So, this week’s cake was very special. It was a lot of firsts for me; my first time making a tiered cake; my first time making a surprise birthday cake; definitely my first customised Bon Jovi cake and it was certainly a learning curve. With weeks of planning and preparation, I was so happy I could finally share this cake with Olivia and Nicola. It’s always an honour to be trusted to make a birthday cake for someone, especially on such a special occasion. When I first got asked to do a Bon Jovi cake, I thought what can I even do, I had so many ideas and had to try and keep it realistic. I knew straight away I wanted to make a sprinkle covered tier, because I’ve seen loads of them and watched loads of videos. Up until last weekend I still didn’t know what I was going to do with the bottom tier. I ordered a beautiful cake topper and worked the cake around it.
Let’s get started then, with how I made it. I wanted to get all the cakes baked the day before it was being delivered. I didn’t really have an idea how many batches of cakes I would need to use so just went with it and worked it out a mixture at the time. I only had one tin of each of the sizes I wanted to use. Each batch was 175g sugar, self raising flour, butter, 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. I put my mam in charge of cutting the baking paper and greasing the tins, she loved that job so much! I ended up making 7inch and 10inch cakes. One mixture half-filled each tin which worked out perfectly height wise. They baked for 20 minutes. After I made the first of each cake, I then made the 12 cupcakes. I bought black cupcake cases to match the cake board because I wanted it to be coordinated. They baked for 15 minutes. At this point the cakes in the tins were cool enough so I could bake the second cakes. I had to keep waiting for the tins to cool which took time and I did this until I had 4 of each cakes. Time just flew by making these cakes and before I knew it, it was 4 hours later with a couple of distractions in between. At least the cakes were done and ready to be decorated in the morning. It was so weird looking at all these cakes and thinking how is it going to come together?
I woke up nice and early on the Saturday morning (well early for a student 9am). I was half asleep but ready to get the cake finished and delivered. I knew it needed to be finished around 1pm-2pm but that just made me more stressed. For a change I didn’t need to level any of the cakes and I thought it they were perfect height, without doing anything. I started with the larger tier and filled each layer with jam. I did a crumb coat on the bottom tier and put it in the fridge whilst I did the top tier. The little cake board I got for the second tier didn’t quite fit properly and was a little small, it was interesting getting it off the turntable but that’s a story for later. I did the same with the top tier adding jam between layers and doing a crumb coat. At this stage I was really happy because the crumb coat was quite smooth and the height was better than I could’ve hoped for. This cake is also the first time I’ve used dowels for extra support.
Going back to the decoration for the bottom tier. I added another layer of buttercream this time a little thicker, so you couldn’t see the cake underneath. For my birthday last weekend I got a printer. At first I was so confused but then I was told it was an edible printer. This is where I had the idea to print off album covers and singles from Bon Jovi. They printed out so well and it was the first time I got to use my printer for a cake, what an honour. At the front of the cake was the single of In These Arms because I asked what Nicola’s favourite Bon Jovi song was. I was so happy with how the album covers looked on the bottom of the cake and I worked it out so they would go all the way around. I thought they were so eye catching and effective. The easy part was done, now it was just the top tier.
I again did a second layer of buttercream on the top layer. This time neatest didn’t matter as much. I mixed some black, red and purple sprinkles together, I certainly mixed too many. Now I have two tubs of these mixed sprinkles for the future. Anyway I used gloves to help brush the sprinkles up the cake, it was kind of effective but I got a lot on the floor accidentally. The majority of the cake covered quite well, it was certainly bold. This took a lot longer than I thought it would and trying to fill in the gaps wasn’t easier. The amount of times me and my mam accidentally touched it and had to add more sprinkles was annoying. When it came to getting it off the turntable that was a mission in itself. As I said before the board didn’t fit perfectly, so we had to nudge it off. Then of course it needed to go on top of the cake. There’s my mam nudging it towards me then me getting it underneath and underestimating how heavy it would be and then trying to put it in the middle of the bottom. Let’s just say, I made it slightly messy at the bottom but that couldn’t really be helped. Some rouge sprinkles went on the bottom tier as well.
In order to cover the slightly messiness, I added a Maltesers to go around the join of the two cakes. If I’d have had more time I wanted to paint them gold but we’ll save that idea for another cake. I didn’t put the cake topper in until I got to the venue but we boxed the cake away and it was ready to go. I quickly decorated my cupcakes and added some personalised toppers some with Bon Jovi on and some with Happy Birthday again using my printer. The cupcakes were put in the boot but the cake went ‘safely’ on my knee.
The drive was stressful, just watching the cake wobble and hearing sprinkles fall. I did take extra sprinkles just in case. When I got to the venue, I added some sprinkles on the bottom tier to make it look more natural. I put the cake topper together that I got from Zola Rose Cakes. I stood back and just looked at how the cake topper finished it off. I was so relieved it was there in one piece and it turned out better than I could’ve imagined.
The reaction I got from the cake was priceless and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. the look of happiness and shock looking at the cake is something I can only be thankful for. I’m just happy I did the cake justice and the comments I had were lovely, especially when I get told I outdid myself. I’m just so happy I was trusted to make such a special cake was a lovely occasion. I hope you have a lovely birthday Nicola, I’m so happy I was part of it, I hope it makes up for the lack of cake in the past. It’s been a pleasure to make this cake, sorry for the long and late blog but I’m happy I can share it now. I hope you have a lovely week and let’s see what I bake next week.
Lots of love,
Hannah x
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