Happy Birthday Ned

This was my first attempt to make a tiered cake. I was just happy that it didn't collapse. The first layer was butter cake and the second layer, carrot cake. Trying to make the twisted yellow rope between the two tiers was very difficult. It kept breaking. My tip to prevent breaking is to wet the fondant, making it softer and less brittle. I was very pleased with the way the bears turned out. They were way too cute to eat! 

Donuts, data and dolls

Last year the other teachers at work learnt of my baking bug and I was asked to make several birthday cakes. This has been a great opportunity to experiment.

Donuts
My first task was to make a donut cake. My inspiration was Homer Simpson. I used a donut-shaped cake  pan (I had to go to a speciality cake store to find one). I made two butter cakes using the pan and sandwiched them together using strawberry jam. For the icing I used a glace icing recipe, which was quite simply:

• icing sugar
• hot water (not boiling)
• food colouring

For the sprinkles, I cut Licorice Allsorts into little strips and placed them on the cake while the icing was still wet. Here is the result!

Data
The principal at school loves data and the Richmond Tigers whose colours are black, white and yellow. I tried to bring the two things together for his birthday cake. This was my first time using fondant. After numerous attempts to cover the cake I finally got it covered, with some minor imperfections in the corners. The graphs were also made using fondant and licorice.

Dolls
The doll cake was a real challenge. It took a lot of time to get a good shape for the skirt. I made a chocolate mud cake, but it was so heavy that it collapsed in itself. I made another cake to fill out the original cake. It took a lot of time but the result was well worth it. In the end, I loved the colour and the shimmer. Happy birthday Sharon, you're a doll!