake - that's a work of art!

it was actually far quicker to make than other much less impressive cakes - 'twas made in a hurry for DS's school halloween party.

Right, stage 2 complete. Pic on profile.

it looks fantastic. Are you sure you haven't done this before [suspicious]?

how's the hunt for Makka Pakka going?