Making a Cake for DS's birthday... and i cannot bake! help !

[mankymummy]

Looked at the price of birthday cakes yesterday and nearly fell through the floor...

How practical would it be to make one myself? I cannot bake cakes, have no cake tins but wondered about buying some normal sponge cakes and then icing it myself...

Any ideas anyone? will it work out cheaper / will it just look naff?

Any advice/ideas very gratefully received...

how old is ds?

If I can make a cake then anyone can make a cake. Honestly it's not that bad. But yes....how old is he?

Wouldnt it be cheaper to buy it in Sainsbury or Asda? Royal Icing is not that easy. Unless you make chocolate icing, which is simple. cocoa powder, icing sugar and margarine, dash of hot coffee (so cheap and simple) Or a cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese, margarine and icing sugar. You will come out slightly cheaper than buying. Maybe they even do these ready made?

The cake tin is expensive. Unless you can borrow one. I agree that baking is simple. But buying all the ingredients and the tin is not cheap. Baking yourself is cheap if you do it regularly and already have all that you need.

they do ready made icing in tubs ready to spread but it isn't cheap either

I'd buy a cake, make simple icing (glacé or buttercream) for the top and then use sweets to outline (and maybe fill in as well) a big 5 or whatever.

Bake in your roasting tin then trim the edges (or if you're feeling clever cut it into the shape of the number of his birthday. Cover with icing et voila!)

MrsB...he will be 3. Great idea re the sweets...

Quintessential... they are ridiculously expensive for the novelty ones, even in Asda. i like the idea of the chocolate icing. margarine? not butter?

I dont know anyone who has any baking tins.

Is it easy to ice? with the chocolate icing do i need anything underneath it or just put it straight on to the cake with a knife?

I thought about cheating with an ice-cream cake but no idea how I'd do this and would it be a disaster at a party? I'm envisaging lots of ice-cream covered kids and very miffed parents!

ooh MarsLady... i like the idea of that !

Anyone have a real fool-proof recipe that would work in a baking tin?

6oz butter
6oz sugar
3 eggs
6 oz SR flour

Beat sugar and butter. Add eggs. Fold in flour.

I love baking and the nicest cake which my boys loved was this one and then decorated with choc buttons in the numbers of a clock.

I bought the icing pens and put numbers on the buttons and iced in the hands.

They thought I was a genius!

If you really cannot be bothered then the cheapest bought cake is the caterpillar cake which is £4.99 in most supermarkets.

It might be worth investing in cake tins though if you think you might bake regularly.

Mankymummy, I use Stork especially for baking. Cheaper than regular. Whatever is left is also good to spread on the bread, and frying. I cant remeber how much I use of each inredient but I think 2-3 table spoon of Regia baking chocolate and a few hundred grams of icing sugar and half a stork. All my recipies are in boxes (moved)

This is a good website for recipies: allrecipies.com

I cant find icing like I describe though... Pity, as it is the simplest way of making a really nice chocolate icing, fast, with just a few ingredients!

Collision's recipe is good. Add a couple of teaspoons of baking powder and 4tbsp of milk and you'll be away.

If you want it to be a chocolate cake add 3 tbsps cocoa powder. If you melt a bar of chocolate you can pour it over the top.

i've found some very reasonable madeira cake that i think i will buy 3 of and stick them together and then decorate. i just know if i try and bake i will get myself in such a tizz.

i think i might try the chocolate frosting idea with maybe some melted chocolate poured on now Mars has put it in my mind !

does that sound ok?

It does but you know... baking isn't that hard. You just have to give it a go.

If you want the chocolate to set smoothly pour a quick dollop of oil into the melted chocolate. I'd put the candles in immediately otherwise the chocolate will set hard and you won't get them in.

ooh lovely tips... thanks MarsLady.

i think i will try making a cake but maybe not when trying to organise a party for 20 kids at the same time!

There is a first time for everything, but if you dont feel comfortable baking for this particular birthday, give it a go when the pressure is off, just for a fun day with your ds on a rainy day. He can eat the results, and you will be supermummy extraordinaire (at least until the last crumb is gone....)

There is a first time for everything, but if you dont feel comfortable baking for this particular birthday, give it a go when the pressure is off, just for a fun day with your ds on a rainy day. He can eat the results, and you will be supermummy extraordinaire (at least until the last crumb is gone....)

I can now bake lovely Victoria sandwich cakes thanks to Jane Asher's book 'Beautiful Baking' - great tips. Until finding this book, I thought I could not make birthday cakes. Her recipe works! Thanks Jane!

Toppings which are liked: smarties, hundreds/thousands, chocolate buttons (you can get large ones now - they are fab on fairy cakes).

I have noticed that giving each child a fairy cake (not making a big cake) is now the in thing around here!

Good luck!

Betty Crocker cake mix is your friend! I am no baker either, but they are so easy to make and absolutely moist and delicous!

Once you have the cake, you can decorate and do all the fun stuff to your heart's content without having to worry about hiding the fact that it is as flat as a pancake

If you feel like fgivcing it a go tyourself another time, what you want to do is make a Madeira cake beforehand and then freeze it. Or it will even keep fine for a week if wrapped properly. And if you use fondant icing you can let the iced cake stand for a few days - so no last minute rushing!

i got some sandwich tins in sainsbury's basics range which i think were 99p each. they have served me very well (nigella lawson coconut cake with malibu in the icing...mmmm).

you should definitely give it a go once the part pressure's off

party pressure