A few years ago I started making cakes for the kids birthdays. I have always liked baking but to make the cake look like something other than a cake is so cool.
The twins 4th birthday
After attending a course in how to decorate your cake it was decided for the kids birthday I would make a train for Alexander and a princess castle for Emmeline. I have learned sooo much from that decision.
Alexanders train cake. It was a chocolate cake covered with brown fondant. The wheels were Oreos, the coal was colored sugar and the logs were candy.
Emmelines cake. The cake was a traditional danish birthdaycake - a layed cake. The towers were toiletpaperrolls covered in plastic and fondant. The top of the towers were papercones covered in plastic and fondant and rolled in colored sugar.
1. PLAN - Instead of making it up as you go along plan everything that will be on the cake. It takes time to come up with ideas and to making them happen so I start several months in advance
2. Start early - making two cakes with that much decoration takes a lot of time. Most of the decoration can easily be done in advance. Its all the little details that take time.
For the twins 5th birthday I thought I was smarter. I made a Rapunzel house and a football cake. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time so I bought more of the decoration instead of making it.
Emmelines Rapunzel cake: The cake was a plain white cake covered in fondant. It took forever to make the roof and I was soooooo grateful that I had bought the doll in advance - otherwise I wouldn't have made all the details on the house.
Alexanders soccercake. A chocolate cake covered in fondant. I thougth I had bought a soccer decoration set but when I got home it was a hockey set. The goals I could use and I had a soccerball to use too.
3. When building a cake it needs support. I know duh ... I learned that the cake could only be leveled if the cake was even. It was supposed to be a tower but I couldn't figure out how to make the tower strong enough to hold the heavy cake.
Then I learned about rice crispy treats ... The next year I was a bit more ambitious again. A space cake for Alexander and a castle (again) for Emmeline:
Alexanders spacerocket. The cake was a white cake and a chocolate cake with toblerone filling and raspberry filling. Covered in fondant. The wings and top and the bottom was rice crispy treats.
Emmelines castle cake. The towers was rice crispy treats covered in fondant. The walkway was sugar and the cake was a white layered cake with toblerone filling and strawberry filling.
4. Even rice crispy treats take time but they can be made a week in advance. All I had to do on the day of the party was to assemble the cakes.
5. Heavy items need support. I still haven't figured out how to support the wings of the space rocket.
Making my husbands 40th birthday cake was in comparison much easier and less time consuming and it was nice to make a pretty cake instead of all the kiddy cakes.
Jans cake: A layered white cake with chocolate filling and strawberry filling. The little cake on top was the same. All of it covered in fondant. Little balls of plastic is holding up inside the bow.
This year Emmeline has requested cupcakes and a barbie theme. Alexander has requested another soccercake. Stay tuned :)
