Making Children's Birthday Cakes

Since my daughter's 1st birthday I have been making and decorating cakes for family occasions and I thought I would share a few of my cakes on hubpages to show you that they really aren't as hard as they look.

Basic recipes that I used for cakes in the pictures opposite can be found on my other hub here Recipes for Madeira Sponge and Gelatin Icing I would have included them here but my hub gets flagged for duplicate content if I have the recipes in both hubs.

For the Red Arrow cake pictured opposite I used the Madeira Sponge Cake Recipe and cooked it in a loaf shaped tin. I also used the Gelatin Icing recipe and colored it red to make the wings. Gelatin Icing needs several hours (preferably overnight) to dry and harden preferably turning half way, so I suggest doing this bit first to allow drying time. Once the sponge was cooked and cooled I used a sharp knife to shape the front end of the cake into a more pointed shape like the front of a plane would be. I sliced the cake in half and added buttercream and put a thin coat of butter cream across the top of the cake to help hold the sugarpaste icing in place more firmly. I rolled out my red sugarpaste icing and covered the plane. I then made slits in the sides for the wings which I had made earlier and allowed to dry and harden. Once the wings were in place and supported by clouds made from cut off bits of sponge covered in white sugarpaste I began to decorate the plane with patterns as shown in my print off picture of a red arrow plane I had found online. This included the white stripes down the sides with Royal Air Force written on them and the circular patterns on the wings. It took some time to add the finer details and the sugarpaste man in the cockpit made from a section of clear plastic cut from a squash bottle but those are the details that make the cake extra special and give it the wow factor. It is great to be able to share tips and pictures with others to show that these cakes though they may look difficult are actually quite easily achieved by amateur bakers with a few simple things and time and patience.

The easiest of the cakes I have made so far was the Union Jack Flag as this was just madeira sponge cooked in a rectangular (flag shape) tin and then covered with white sugarpaste icing with red and blue shapes cut from sugarpaste to match picture of flag and added on top.

It would be a great addition for anyone throwing a Royal Wedding Party for the forthcoming Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29th 2011.

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