cake decorating genius types...i am less than novice standard

[PublicHair]

but determined! so, i've decided to make my dcs birthday cakes now (or decorate them)
so far i've done a cat (which was ok) a dinosaur (disaster) and a number one (which looked like a massive penis and a pair of testicles)
dd likes 'the usual' girly things, can anyone recommend something easy that i don't need shed loads of 'stuff' for.
I am happy to buy a few madeiras\swiss rolls\swiss roll sponge type things and just sculpt and decorate ! please and thanks in advance.

how old?
i did peppa pig; cut shape out of two round cakes and then did red icing for her dress and mixed then mixed in with white icing for the face, arms where just icing piped and then did eyes etc with writing icing

• pippi longstocking might work for someone a bit older

• witches hat for MOG, harry potter

Round cake, pink icing, jelly sweets and edible glitter. Even better, let her do the sweeties and glitter bit herself then it doesn't matter if it looks atrocious

she's 4. i did the 'round cake pink icing and sweets' last year.
i am not kidding you, she overheard me telling dp the cake was 'pretty crap if i am honest' and when we walked in with it with candles ablaze she dissolved into hysteria saying 'i don't want a pretty crap if i am honest cake- why is it pretty crap'

is there a website with step by step idiot proof stuff i can follow as i can't imagine how 2 round sponges look like peppapig (sorry!)

trace peppa's face and then a circle of roughly the same size, put one on top of the other and then you will see what needs to be cut out to get the basic shape. Do the same for the dress

she's just said a butterfly cake... any ideas!

Two heart shaped pans make a butterfly cake. Google easy butterfly cake there are loads of step by step easy ones. When I get on the lappy later (without DD trying to rip the keys off) I'll post a link to the one I'm doing for her bday next week.

Two heart shaped pans make a butterfly cake. Google easy butterfly cake there are loads of step by step easy ones. When I get on the lappy later (without DD trying to rip the keys off) I'll post a link to the one I'm doing for her bday next week.

My DD had a butterfly cake a couple of years ago. I made a round cake and iced it then added loads of these edible butterflies from ebay although I bought mine at a local cake decorating shop. Before I attached them (with a tiny blob of buttercream) I coated them in cake decorators glitter.

Do you have a heart shape tin?

I did a butterfly for dd's last birthday.

Make three heart shape sponges (not sandwich or it will be huge!) and a couple of cupcakes or mini rolls.

Cut one heart in half down the middle for the top wings and the two whole hearts for the bottom wings and the cupcakes/ mini rolls for the body.

Either ice with the pre coloured, pre rolled icing or a load of coloured butter icing and sweets/chocolates. Writing icing on the cake board for the anntene.

(Grr bloody phone!)

A princess cake is fairly easy. There are loads on YouTube. Bake cake in pudding bowl, ice upside down as skirt, stick Doll in top. Sorted.

I you don't have a heart, a circle cut in half, swapped and placed side by side with a swiss roll works just as well. Just cut V shapes sideways in the flat side of the half circle. If you're a basic decorator buttercream might be easier for you than roll-out. Or you can buy ready made frosting for a couple of pound in asda and tesco. Straberry laces makes great antennae

I make all my cakes in a rectangular roasting pan lined with greaseproof paper, and then covered in icing with toys stuck in. So the 'fire fighter' cake had a toy fire engine and little tools and things (or choke hazards, if you like to see them that way) decorating it. The 'knights and dragons' cake had a plastic dragon sitting in nest made out of chocolate sticks with ELC knights attacking it. You get the picture.

brilliant, i've just spent a fortune on cake decorations and glitter on ebay!

i will have to borrow cake tins as i have lost mine (or binned them in a fit of pique when my cakes go wrong) which is best recipe for an easy cake\filling\topping. plain but fairly long lasting sponge (so wont dry out)

This is for a 10" square or a rectangle roasting tin. Its a lovely cake and lasts at least a week in an airtight tin

350g Butter/margarine
350g Caster sugar
350g SR flour
7 eggs
1tsp Vanilla extract

Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour and mix thoroughly. Add vanilla

Bake for 1hr - 1hr 15 at 160 gas mark 2-3

you may need to reduce the baking time for the rectangle, so check after 50 mins.