I want to bake a cake with pretty icing for DD's birthday and I have NO idea where to start

[kenobi]

I'm looking to do a basic cake with that thick icing that I can shape into a farm scene (will buy pigs, cows etc as decoration, just thinking icing for sky and grass).

My questions are VERY many - I cook a lot but bake rarely!

If I cook a Victoria sponge, will the jam and cream in the middle stop the icing from sticking? Or should I do a different type of cake?

How does the icing stick anyway?!

What kind of icing do I buy - there seems to be a few types? (Don't want to make own, step too far)

Are there good websites for things like farm animals to put on cakes?! I'm relatively creative but don't have the kind of time I'd like to give to this so any short cuts would be great.

any help/suggestions etc gratefully accepted.

Also, if I want to feed 15 (10 adults, 5 toddler), how big does the cake need to be?

• Victoria sponge is fine. I would just put jam- no cream in the middle to keep it neat/easy to ice or just bake a single layer cake - e.g. like a big rectangle slab of victoria sponge, to ice it like a farm.

Roll out icing is easy, you probably won't find a big slab of green in the shops so buy white and knead green food colouring in (it will be a bit pale, that's just the way it is...) or ice the cake with green icing then paint it with green food colouring. Brush the cake all over with some watered down jam (apricot traditionally) to stick it on.

Or use soft icing (make your own buttercream or out of tub) and spread it with a big knife. Making buttercream icing isn't hard btw. If you can make a cake you can do this.

If you get descicated coconut and shake it up in a bag with some green food colouring it makes good grass. sprinkle it all over the icing.

I am imagining you are going to make a farm scene - green icing with plastic cows etc.. on the top, and little sugar flowers? You don't really need sky in that case. Maybe make a farm fence out of curly wurlies or chocolate fingers all around the outside of the cake, sticking up over the edge? Tie some green/flowery ribbon around the outside.

Oh I love you himalaya - dyed coconut for grass, never would have thought of that or curlywurly for fence. How would the curlywurly/fingers stick? Just press it in firmly then with ribbon?

What about size? I've had a good look on the interweb but can't find measurements.

If I make buttermilk then I guess I just stick on bought flowers and animals? What's regal icing btw?

pst, lakeland sell big blob of ready to roll icing in all colours...
make a simple buttercream to stick the roll out icing on. alternatively colour the butter cream and use that as base.

to stick things to the icing cover of the cake just mix icing sugar with a few drops of lemon juice and use this as 'glue'.

Icing sugar as glue - check.

The more I look at it I see buttercream is the way forward. Probably tastier too?

Hobbycraft sell coloured regal icing too...I used the green regal icing to ice dd1's football pitch birthday cake and if I can do it anyone can!!!

just coloured butter cream is def. easier (and tastier), but it will be sticky i.e. hard to transport and messy to cut.

I think that you should do a madeira, not a sponge cake. An eight-inch cake should (just) go into 16 small slices. A madeira will be easier to slice than a sponge which might just collapse into a squidgy, crumbly mess if you try to cut it that small. The madeira will be more 'robust' as a counter to all that icing and animals and chocolate fences. Also sponge should be eaten when it is freshly made - it will not be good for your stress levels if you are trying to assemble your 'farm' on the day. A madeira can be made in advance (in fact, some say don't eat freshly made, leave it 24hours) and decorated at your leisure.
If you are worried about there being enough to go round then either

• make it larger than 8"
• make it three tier or
• bring out the cake for the sing-song and candles and then whisk it off to the kitchen 'to cut it up'. In the kitchen you have a second, identical cake so there is plenty to go round.

oooh ok senua. What's a madeira cake? Has it got sherry in it?

You're right, I don't want to be doing it on the day.

LOL @ sherry. Fraid not. It does not contain madeira, it is meant to be eaten as an accompaniment to your tipple.
Health&Safety notice: do not serve sherry to toddlers. You will get normal party madness x100!

Madeira is very similar to sponge, and is made in the same way. Your cookbook should have the recipe or look here.

What size and shape tin are you planning to use? Then we can work out how much cake mixture:)

I don't find a problem doing it the day before and putting it in a tin or something - I have a large tupperware container that will take cake and the plate it's on. Even a foil tent.

Buttercream sets a little by the next day. Oh, do remember to let the cake cool before spreading it with buttercream!

Thanks senua

nose - round but I'm loving the curly wurly fence idea!

And diameter ot tin(s)?

Another advantage of doing it previous day is if cake goes wrong, you can make another. Voice of Experience.

Was going to buy a tin based on advice. See, I really don't bake...

will measure my tins when I have a mo.

If you've got a deep-ish roasting tin, you can use that to bake the cake in - just grease it and line it with paper. Might be easier to make a farmyard out of a rectangle, and to cut up after?

Yes I would tend to go for rectangular. I have a nice square loose-bottomed cake tin which I use for gingerbread.

If you do colour your own icing try and get food dye in the form of paste rather than liquid, as I have learnt from bitter experience if you add liquid you also have to add icing sugar to soak it up which is a pita.

Have you thought about making a round cake and forming a hill (my cakes normally have a bump on the top anyway!) cover it with your coloured buttercream then you could buy a bag of cheap plastic farm animals to stand on it. If you used a bit of blue icing you could even add a duck pond. You could also stand choc fingers/curly wurly around the outside to make the fence. I did a similar thing with dinosaurs for ds and added some fake trees, a blue icing pond and royal icing volcano.

Sorry, tend to get a bit carried away with cake!!

My smaller tins are 7in, and will do for a 2 egg or 3 egg Victoria sponge.

I don't line them, just grease them carefully then shake some flour in the tin so it forms a thin coating over the base and sides.

I also let them cool in the tin for 5-10 min before trying to turn them out. If despite all this, some sticks, you can usually get it off with a knife and fit it back in.

Thanks everyone. Just quickly, will two 7 in tins do 15, bearing in mind there will be other stuff to eat?

It depends how much people like cake.

2 7 in tins - you usually divide the mixture between the two, I would use a 3 egg quantity, bake and then sandwich, so makes 1 cake.

I have found little people take cake and then don't eat it, quite often I used to finish it off for them but for 15 larger people I would make 2.

ps if you don't have a cooling rack, the grill rack will do - using a rack stops it going soggy

Thanks nose - in fact, thanks everyone.

I'll post a pic of my efforts on the weekend!

I made my cake! Thanks for all your help. It's on my profile if anyone wants to see. x

Looks great! Good job!