Since our first sculpted cake (for my 30th birthday party), we’ve come a long way and have learned a whole lot. All the credit needs to go to Nuno who can take anything his imagination comes up with and bring it to life. I’ve also discovered a couple cake recipes that hold up to stacking, sculpting and resist crumbling when coated.
Now we have Owen helping us. He helped a whole lot with his birthday cake this year in particular by baking all the cakes with me (5 for the ground and 4 for Michelangelo’s head). When baking together I have Owen add all the measured ingredients calling them by name with each addition and then stirring. This time around I added an extra task for him - he got to turn the stand-up mixer on and change the speeds. Boy, was he ever thrilled!
And who could forget licking the bowl and spatula? That’s a very important job as well.
For Owen’s Ninja Turtle cake we had two different cakes. The sewer was 2 layers of vegan chocolate cake with the centre cut out. The brickwork border were broken graham crackers covered in a layer of melted modeling chocolate set over crumpled parchment paper (to give a uneven texture). The idea worked out pretty well and tasted pretty good.
Mikey’s head was 4 layers of 8” Versatile Vanilla Cake.
This was one of Nuno’s easier sculpting jobs because the general shape just needed to be cut away from the cake tower.
One thing that has made cakes a lot easier is to have some non-edible elements. This helps by saving time because sculpted elements made from foam can be made weeks in advance. Last year Owen’s Rex cake had a long tail that was made of foam and then covered with fondant.
This year Nuno made the sewer plate was sculpted from a foam disc. It was then painted and the underside (which actually touched the cake) was covered in paraffin wax to keep it safe for everyone. The really great thing about having these elements means Owen gets a keepsake from his cake to play with. This is important to Nuno because he also hand made his birthday candles but had to abandon that effort. Wiser choice for sure!
Although at times in the past things get a little hairy with these cakes, problems and issues are now down to a minimum. And the cakes are coming together quicker and with more ease. Best of all they are making for memorable birthdays for our kids.
Now we have Owen helping us. He helped a whole lot with his birthday cake this year in particular by baking all the cakes with me (5 for the ground and 4 for Michelangelo’s head). When baking together I have Owen add all the measured ingredients calling them by name with each addition and then stirring. This time around I added an extra task for him - he got to turn the stand-up mixer on and change the speeds. Boy, was he ever thrilled!
And who could forget licking the bowl and spatula? That’s a very important job as well.
For Owen’s Ninja Turtle cake we had two different cakes. The sewer was 2 layers of vegan chocolate cake with the centre cut out. The brickwork border were broken graham crackers covered in a layer of melted modeling chocolate set over crumpled parchment paper (to give a uneven texture). The idea worked out pretty well and tasted pretty good.
Mikey’s head was 4 layers of 8” Versatile Vanilla Cake.
One thing that has made cakes a lot easier is to have some non-edible elements. This helps by saving time because sculpted elements made from foam can be made weeks in advance. Last year Owen’s Rex cake had a long tail that was made of foam and then covered with fondant.
Although at times in the past things get a little hairy with these cakes, problems and issues are now down to a minimum. And the cakes are coming together quicker and with more ease. Best of all they are making for memorable birthdays for our kids.
