Help with kids birthday cakes. (1 Viewer)

[FB Questions]

Hi! I came across your page kind of randomly in desperation. I always bake the cakes for my two kids birthdays - and I don't do it any other time, so it's always a learning/relearning process, but I like to do it myself. BUT, my turning 10 next week son really wants a different kind of cake this year... vanilla with raspberry filling between the layers. YIKES! I need a recipe for something like that (especially the filling part) that won't fall apart when I stack the cake. Any suggestions for a vanilla cake (relatively firm) and a delicious raspberry (jam like) filling that won't make it slip and slide all over?

 

[Angie]

Hi Bennet, the best cakes that will stack and stay together are either Pound cake or Madeira cake.

Madeira is my go-to recipe for birthday cakes because it's moist and very versatile.

You can make your own jam if you like but to be honest, store-bought jams are just as good and will save you a lot of time. If you do buy the jam, then make sure it's the ones that have no bits to make it as smooth as possible. To prevent slip and sliding of the tiers do not overfill the layers. When filling, I always use buttercream and jam. I usually put jam on one side of the tier and buttercream on another and then sandwich them together.

I'm not sure how big you wish to make the cake so here are the recipes for a Round 5 inch and 7-inch cake using the all in one method:

What is the all in one method?

The all in one method concerning cakes and cupcakes is, as the name suggests, you simply place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix them together all in one go. When making cupcakes or cakes using this method, a raising agent is usually included in the recipe; this is required to assist...

www.helpmebake.com

Madeira

Small 5 Inch x 3 Inch Round Madeira Cake Recipe and Guide

Here are the recipe and guide on how to make a small 5 x 3 inch round moist Madeira Cake. It can be used as a top tier or made as an Afternoon Tea sharing cake. To start with, please do the following: Preheat your oven to one of the following temps: Fan assisted: 150°C Conventional Oven...

www.helpmebake.com

How to make a 7 x 3 inch deep Victoria Sponge Cake

Here is a recipe and guide teaching you how to make your very own 7 x 3 inch Victoria Sponge Cake. Equipment 7 x 3 Inch Cake Tin Baking Paper (For lining your Tin) Scales Hand whisk/Stand Mixer Mixing Bowl Small Bowl Spatula Cake Greaser Spray Tinfoil (Optional) Wire Rack Ingredients 200...

www.helpmebake.com

I also have recipes for an 8 or 9 inch too.

Here are some buttercream recipes: If you go through to the Vanilla Buttercream link you will also find links for the strawberry milkshake and chocolate buttercream too.

How to make Buttercream

Here is your step by step guide with pictures showing you how to make a batch of the buttercream that holds its shape. Ingredients & Equipment:- 250g Softened Butter 500g Icing Sugar 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract (Or flavouring of your choice) Optional 2 Teaspoons of Milk or Water Equipment -...

www.helpmebake.com

I'm not sure if you are looking to cover the cake in icing fondant or how many tiers you wish to make it so here are a few cakes I've made that may help you with stacking or design.

Area 51 Alien Cake

In light of the recent campaign to storm Area 51 and free all the aliens I thought it might be quite fitting to make a cake to celebrate the event. As you can see, Aliens do exist and look extremely happy to be escaping! #Area51 Please note that no aliens or soldiers were harmed in the making...

www.helpmebake.com

This was a fun cake to do, I bought the soldiers from Amazon and my daughter, and I made the rest of the aliens for the cake. Maybe it's something that you could get your kids involved in.

50th Birthday Cake (3 Tier Flower Design)

Here is my latest cake creation that I made for a dear friend of mine for her 50th birthday. If I'm entirely honest, I struggled a little bit coming up with a design for this one as my friend had given me free rein with it and I wasn't quite sure what kind of cake I was going to make. So...

www.helpmebake.com

I've included the 50th birthday cake to show you how to stack and support the cakes so if you scroll down past the flowers you can see where I've put the cakes together.

I don't want to bombard you with information but want to give you a few ideas and recipes etc. that may help with your final design. If you need anything further, then please let me know.

Good Luck!

Kind regards


Angie

 

[FB Questions]

Thank you so much! He's added a level of difficulty I'm not sure I could attain - he wants a sword THROUGH the cake!

 

[Angie]

You're most welcome!

Haha! You could always buy a child's toy one, wash it in hot soapy water and then place it in the cake or have a mound of Rice Krispies and marshmallows, cover it in icing and then insert it into that instead.

Here's a Saw Blade Cake I did, the blade goes through the cake and in the links there is a tutorial on how to make the blade.

Saw blade cake.

This saw blade tool cake was made for my Dad who has recently celebrated 25 years in business. The cake itself is a marble cake, covered in icing fondant which was dyed using, paprika, autumn leaf and brown sugarflair (concentrated) dyes to make a wood grain effect. The grey edible saw blade...

www.helpmebake.com

 

[Angie]

Having just looked at Sword cakes on the internet, most of them have a plastic sword inserted into them. So you really could pull this off!

 

[FB Questions]

Brilliant! I think I might do the rice krispies!! I've used them before to make decor but didn't think of making a layer of the cake out of them and put the sword into that!

 

[Angie]

I was going with a more of the sword in the stone theme with my Rice Krispie treats and putting them on top but do whatever works for you. Just make sure the structure of the cake is sturdy enough to hold everything in place. Ooh, I do love it when a plan comes together.

 

[FB Questions]

Last year I did a race car theme with a tunnel through the cake that let the track run through it... super fun! That one was easier than I thought it would be. BUT, I didn't consider that 6 yr olds playing race cars through the cake would result in far too much playing with the cake - one kid put his hand right through it not realizing it was cake! OOPS

 

[Angie]

That sounds fabulous! The cake that is not the playing about with it lol! It seems to me you've got this. If you can create a tunnel through a cake and manage six-year-olds playing about with it, then this sword one should be a walk in the park.

 

[FB Questions]

It was so easy - just cut the cake in half and make a cardboard/foil tunnel to fit the gap and frost over the top of it... totally could not tell it wasn't cake throughout!

 

[Angie]

Sounds to me like this year you'll have to make sure the kids don't have a competition to see who can get the sword out!