Over the past few months, I had the opportunity to make cakes for my friends and their children. Most of them being my son's age.
It is fun to bake and to make a cake the child has dreamed of. Kids have fantastic ideas.
The satisfaction of making their eyes sparkle on their special day and of course the kind words parents shower on me really make it so worth the effort.
It all started with Sonali asking me to make a Black Forest cake for her husband's birthday (Sonali's favorite cake) which was a hit!
That was followed by the same for Sonali's Birthday, naturally.
Then a small cricket enthusiast celebrated his 7th. Birthday.
His Mother and I put our heads together and came up with the idea of a cricket themed cake. She gave me full freedom in regard to the design.
If you ignore the mess in the background ( that is keeping my son busy, he was SO interested in 'decorating this cake' that I had to give him something else to mess with, that yellow fondant mat, I asked him to make some accents with that mat, the poor baby ran around getting things ready to make 'em)
The cake was a 2 layer butter cake with a whipped chocolate ganache in the middle and a Cream cheese- butter cream frosting.
The 'grass' is cake crumbled and colored green and then toasted till crisp.
The cricket pitch is fondant ( home made, marshmallow Fondant)
The cricket bat and the player are hand made ( my first attempt) with Gum paste.
The ball is Fondant and the stumps are made with cake pop/ lollipop sticks
The second opportunity came when my dear friend A, was taking a cake as a surprise for a friend's birthday. She wanted a black forest.
During the same time, my son had the last of his Marathi classes. I made a batch of Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes and decorated them with Nutella Butter cream and packed them all fancy, the kids loved them!
And just last month, my friend T's son turned 6 and they had a big party and the theme was 'aqua'. It was a pool party with an entertainer ( with a water slide) and the kids had fun.
The parents and I sat down and decided to make a cake that was 'beach themed'.
The cake was Vanilla and Chocolate marble cake with a whipped cream frosting in the layers as well as on top.
I used Blue mist to color the ocean and used a Foam cup to make the wave and added a dollop of cream.
White whipped cream was used to make the ocean foam.
The 'sand' was made with crumbled graham cookies
The Graham Teddies are laid on 'Air Heads' candy beach towels and the Surfer Teddy is also on an Airhead surf board.
Can you spy the shells on the cake board? these are made using candy molds ( from Michaels) and melting chocolate.
And then there was my Spider Man cake for my son.
What with all these cakes made, I have a lot of leveling to do and so there are always the domes to
either throw or eat.
I hate wasting food ( look in my fridge, you will find small Rubbermaid or Pyrex food containers containing daal or vegetable, just those 5-6 tbsp. that was left over :) )
And so, these 'domes' get a makeover!
What you need is:
Left over cake ( cut in cubes)
Whipped cream
Sliced and macerated Strawberries ( or Raspberries or a medley of berries)
Place cubes in the bottom of the serving cup/bowl of choice.
Top with the sweet berries with juices.
Swirl (or spoon) whipped cream .
Add a few more cubes of cake and repeat with the berries and cream.
Top with a fresh (washed) strawberry and serve.
These were a hit with my son! It meets the 'Kid Approved' category award.
For left over Chocolate cake domes, you can pair it up with either fresh berries or even Cherry Pie filling and whipped cream, Black Forest in a cup!
