CAKEZILLA

A few weeks ago I made the cake to beat all cakes for the boys' birthday party - even if I do say so myself. 

We called it Cakezilla and you can see why.

It was huge, and I'm really rather pleased with it. I think it was my most liked ever Facebook update and Instagram photograph.

It was two regular vanilla sponges sandwiched together with chocolate butter cream. I'd also covered it in chocolate butter cream, placed chocolate finger biscuits all around the sides, and put giant chocolate buttons and assorted sprinkes on the top. 

If I hadn't made it up as I went along I would have made the cake chocolate, but it was yumminess on a plate anyway.

I had some butter cream, giant chocolate buttons and sprinkles left over, so I also decorated these 12-for-60p fairy cakes from Morrisons to serve at the party. They went down very well too. 

Recipe for Cakezilla Vanilla Sponge

1. Weigh 4 eggs in their shells. Use this weight for the plain flour, butter or marg, and caster sugar.
2. Add baking powder and vanilla essence.
3. Make an all-in-one batter. I use an electric hand whisk.
4. Add a drop of milk if the batter is too thick.
5. Cook in a 9" spring cake tin, sprayed with cake release spray, for 30-40 minutes at 180. The cake is done when a knife or skewer poked in the centre comes out clean.

Repeat steps 1-5 for the second cake (if the first simply isn't high enough).

Recipe for Cakezilla Chocolate Butter Cream

1. Put 250g of salted butter, 50g of cocoa powder and 450g of icing sugar in the bowl of your mixer.
2. Cover your mixer with a tea-towel to stop the icing sugar from escaping.
3. Mix slowly at first, then at full speed for 5 minutes.
4. Scrape the sides of the bowl to incorporate all of the ingredients.
5. Add some milk if your icing is too thick. Mix for a final 2 minutes.
6. Clean up the icing sugar that still managed to escape from your mixer.

Do let me know if you make anything similar. I can guarantee you will have a queue of children - and grown-ups - waiting for a slice of your Cakezilla.

Linking up with Romanian Mum's Foodie Friday.

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CAKEZILLA

Farm Animal Cake Toppers

If you're looking for a brilliant hand-made gift for your child's teacher, then farm animal cupcakes may be for you. You get to unleash your creative side and your child can also take pride in their handiwork.

You will need:

Renshaw Cool Coloured Sugardough
Renshaw Funky Flavoured Sugardough
Black sugardough
White sugardough
Cakes, iced with buttercream or white sugardough
Baby wipes or damp kitchen roll to clean your hands before changing colours

You may need:

Water and a clean paintbrush (to stick the different parts together)

Icing sugar (if the sugardough gets too sticky)
Plastic rolling pins (I borrowed the ones we use for playdough. Of course I washed them first)
Plastic modelling tools (I have a set of double-ended modelling tools, but you can use anything that will make a shape in the sugardough)
Black cake decorating pen (not essential, you can make pupils with black sugardough)
Cupcake boxes

Top tip:

To make a work surface, cover a table mat with greaseproof paper. Use tape to attach the paper at the back. Now you have a smooth surface to work on. If you cover a few mats before you start you will always have a clean area to work on.

Method:

Each animal is mostly made from simple rounded or flat shapes. Show you child one step at a time what to do. You can either make the whole animal and then help them. Or you can work together.
To make lighter colours you can mix sugardoughs together. For example, brown and white to make light brown.
Choose the best farm animals to use as cake toppers. One cupcake in a box and a hand made thank you card should be enough to let your child's teacher(s) know they are appreciated. All without breaking the bank.

I'm going to make these farm animal cake toppers for the boys' birthday party, to give the children on their cupcakes when they go home. The party is at a local open farm, so this will continue the theme perfectly. It also means the cupcakes can be made in advance and boxed up - no need for cake cutting and soggy cake-filled napkins on the day.

Our verdict on the Renshaw Sugardough:

It handles much better than I expected. I didn't need to use icing sugar at all. It's a quality product. The pink in particular smells amazing. The lemon tastes very good, but I wasn't keen on the chocolate - this was also the most dry of the sugardoughs (this is not uncommon, it just took a little extra moulding).



Disclosure:
We were given two packets of Renshaw Sugardough to review. Available at Lakeland, Cool Coloured Sugardough (red, yellow, green and blue) is £3.29 and Funky Flavoured Sugardough (chunky chocolate, orange pip, lemon sherbert and strawberry tart) is £2.49. 




Gallery:

My farm:

Sheep by me:

Sheep by Cash, aged 3:

Sheep by Presley, aged 4:

Cash's farm:

Presley's farm:

Cash's rabbit:

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Farm Animal Cake Toppers