thinking of making a panda cake for ds's 1st birthday...

[PhDlifeNeedsaNewLife]

is there such a thing as black food coloring? would it be, like, the worst thing to give a 1yo? is there a better option?

also I've never made a shapey kind of cake before, at least not without a shape tin. Should I make cake night before, then cut the next day? are there any secret tips/tricks I should know?

and most importantly, is this going to make me way stressed?

I've used black food colouring (made a race track cake last year) but couldn't get it black only dark grey. sainsburys sell different colours of ready made icing - might be worth having a look.

I made black. It was easy. I used alot of the colouring in a smallest amount of icing sugar. And I bought one of the expensive brands of food colouring, from Tescos or Sainsburys, not their home brand.
Food colouring is totally safe, no harm done to little ones - plus remmeber it is only a very small % of the cake - mostly sponge. Don't worry. It will be fine.

If you can get to a cake decorating shop you can buy a food colouring paste that will colour a proper black. Otherwise i would buy ready coloured.

Sainsburys sell great tubes of ready stuff. Easy. Cheap.

Yes black food colouring is very messy but the tubes are good and actually for bears give a kind of fluffy look to it. I made a bear cake for DDs 1st birthday by making some round cakes and cutting them up into - 1 big round body, 1 small round head and then using the leftovers for four round paws and 2 ears. Drwa a picture first so you can see what you're trying to achieve. Failing that some cake shops will hire tine in shapes like bears - but they tend to be miles away and a bit pricely for a one off.

tbh I wouldn't bother for a 1yo! just a nice chocolate cake with a candle on will be lovely. my DD never liked anything with loads of sugary icing on anyway. save yourself the time and effort...

MissKubelik is right

you are mad
she is one
she doesn;t know birthdays are meant to involve cake
make a normal cake (or buy one) and stick a candle in it

You make a round chocolate cake with chocolate icing and add white details with cut out fondant icing. You don't need to faff about with black icing or shaped cakes.

Î would make chocolate butter icing for the dark bits(i.e. melt butter and dark chocolate together) and not bother with black colouring.

If you're having people round, I think I'd have a frozen cake in the freezer as a back-up in case it doesn't work out, then you don't get all stressed about it.

Good luck with it!

I agree with those who think you are mad doing this for a 1-year old. Both of mine were completely oblivious on their first birthdays and smeared most of the cake on my trousers. I think the 1st birthday is much more for the parents (Hurray! We've managed to keep him/her alive for a whole year!). Crack open the champagne and wait till he's 3.

thank you for those advising the lazy sensible option I'd kind of come to that conclusion myself, it was just that the idea of it sounded so damn fun. [needs to get out more emoticon]