1st birthday cake

[pamelat]

Hello, am hoping that you can help me.

I have a week to make my daughters 1st birthday cake.

I have never made a cake before , well nothing more than a swiss roll or crumble and even then I need the receipe book.

However, I am keen to try and have time to make the effort (she is starting trials at nursery next week)

I am thinking that a fairly basic sponge cake with a face of cat or bear would be good. I have googled a few suggestions and whilst I get very impressive photos (which put some pressure on!) there isnt a guide as such.

I wondered if any experienced cake makers knew of a good sponge receipe and any decorating guidance? I have never iced anything in my life, well maybe at school but never properly.

Thank you

I have a basic cake recipe somewhere which someone on MN gave me a short while ago, if you want I can root it out for you?

I'm not very experienced when it comes to decorating so someone else would pobably be better to advise you about that but I'm making a Noah's Ark for my lo & am using ready-to-roll icing & colouring it with paste colours which are about £1.25 each colour on my local market.

The instructions tell you to add it to the icing bit by bit using a toothpick until yu get the colour you're after

I asked a while ago about doing a cake with a scene on it & someone suggested icing the cake, printing a template of whatever character/picture 'painting' it on the cake with the paste colours.

I think you can buy edible templates iirc, think I've seen something along those lines somewhere but not 100% sure.

The recipe I was given maks 1 small sponge . . .

50g butter/marg
50g caster sugar (I use whatever I have in usually though)
50g Self raising flour
1 egg

Mix butter & sugar. Add flour, then egg. Mix until smooth. Pour into greased tin & bake for 15 mins on 180C.

If you want a bigger cake then multiply the quantities.

hth & someone will probably come along with better advise but it's a start

sorry about missing letters btw, I type faster than my laptop can keep up with sometimes!

Oh thank you lucysmam

no probs, hope it's of some use to you . . . . I've written most of what I've been told on here down in a little book over the past year.

One thing though which never occurred to me . . . if you use ready-to-roll icing, dust the surface you're going to roll it on with plenty of icing sugar so it doesn't stick. I found this out doing our Xmas cake with it & couldn't figure why it kept sticking until MIL pointed it out to me

I forgot to say last night as well, if you're colouring the icing wear a pair of surgical type gloves or knead it in a food bag or you'll end up with coloured hands like I did after not listening to advice & thinking it couldn't be that hard to get off

Nigella's basic sponge www.folkmann.ca/2006/07/01/strawberry-sponge-cake. Using a magimix is good if you have one - saves your arms! I can make cakes but am hopelessly uncreative so fancy icing is beyond me and I tend to fill with cream and fruit (my twins 1st birthday cake was very like the one in the link - however their birthday is in the Summer so strawberries are everywhere). Next year I'm sure I'll be asking you all how to make a cake that looks like Dora the Explorer - and the other twin will definitely want Thomas the Tank Engine...

[takes hat off to Lucysmum - Noah's Ark...).

There's a Thomas cake on my profile. Was quite straight forward but time consuming.

I have a book with a simple Thomas the Tank in it that was my mums.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed 2toddlers, my practise play d'oh animals are still looking dodgy! Well, the elephant & girraffe are, the rest are ok but I'm getting emergency animals from £1 shop just in case

I have borrowed a book from the library, am feeling positive. I had set aside next Friday to do it because my DH was off work but he now has a job interview in London but fingers crossed!

You need to get yourself a copy of the Australian Women#s Weekly childrens birthday cake book - it is amazing! Will serve you well in years to come, promise!

BaDaBing, is that the one with the toadstool on the front? I looked at it a short while ago if it is. Is it really that good? I couldn't decide whether to get it or not but could possibly be persuaded

I have the one with a ladybird cake on the front - but I think there is an older version with a toadstool (and one with a train possibly as well) They are all great books for novices - very easy to make but look fab

I have made my cake!!! I am trying to insert the photo. Not sure how to do it.
Do I have to save it to a website address first, in which case I can't do that. Oh its on facebook though, let me see if I can link it

www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=72328&id=660862031

Does this work??

Its a bit messier than I hoped (with the pink icing) but am relatively pleased with it.

Annoyingly the retangular iced biscuits that I needed have been discontinued, which I only realised after buying every other thing.

Honest opinions are ok.

am not sure it works anyway its ok but messy!

you have to be friends to be able to see the picture, I was just looking for this thread to ask how it went

Hello lucysmam, it went really well thank you. I just dont know how to post a photo. It took me a lot longer than the book suggested (3 hours instead of 40 mins!) but everyone loved it. I have a photo but have no idea how you upload it on here?!

Ha, maybe I will try to put it on my profile page, one second. x

I have no idea how you put apicture on profile either, glad it went well for you though.

Totally agree with BaDaBing - the Australian Womens Weekly book is AMAZING. I have made many of their creations. It is a prebirthday ritual: getting the book down and letting the birthday child flick through the pages to choose their cake. They take it so seriously LOL and is cause of big discussion for several days before the final decision is made.
The recipes are easy, lovely big pics and so easy to adapt to whatever you want. Really recommend it.

(I cheat btw - although I cook and bake a lot, I buy the cake and assemble and decorate -the fun bit!) I find madeira cake the easiest to use for any shaped cakes as the dense texture holds better.

I think I have put the cake on my profile?!

nope, no cake I've just finished mine, will try & put a picture on tomorrow & post instructions if I manage

Hello again, if you click on my name and scroll down to pictures and click again, then I think its there now. At least I can see it.

Will look for yours soon

aaah, I have athought, do you have your profile set so that other people can't see it maybe? As it won't show it to me

ah well spotted, it should work now!

cracked it! It's fab, did your lo like it?

Thank you. I think DD was a lot more intertested in the candle than the cake!!

My DH and my mum were impressed though.

What about yours?