Hello Kitty cake

To stay on budget when preparing for a b day party is more than a miracle especially as there is always something else that seems to be needed…

Cake is the thing everyone is looking forward to so it needs to be just right.

My little one wanted themed cake but find one for so many people would be costly. Also I wanted something more individual, flavours and colours of her choice. She picked Hello Kitty and this is how it ended:

Internet search engine found fairly nice picture. I took a paper the same size as was my large rectangle baking tin. There were some minor modification made but it still remained recognizable shape. The paper was cut out ready to be put over baked sponges. The recipe I use is mostly the same.

Each sponge : 3 eggs, 200 g of flour, 200 g of butter, 200 g of sugar, 1 table spoon of baking soda, 3 spoons of water.

Basic buttercream: Icing is 75 g of butter with 175 g of icing sugar with 1 tea spoon of vanilla essence and 2 table spoon of milk.   

One sponge is covered by jam, other with buttercream. Glue sponges together and cover them with paper template. Cut around the template to get 2D shape of cake. Using sharp knife cut into cake to create 3D effect.

Cover the cake with jam and put into the fridge until ready to be covered with icing. Choose colours to mix the icing. Cover cake section after section until complete covering is achieved.  To complete Hello Kitty look mix black icing and follow the contours of icing to create cartoon look. Don’t forget the whiskers. I also used fairy dust .

Decorate the Kitty with beads and butterflies.

That should do !!!

Cinnamon and black cherry colourful chocolate cake

I was given these cherries and could not resist to bake again!

My little daughter was in helping mood so I decided to do something different.

I mixed up some sponge and separated it in two parts - 2/3 was mixed up with coco powder and a tea spoon of cinnamon and 1/3 was left as it was.

1/3 of mix was split into 3 and first 1/3 was splashed over the chocolate mix in the glass dish.

Second 1/3 was coloured purple and splashed over chocolate and white mix.

Third mix was coloured pink and splashed over the others.

Then the cherries came in. Take stones out and check they are meat free. The more cherries the more flavour.

Bake on gas mark 5 for 45/50 minutes. Check with the cocktail stick that the mix is baked.

Chill then dust with sugar.

Melt some chocolate and apply over the sugar.

Then eat!

Chocolate and sprinkle cake

I had a small amount of sponge mix left from making cupcakes. 

So I made one bigger one.

Add sprinkles and hot chocolate mix and put it in the oven to bake.

Cool it down and use plastic sheet with cut out shapes to create dots and hearts.

Ready for sharing.

Ice cream makeover !

Kids these days! 

End of summer and kids get more and more bored with anything they have !

So I mixed a little bit of icing and black colouring and made the melting ice cream into a skull and bones. It was eaten in seconds!

Plum and cinnamon crumble!

There is a lot of food I enjoy but plums are my truly beloved fruit. My friend was picking some and I had a chance to bake with it. Mmm... 

Firstly wash and check for vegetarianity of the fruit. Cut plums to small pieces. 

Leave small amount of water in the sauce pan and boil with some sugar and cinnamon.

Wait until water turns pink and plums look soft. Take it off the fire and allow to cool. Prepare crumble top. Mix flour with sugar and butter.

I like my crumble buttery with bigger blobs if you like smoother lumps add more flour .

Put your fruit into glass or ceramic dish.

And cover it with crumble.

Ideally put brown sugar on the top.

Bake until golden. Enjoy it with cream or ice cream . 

Love me to you quick cake !

This cake was requested but no notice was given to me. 

Still it was a challenge !!!

So prepare two sponges - basic vanilla ones.

Sprinkle colorful sprinkles on the top and mix some in as well. 

Bake as usual.

Prepare frosting - I chose lemon frosting and colored it yellow. Fill and cover cake. Make teddy figurine with fondant icing and place it on the top. Use sprinkles and finish with personal message.