Making a birthday cake for the first time..few questions

[geordieminx]

Which is easier to ice with ready roll icing - square or round?

Do I make one cake and split it or 2 seperate?

Do I buy green icing or white and colour it with a touch of food colouring?

Planning on sandwiching together with jam and buttercream (butter & icing sugar?) or is there something better?

Many Thanks!

hopeful bump

Round is easier to cover than square as the icing can be moulded more easily on the arc than on a corner. Baking one cake and slicing is OK, but there are advantages to baking two cakes in that you have two baked edges to (slightly) hold back the moistening effect of the filling. You don't want the cake to start getting soggy whilst you are taking the time to ice it. I suppose it depends on how soon before the party you are going to do the icing. That morning, OK; the previous day, not so good.

I would go for -
Two cakes, not one split.
Green food colouring (can you even buy green icing?)
Never tried ready to roll icing so can't comment.
Butter and icing sugar filling sounds great.
Good luck.

you can buy just about any colour (apparently.) needs to look like grass?

Yes, if you don't already have, buy yourself 2 x 20cm round removable base cake sandwich tins.

This place do ready made icing every colour under the sun

Jam and buttercream sound yum. I'd go raspberry jam and use soft butter and sieved icing sugar.

round? Confused now.

yes round as opposed to square. 20cm diameter

Sorry, thought someone had said square... I see not.

Is it worth getting expensive decent tins?

I'm sure lots of people will have a different view on this, but I use DH's grandmother's old tins which don't have a removeable base, and never have any probs. TBH, as long as you grease and line them well, it doesn't really matter.

If you are nervous about taking them out of the tins, then the removeable bases do make it easier. Maybe try Lakeland or John Lewis.

Tin not silicon?

Sorry, its turning into 20 questions isnt it?

Invest in a couple of good metal, non stick loose bottom tins,
John lewis is very good, but the main thing is you need ones that feel 'heavy'
I have never tried silicone but I feel they may be wobbly when transferring to the oven.
I have had my tins for years, but i also line with non stick baking parchment , just in case.
IME you can't beat jam and butter cream YUM!

I prefer tin, but then I have never really tried silicon (old person emotion)

Buy the green ready roll icing. If you buy white and colour it then I would not recommend green food colouring a the liquid of it changes the consistency of the ready roll. If you are going to colour it yourself then buy coloured paste. Be warned though, it takes ages to work the colour in if you go for this approach.

Sounds like green icing is the way to go - thanks.

I know it sounds like I am a complete imbicile, I'm not.. honest! I actually can cook - quite well actually, I just havent made a birthday cake before. Its ds's 3rd - I just want it to be nice. and prove to my mother that she isnt the only one that can do cakes

Any more tips would be appreciated... am thinking of doing Nigella's butter milk cake, as a lot of people have recommended it.

IME buy any book by Mary Berry She may not be famous or on telly but her recipes work 100% of the time It's full of really helpful advice and I love it and the kids cook from it now without supervision.

In fact, when i was in hospital for a very extended stay my then 9 year old entertained herself and fed me, by way of food parcels and her younger sister from Mary Berry

She really is the best, and we ARE not related.

She has v.good baking bible out at the moment.

I am amazed lots of people recommend Nigella's buttermilk cake - its the worst cake I've ever made, and I make a lot of cakes.

I'd just do a Victoria Sponge the trad way - cream butter and sugar add eggs gradually, fold in flour etc. Not food processor. IME, food processor cakes are only OK if they don't need to rise, eg almond cakes etc.

Oh crap, well thats just thrown me re Nigellla...

I havent got a food processor - havent even got a electric hand whisk - is it worth buying one?

Sorry to jump in, but I love cakes, make and eat many

Definetly get a hand mixer, i'll make it so much easier to get a light texture, plus it makes making the cake so much quicker too

You can get them fairly cheaply from the supermarket.

Hope the cake making goes well

yes. I have this Kenwood one - £15.

Use mine for nearly every cake

If I was rich I'd get a KitchenAid tabletop mixer. But I'd rather spend the £300 on something else.......

thank you!

Geordie...

If you are going to cover a sponge cake with fondant and butter cream, then I would suggest you make a madeira cake which is a little firmer on the outside which is better imo when trying to coat in buttercream. You will probably need two coats of buttercream before you put the fondant on. Put one coat on then put it in the fridge to harden slightly for about an hour then do another coat and stick back in the fridge for another hour.

I would actually buy a paste rather than use food colouring - you will get a better colour. You need to add it a small amount at a time using a cocktail stick, knead then keep adding until you achieve the green that you need.

Alternatively, in any good cake decorating shop you can actually buy the fondant already coloured.

I agree though, Mary Berry's cakes work every time.

If you need a recipe for a madeira cake, I will be happy to post one from one of my cake books.

for a basic madeiara/sponge cake do this,

put the oven on and get your tins ready,

1.weigh your eggs (out of the shell der!!)
2.weigh exactly the same anount of self raising flour, caster sugar and soft butter(or stork marg)
3.add a very scant 1/2 tsp of baking powder for each egg

1. beat everything together with an electric mixer until combined, about a minute

it should look creamy and all the same colour.

scrape into the tins and bake

for a 2 tier sandwich cake use 3 or 4 eggs
An egg weighs about 2oz, depending on size.

bake for about 20 to 25 mins at 180 c but do look at your own oven cook book.

it will be ready when you can lightly press the top of the sponge and it 'springs' back

p.s also add a few drops of vanilla essence at the mixing stage

Thanks - will give that a try.

Bit confused by Bellevita's post - was only planning on covering it in apricot jam, then a layer of shop bought rolled icing (in green) - is this wrong?

The butter cream just makes it extra yummy, but it can make the cake surface very slippy slidey, iyswim, unless you put it in the fridge to firm up as bella suggested.

You may find it easier to get the icing to stay put if you stick with jam.
it will also be a bit quicker for you if you're busy on party day.

(depending on cake you can always put alayer of butter cream just in the middle.)

BTW are you making a birthday cake for someone special?

Geordie, tis a bit like I suppose having something nice under the fondant like you would say marzipan. It also helps to cover any uneven lumps bumps on the cake too.

There are two pics on my profile - one of them is a cake I made for my dad last year, that has buttercream underneath. The other has marzipan.

i'm gonna have a trial run next week so will give it a bash. Ideally the easiest, most effective, nicest looking is what i want to go for..

Its ds's 3rd birthday, but just a wee family tea so it doesnt have to be perfect. I will use my photography skills to make it look better before i upload to fb.