Do u buy or make your childrens birthday cakes

[fairydust]

It's dd birthday next week.

I have never ever baked a cake but love the idea of making her one.

How many of you make your own or would i be better off going to sainsburys???

Is there anyone else who can bake cakes but can't decorate them? I can get away with it at Xmas (snow scene) but wouldn't risk for DD's b'day. She had the Angelina Ballerina cake from M&S, their cake is actually edible.

Found a great solution to this dilemma - for DD's 3 rd birthday - used shop bought swiss rolls to make a number 3 shape then iced it with butter icing (very easy) and covered it in loads of sweets. Mum's were impressed it looked home made and the kids didn't care what the cake tasted like, they just wanted the sweets.

how do i make butter icing????

I love that idea lucysmum

lucysmum what a great idea. My ds2 is 3 in June and I love the sound of this. How many swiss rolls did you use for a "3" ?

Also thought about making a swiss roll/sweetie train - but this sounds easier !

Or you could buy a load of choc mini rolls and decorate to look like a train.....in a long row. Decorate with sweets.

For butter cream....4oz butter 8oz icing sugar...whack it in the whizzer and blitz. Add a bit of milk depending on the consistency.

One of my faves is to make a big round choc cake and decorate with white choc buttons to look like a clock, putting the numbers on with icing pens. You can then add a white choc mouse and you have Hickory Dickory Dock!

If i added food colouring to the icing would it still tirn out???

Message withdrawn

And I make chocolate cupcakes for ds1 to take to school (tomorrow, birthday on Saturday) and then the horrible, ungrateful little so n' so goes "oh WHAT have you made those for? I don't want to take those to school. No-one else takes cakes. I want to take something different." And I just feel like cancelling his birthday 'cos he is such an argumentative litle s*d at the moment. And I have spent all day trailing round the shops for his presents, party food, party bag stuff etc. with the migraine to end all migraines and his teething, whingey brother and I am FED UP. So there. I am a BAD MUM. Is the bar open yet? I need intravenous vodka.

There is a local hardware/gift/kitchenware/all sorts of stuff shop that hires out number cake tins - well, it used to anyway - dd1 and dd2's birthdays are 4 days and 3 years apart - one glorious year they were 9 and 6 and had a joint party and I USED THE SAME TIN!!!!

I was so excited when I realised I could start baking b'day cakes again - I cooked all of little brothers til I left home (when he was c. 10). Ds got a duck this year for his first b'day cos his first & favourite word was gak!

For shape, go for anything that is predominantly round or rectangular & keep it simple (although I did once do a map of Germany - took some time!)

Recipes are sooooo easy: put 3 or 4 eggs on the scales and check the weight. Then put in the same quantities of self raising flour, sugar, and margarine. Bung everything in together and mix (in a mixer). You can add cocoa or colouring for a really cool cake. Put it in greased baking tins in the oven at a high temperature. Take it out after half an hour when it is beginning to come away from the edge or bounces back when you press down on it.

For butter icing seive some icing sugar, mix in about half the weight in marg. Mix it until its smooth. If it looks like icing, it's right, if not add more of either. As a rule you need more than you think of the icing, and less than you think of the colouring!

I love making cakes. Anyone wantone right now?

Janh . That's what i call timing !

Aside from the chocolate cake sewer, I've done a chocolate fudge cake sheep (Cake iced with chocolate fudge icing then add white fondant icing rolled into curls for the wool.) a chocolate fudge cake zebra (I'm sure you can work this one out!) a pile of chocolate muffins and a chocolate fudge cake pirate ship.

Can anyone spot a theme here...?

When I proudly showed the zebra to DS1 (just before his 2nd birthday) and asked him what it was, he said "chocolate cake". I don't know why I bother...

I am rubbish at baking (can cook just not bake) so DD's cake are not done by me. Last year's (1st birthday) was baked by her great grandma and had MIL's friend make her Christening cake. This year's (month's time) not sure about but will probably buy. Not sure where from yet though.

Expatkat, I'm a Londoner and I didn't know you could make cakes, I thought they grew on trees owned by M&S! Its my daughter's first birthday today and she's got a catterpillar one for manhandling, candles, singing and ooohing. When family come round we'll have a bit of a tea (bagels & smoked salmon etc) put together by my husband. I can't cook and my husband does all the cooking (he likes it and is good at it). Now I've read this I might have a go for her second birthday, so that gives me a year to plan ahead!