So, this week’s cake was a one I couldn’t wait to make, a 21st Birthday cake. It was my housemate’s birthday on Wednesday, and I thought I’d make a cake to help him celebrate. I felt some pressure because I made one for him last year, where I did a gravity cake with the chocolate falling into the cake. I was pretty impressed with that cake so didn’t know how I was going to top it this year. I sat down with his girlfriend, Despina and we planned it together. I had a lot of ideas and themes and for once I even drew some cake ideas down. We decided to go for a chocolate and gold theme as the main points of the cake. We did some research and put all our ideas into a drawing. I was really happy with the concept because I never normally cover my cake in buttercream and make it exposed because I feel any imperfections just show. I could actually visualise the cake quite clearly before I even made it and with a few minor touches, it turned out pretty much how I imagined. The cakes were vanilla flavoured, filled with caramel and chocolate buttercream then topped with various chocolates.
As if this cake wasn’t already stressful enough, this week the fridge also decided to stop working. Which was great when I needed butter and milk and had to get them on the day of the bake instead of having everything ready beforehand. It also didn’t make cooling the cake any easier or my crumb coat when I needed somewhere cool to put it. As you’ll see further down, we went to extreme lengths to make this cake happen. This cake certainly wasn’t a walk in the park because I also broke my hand mixer, which really dampened my mood. Considering we planned the cake a few weeks in advance, it meant I could get some new edible glitter and a cake board. I love the house we have at uni because there is so much room for my baking stuff. Out of everything I needed for the cake this week the only thing I didn’t really have was my turntable. I wasn’t expecting to do a cake like this at uni, and it turned out better than half the ones I’ve done in the past. The toppings I used on the cake were personalised to Jack’s favourite. I used Ferrero Roches, Toblerone and Lindors. The Ferrero Roches were good for the gold theme and I’ll talk through the decoration a little bit further down.
I used a 10inch cake board and I ordered it in black. I was going for a quite sophisticated celebratory look, after all 21 is a significant birthday. I only had my 8inch cake tins at uni and didn’t see the point in buying new ones. I ended up making four cakes and then baked them two at a time. I had help making the cakes, my friend Charlotte came around. On the way back from uni we stopped off to get butter and I’m pretty sure I almost lost my house key several times on the way back which was a great start. We set ourselves a goal to have the first two cakes in the oven by the time food arrived, we were both hungry and thought food would be a good motivation to keep us going. I kept the cakes vanilla flavour because I didn’t want it to be too overpowering. Whilst I lined the tins, Charlotte added 175g self raising flour, sugar, butter, 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon of baking powder into a bowl. I added some vanilla flavouring and whisked the batter until it all came together. I had pre-heated the oven to 175 degrees. As this cake was important I even weighed out the mix in both tins so it was roughly the same. I baked the cakes for 20minutes. I left them to cool for 20-30minutes before I could take the cakes out of the tin. Whilst waiting for the food, I made the exact same mix up again for the final two cakes. I washed out the tins and put new baking paper in. I did exactly the same and measured the mix out into the two tins. I baked them for the same time and then left them to cool for 30minutes.
In this time, I cleaned all the cake related stuff away, so the bench was free for me to make buttercream. Again Charlotte was around to help and learn how to make it. She was a great help and although I kept putting icing sugar on her accidentally I think she enjoyed making the cake with me. We were making good time cake wise and everything was going smoothly. Considering I was actually covering the cake in buttercream, to be on the safe side I doubled the buttercream recipe I used. With the fridge not working the butter had softened being left on the bench and I added 500g of butter to the bowl. I whisked the butter for around 5 minutes. Charlotte and I then slowly began adding the icing sugar, 1kg of it. Charlotte couldn’t believe how much icing sugar went into it. It took a long time because I didn’t want to get icing sugar everywhere, although we have a dishwasher I still have to tidy the benches. I added about 4 tablespoons of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla flavouring. I also added 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and 4 tablespoons of melted chocolate. At this stage it was getting tiring using a wooden spoon. So, I thought I’d use my hand mixer this was when disaster struck and it just stopped working. I couldn’t believe it but luckily at this point it was a necessity. There was a lot of buttercream in the bowl, and I had to do the last of the mixing by hand.
The cakes were nice and cool at this point. I levelled them all so they were nice and flat on top. I added a little buttercream to the cake board and started assembling the cake. I placed a cake on the board. I had filled a piping bag with some buttercream and used a round nozzle. I piped a circle around the edge of the cake and filled the centre with some Carnation caramel. I repeated this for each layer and I put the flattest cake on top. Next thing was the crumb coat. As well as it being difficult without a turntable it also took longer without a fridge. I did my best to make the crumb layer not too thick and smooth. I then left the cake for about an hour, until Despina came home to help me decorate it. If I was at home I would’ve put the cake in the fridge, just saves a bit of time. Never theless the crumb coat was done. I was so happy with the height of the cake and think 4 cakes was definitely the right choice.
I always like to try and hide the edges of my cake and the idea of just putting buttercream scares me, as stupid as it sounds. I just need to mention that the buttercream tasted unreal and I was so pleased with how it turned out. When it came to putting the all-important layer of buttercream on, I needed Despina’s help. We had a system where she turned the cake board and I piped the buttercream. The idea worked in theory but when it came to getting a smooth layer not so much. It took us ages to get a layer of buttercream to be smooth and it didn’t help that I hated how it looked each time. I thought it was best to let it cool because the buttercream became a sticky consistency. This is where it gets funny, I took the drawer out of the bottom of the fridge. I then balanced the cake in the freezer and sat on the floor next to it. As you can see from the photo below, we looked very strange. Turns out it was a good idea though, the buttercream was smooth enough to be able to get it how I wanted it. Despina turned the cake and I used a card envelope and we worked as a great team. The cake was pretty much as smooth as we could get it, and we just patted out the rest when we put it back on the bench.
Now for the decoration, which really brought the cake together. I had crushed some macadamia nuts with a rolling pin. We both took handfuls and put the nuts around the base of the cake in no real pattern, just as long as the band along the bottom was covered. I then piped little stars of buttercream on top for the Ferrero Roches to sit on, I piped 8 but you can decorate it how you like. On each of the mounds of buttercream I placed a Ferrero Roche with the gold wrapper left on. In between the gaps I added a piece of mini Toblerone. Then inside that added a ring of Lindors but I sprinkled each on with glitter. Despina added a sprinkle of the really fine crushed nuts in the centre. We’d even ordered a cake topper to act as a centrepiece of the cake. Despina ordered this one from Oh So Glitter and the quality was really good. The cake topper was the finishing piece of the cake. I was tempted to add some more glitter but didn’t want it to be too much. We tidied up and made it look presentable for Jack seeing it. As it was a gold cake we got some gold candles to keep to the theme. Jack loved it and everyone in the house thought it was amazing.
We then took countless photos and videos of the cake and took photos holding it. I was petrified I was going to drop it. Later that evening Jack cut into it, and the slices were enormous. It looked incredible though and the reaction I got from it was more than I ever could’ve asked for. Everyone loved the vanilla, caramel and the chocolate. It was really sickly though. I personally think it’s one of the best cakes I’ve made and I can already see things I can improve on next time looking back at this cake. This cake was different to anything I’ve made before and as a first time I didn’t think it was too bad. It wasn’t just a great cake but also a learning experience for me for the future. I know for a fact it’s going to be hard what photos of the cake to share because there is that many of them but I hope you’ve enjoyed reading how I made this mammoth 21st birthday cake. I also hope you have a great Halloween, and I’ll leave you with these little meringue ghosts I made for the occasion. (Note to self- making meringues without a whisk isn’t the best idea). I’m going home this week, so we’ll see what my family want me to bake for my next blog.
Lots of love,
Hannah x
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