Fucked up DS1's 18th birthday cake - now what?

[BoffinMum]

Right, I had the bright idea of quadrupling a Delia Victoria Sponge recipe, sticking it in a roasting tin, and baking it for a bit longer than a small round one, in order to feed about 30 people at the party tomorrow. However something went very wrong and it turned out like the Quatermass experiment with cake mix everywhere dripping down the oven, and hence has had to be binned. I think I may have put too much or too little flour in (in my defence DH started talking to me while I was measuring so I may have made the mistake then).

Anyone got a completely foolproof way of making a cake for 30 from ingredients available from local petrol stations (supermarkets around here seem to be closed)? I need to make it today so I can ice it tomorrow (hopefully that will go better than the baking did). It is supposed to be a Hawaiian themed party, by the way.

I can't help recipe-wise, but supermarkets wise, Tesco and Sainsbury's are keeping big stores open until 6pm, smaller ones until 10pm, and Morrisons are open until 7pm, if that helps :)

Can I suggest making one normal sizes cake, beautifully decorated, then cake for everyone else in whatever tines you have around, and iced in the basic icing of the big cake?

I also don't recommend doing more than doubling a recipie at a time. Better to do it twice.

Big cakes usually take a LOT a nger, on a lower temperature.

Off to get more supplies in that case.

That is, cakes take a lot longer when bigger, but need a lower temperature...

I can't make it fit with a Hawaiian theme but pile of brownies with birthday candles stuck in them is easy to make in required amount and has the virtue of being popular with teens?

DesertorDessert, I did not know that about temp/cooking time and it explains the disaster!

Off to Tesco now to see what I can lay my hands on. Might make two cakes actually, and glue them together with icing, and create some sort of beach effect with ready-made icing etc.

See if you can get some brown sugar and blue food dye. Can make beach from the sugar, and sand from the brown sugar - just press into soft icing with your palm.

Agree. Just making one cake, then another, or cupcakes is probably now best.
Bet it will look fab whatever.

Could you do a big pavlova and top with tropical fruits and some Malibu cream or something? Meringue is usually easier to bake in large quantities.

Can you Google cooking times? I'm sure u have seen them somewhere.

Or bake lots of cakes, squish into bakingbtin in chunks and ice?

Have returned from Tesco with lots of stuff.

DD just icing flip flop biscuits we have just made, I have made some fairy cakes and put chocolate frosting on them with marshmallows and sprinkles and gold dust. I am about to make two large Victoria sponges of normal size, which I will probably put side by side and create a beach scene with coloured icing. Like the idea of brown sugar for sand and I have some of that. Distinct absence of cocktail umbrellas in Tesco tonight but I could try Waitrose tomorrow perhaps. We have a lone cocktail umbrella DS4 got given at a restaurant the other day that could be repurposed. Off to make the mix now and I will report back in a bit.

New Victoria sponges have ended up very flat so I am thinking of making a single four-layered cake now and decorating that, although it will only feed about half the people it is meant for. Then I could do some extra muffins by the side.

Prob too late but crushed digestives make great sand and Royal icing with blue tint not quite mixed in, is your sea. (And if available, palm trees can be made from Lego)

If you're anywhere near a Tiger they sell cocktail umbrellas, and probably Hawaiian themed goods. I'm sure I've seen them in another supermarket recently, possibly Asda or Sainsbury's.

Beach themed cupcakes look easy - a bit of blue icing or crushed biscuits for sand, a cocktail umbrella and an icing flip flip or she'll, if you have the time.

OK, the replacement cakes I made ended even flatter. I have no idea what's happened to my baking lately! So I went to Waitrose first thing and they had not one but two orange and yellow special cakes that I think someone else had not collected, reduced to £10 each! What a coup! So I am going to cut out fish and things from ready to roll coloured icing to decorate them.

Meanwhile I think I will bake some more muffin things and flip flop biscuits to pad things out. DD suggested we decorate one of the muffins with the bush tucker challenge mealworms DS got for Christmas as a joke and see if anyone is brave enough to eat one!

We are currently marinating a load of belly pork ribs and chopping up corn on the cob into halves that we will cook in the oven for them as well later on (I thought a traditional Hawaiian hog roast would be a bit excessive for 30 people!!)

The plastic coconuts are all set out in rows ready for the Mai Tais we are making later, also to be served to guests on arrival. Sadly all cocktail umbrellas within a three mile radius seem to have sold out completely but there are silk flowers on the plastic coconuts which look nice.

DS3 (6) is practising saying 'Aloha' and putting flower garlands on people ready for the welcoming at the front door, that being his job.

I had the bright idea of quadrupling a Delia Victoria Sponge recipe, sticking it in a roasting tin, and baking it for a bit longer than a small round one, in order to feed about 30 people at the party tomorrow.

That sounds PERFECTLY SENSIBLE. Just make sure there is room for it to rise.

After the second disaster, I think maybe you should get an oven thermometer and see if your oven really is the heat that it thinks it is.

Wow. so you're having orange and yellow cakes, flat gone wrong cakes, fairly cakes and muffins? Can I come?

Well, the party went off OK and the cakes were all appreciated!

However despite my 10-minute debauchery controls, there was one small hospitalisation. A mere slip of a girl who had apparently skipped lunch and dinner managed to down a lot of mango vodka on an empty stomach and ended up being carried into the kitchen by two very sweet and respectful lads at 11pm, who apologised to us profusely for one of their number being silly. She then proceeded to throw up several times on the kitchen floor, whilst muttering 'Don't ring my parents!' but then she muttered 'Mum" before more or less passing out, so her parents collected her at our request. Later on she was apparently even poorlier so they took her to A and E to be checked out (which frankly I was on the verge of doing anyway) but it apparently really was just mango vodka and she was OK and discharged soon afterwards.

A more amusing occurrence was when I was doing one of my rounds and I was socialising a bit and standing near another group of girls, and one said in a loud voice "I didn't bring any drugs as I knew DS's mum would be here" with me right behind her and her friends having expressions of horror on their faces. She then turned around, realised what she had done, and fled, much to my amusement, with the words "I think that's probably wise" from me ringing in her ears. It was very funny.

Overall, however, most of the kids behaved impeccably and there was some deeply impressive clearing up afterwards from a few of them who stayed over. I was genuinely amazed. One of them hoovered like a Dervish, and the carpet went from looking like the Battle of the Somme to almost pristine in about 10 minutes.

Luckily DS2 has announced he will not be requiring a large-scale 18th birthday party so we are safe for a while now.

PS One snack that went down surprisingly well was the chocolate muffins with Bushtucker trail mealie worms and crickets on, in case anyone else is planning an 18th involving young men and beer.

Well done!

Not sure if be so chilled about the blatent reference to drug use though. Am I just horribly out of touch?

It sounds like you hosted a great party. Shame about mango vodka girl, she just sounds stupid. Although I do have to hand it to her that those flavoured vodkas are so gross that I struggle to drink even one shot, let alone enough to make me that sick.

I wouldn't necessarily be concerned with the drugs comment. She could mean anything from high grade crystal meth to weed to poppers. Drugs are everywhere nowadays. There are certainly no schools where it isn't at least spoken about. There is often a limited social circle in which you can socialise as a teenager and quite often 'friends' have nothing in common beyond having the ability to spend a lot of time together. Just because one person is doing drugs, it doesn't mean that your DS is going anywhere near them. I would probably mention the incident to DS in a casual way and see if he volunteers any more information that you could make a judgement with.