Friday, January 22, 2010

Birthday cakes

I'm not the best at making pretty cakes. Sometimes they fail miserably, but the kids always have their own ideas anyway.

I used to think Angel Food Cake was synonomous with Birthday Cake, so before the kids had any say in the matter, I would make an Angel Food Cake (from a box, of course) and smother it with sweet icing. Once I discovered the 7 Minute Frosting (the kind that is cooked and looks like fluffy meringue) they even looked gorgeous.

The kids would lick off the icing, sometimes pick off their favourite candies and then be "full". I just thought it was their age and they'd outgrow it. Playing was obviously more important and the cake was really just a place to stick a candle.

On Beth's 7th birthday I remembered these cakes:





Easy to make, easy to shape into numbers and they ate it all. Not just the candy. Not just the whipping cream or icing, but every scrap. I don't think there was enough for the parents that year. This one was for Alice's 6th party on Monday, but there's an identical one soaking up the whipped cream right now for Laura's 9th party tomorrow.



Except that she doesn't want the face and we'll flip it to be a 9. No baking, no special cake molds, and the sugar factor is way down because of the whipped cream instead of icing. It's the perfect cake.

Here are some of my other cakes:

(Alice's 5th birthday - a castle for a princess)


(Laura's 8th birthday cake)

(Beth's 10th cheesecake - that's another easy one)


(A disaster of a treasure chest cake for Laura's 8th, but the kids really like this and one of the kids went home talking about it in positive terms to her baker mother. It looked so easy on other websites but we had to attack mine fast before it collapsed.)

If you want to see beautiful cakes, visit Teddy here. I love her hamburger and fries cakes best but I'm not going to attempt that. Never.

By the time I'm good at this, they won't want interesting ones anymore, but it's fun for now. I've got a few more years left anyway and at 3 each year, I'm getting a bit of practice.

4 comments:

Rosa said...

I love these cakes!

Adventures of Deesa said...

I can still remember the Holly Hobby cake my Mom made me when I was a little girl. Even if you think they are disasters trust me, through a child's eyes they are perfection! (Mom did do a superb job by the way!)

Coralee said...

great job and I love the fact that you're willing to try! I know that your girls will look back on these with much fondness!

Teddi Taylor said...

Thanks for the link-love and kind words about my cakes, Ev.
I'm still working at improving the flavour of my cakes. I want something fabulous tasting and fabulous looking. I don't have a lot of patience for the gum-paste-can't-eat-half-of-it cakes. Yours look tasty, especially the cheese cake.... mmmmm....