Cake at last for my 18 at last girl!

Finally I have time - time to faff on the computer and time to upload photos onto computer so I can show you lot.

It's day four of my six week break and the weather is grim. And so it should be. By definition. I know Darn Sarf they are basking in glorious unbroken sunshine and blue skies. Here it is grey, drizzly and rainy. Ugh.

So it is a pleasure to sit and think of the day when my precious first born made it to adulthood remarkably unscathed. Mission accomplished.

She asked for two cakes. She does not like icing and requested a chocolate ganache covered cake. I was happy to oblige because we have loads of  family and  friends who would be only too willing to polish it off.

Now then, I am going to say something now that will make all you Domestic Goddesses cringe, curl up your noses and cast me off into Cakey Coventry. 

What Crime Have I committed?

Because I had little time ( full time working is a REAL Time User! ) I used........



Gasp.




PACKET MIX.

NB: I DID NOT MAKE THIS CAKE! It is merely for illustration properties!
( Amazing what you find when you type cake scream into google images! But I thought this summed up the moment perfectly )  ( Also I do not know if the above cake was made by a packet mix or not )




Ok - if you are still here - I love that you are not a cake snob! The packet I used was top quality and it makes truly gorgeous cake.

They have not in any way, shape or form sponsored me to say this but I LOVE YOUR CAKE MIXES ,WRIGHTS. I will endorse you from the rooftops. Pay me in cake ( mix ) I don't mind! I bought mine from BOOTHS ( another gorgeous place ) . ( I am going to '@' these folks into my shameless blugging on Twitter later. Blugging = Blog Plugging.

Go see for yourselves!

The best cake mix EVER  The best Supermarket EVER

So I decided on a square chocolate fudge cake for Chloe, and a traditional madeira fondant sponge for everyone else! Tins prepped and off we go.

I used my trusty Lakeland Plastics silverware tin with its dividers. It was hideously expensive, but worth every penny. I hand drew out the 18 template to be used later.

This is one pkt of the fudge cake and two of the maderia.

This is the square fudge for the non fondant iced cake.

After cooling, there was a joint parental effort in using the template to carve out the cake. Here it's been sandwiched and covered in its base layer of buttercream. that's a 12" square board. It was a big cake and it needed a big knife and a steady hand. It was midnight.

The square cake was given the same treatment then they were carefully wrapped in greaseproof paper to await final decoration the next day.

 This cake was covered in chocolate ganache ( HOT cream onto COLD chocolate - never EVER mix this up - I did - it's not pleasant to have one's ganache split ) and decorated by sticking Cadbury's chocolate fingers round the edge - securing with string till it was all set and tipping bags of Cadbury's chocolate buttons all over the top. I then tried out the new iridescent spray to make it all shimmery, some silver ribbon round the bottom and a little silver 18 on the top.That little silver '18' was 40p! Daylight flipping robbery!. Anyway it was soon  finished. Simple cake, simply decorated but quite pleasing to the eye I think! It was ooohed and aaahed at accordingly! This needs storing in the fridge because of the fresh cream.

 Next, even though it was the crack o dawn, I set about playing with the new set of three different sized butterfly cutters I'd got. I used flowerpaste for these as it is easier to work with and sets harder than just normal soft fondant. Using crumpled up greaseproof and kitchen roll I set them at jaunty angles. I dusted them with shimmery colour and decorated them with little beads and sprinkles. I, ladies and gentleman, could do this all day long. These were the first ones I made, and quite rushed as it was fast approaching 8 am and I did not  want to miss the birthday girl opening her presents.

 I covered the cake with Asda's own soft fondant icing. I can't make my own anymore as I burnt out my beloved Kenwood Mixer's motor making some years ago. I coloured some icing pink and decided on just using flat circles to demark the '8' rather than cutting holes. My royal icing was far too runny. I'd run out and even the emergency icing sugar dash to the shops Lisa did for me wasn't enough. so sloppy shell border it was. Time was marching on. I started attaching butterflies which were no where near hard enough - so as you can see I used a blob of sugar fondant paste to hold it up!

The 18 sparklers were fun. They just didn't light together! Time taken to make these cakes from start to finish, probably about 5 hours.

I was finished in time to witness the opening of these! Happy Birthday Darling Daughter xxx