The Birthday Cakes


My little girl turned two last month and she had two parties and three cakes and a bunch of cupcakes!! Anushka loves farm animals and she has been making their sounds forever, so I was pretty set on having a farm themed cake. Ofcourse I changed the design a million times and the cake was nothing like what I had planned. But I loved the way it turned out!




I had so much fun making the animals, the cupcake toppers and all the other tiny details. But I have to say this, if you plan to do something like this, do it well in advance, as they take a long time or you'll end up going crazy trying to get it done on time! The cake was my favorite chocolate cake with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream and it was awesome! The flavors were amazing and I love swiss buttercream, I just cannot praise it enough! The cupcakes were vanilla with the same frosting and decorated with the animal cupcake toppers. They were super fun to make.



The second party was a last moment decision and so were the cakes. With absolutely no design in mind I just made a lot of flowers the previous day using all the cutters I could find and a hello kitty figurine for the small eggless cake. The hello kitty cake was an eggless chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. The cake did turn out great, but I found the frosting to be too sweet, but there's not much choice if you want to go eggless!



The big flower cake was a neopolitan cake, one I've been wanting to bake for a long time. It was a huge 10" cake, so you can imagine the work involved, especially since I don't have a stand mixer. I baked the cakes in advance and they all turned out great. I honestly had no idea how much frosting I would be needing and making swiss buttercream is not easy, you have to whip and whip endlessly (it's totally worth the effort though). So after two batches I had no energy or time left. I filled the cakes but I did not have enough to frost it completely, so I used regular vanilla buttercream. I wish I hadn't!! Again I found it too sweet, and I was honestly disappointed with the big cake. I'll definitely be making this one again, with my favorite buttercream. 

Here are the the recipes I used..
Chocolate Cake : Recipe here.



Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
(Recipe from here)
Ingredients
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
12 tbs butter, softened but cool
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 oz strawberries, rinsed, hulled and pureed

     

Method:
Make sure your bowl, whisk and all other tools you use to make the meringue are completely free of any grease. Take the egg whites and sugar in a big metal bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk gently but constantly until the mixture reaches a temperature of 140 degrees F on a candy thermometer, or until the egg whites are hot and you cannot feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers. 
Remove from heat and whip the hot mixture, until it turns thick and glossy and white and and about doubles in volume. The bowl will be neutral and not hot at this point.
Then add the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, beating continuously until it has a silky smooth texture. The mixture may look curdled at some time, but just keep mixing and it will come together soon!
Mix in the vanilla and the strawberry puree and whip till smooth and creamy. It may look curdled again, but will come together soon.

Eggless Chocolate Cake : Recipe here.

Classic Vanilla Buttercream
Recipe from here



Ingredients:
1 cup/ 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but not melted
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla extract
upto 4 tbs milk or heavy cream



Method:
Beat butter on medium speed for for a few minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add 3 cups of sifted confectioners sugar. Once the sugar has been incorporated increase the speed to medium and add the salt, vanilla and 2 tbs milk/ cream. Beat for 3 minutes. If you want a more stiff frosting add the remaining sugar. For a thinner consistency add the remaining milk/ cream. Frost as desired.

35 comments:

  1. Oh my god, what an amazing variety of yummylicious cakes that you've made for your two year old princess! Truly regal! Happy Birthday hugs and love to the little gal. Stay blessed always.

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  2. The cakes look awesome... like professional cakes..The farm animals are so cute...Great work!!!

    I used butter cream to frost a cake once and it really is too sweet... decided to never use it again but it is hard to find a tastier eggless options.

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    1. I agree Anisha, whipped cream is a good option though. I couldn't use it here because of the fondant.

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  3. Looks totally professional. Great job lady!

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  4. Great... great... just great... The first time I threw my Kids Birthday party with all home made food and homemade cake, I told everyone I am not going to do it again... But I did 2 times every year (I have a boy and a girl) for the last 6 years... Its a lot of work but the surprise on the kid's face is the best pay ever....
    Your Cakes are just awesome....

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  5. Wat a lovely cakes,mindblowing..Great efforts Poornima..

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  6. omg... such beautiful decorate cakes. your daughter must have been so happy. all her birthday cakes have been made by her dear mom.

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  7. Wow u have done a great job,cute animals and hello kitty..Swiss meringue butter cream is my fav too.its not sweet and I like the buttery and not so sweet frosting so much..u r very true about planning things in advance,I had a tough time last week making a 11 inch cake for a friends party...everything was last minute so I panicked,frosting was not enough then. I had to make whole bunch of buttercream again which ended up too much,so had to waste a lot.. I need a break from baking now....so tiring .

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  8. Such beautiful decoration, the cake looks lovely!

    Lite Bite

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  9. Awwwesome- u have tons of patience! My son celebrated 2 weeks ago- but i don't have any energy like u gal! Great work of art!

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  10. Looks fabulous dear, nice decoration n wonderful treat for ur little angel...

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  11. Thats a very good job Poornima. I normally plan everything weeks ahead, as I know I would panick yet I panick and screw up things here and there.

    I want to know, how many days did the whole making of cake take from baking them to covering with fondant?? Those animals must have taken some good amount of time! But they looks so cute and perfect. Did u add any gum to the fondant to make it stronger?My hands are so warm that the fondant starts to kinda stick to my fingers while making these fondant shapes. That 10 inch cake look massive! And 2 parties? Hats off!

    I tried making swiss meringue once, similar recipe with strawberry pureee....it got curdled halfway thru, and i cudnt fix it and then when i added puree it turned watery! Dumbed it all away!Need to try it again, but the amount of butter is a put off for me!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Shabs, I had started planning so many months in advance and yet screwed up a lot of things. Had to make a lot of changes due to horrible time management:)
      The birthday was on a tuesday, so I baked the cakes on Sunday and refrigerated them. I frosted them on monday evening and put up all the decorations on tuesday itself. I have not covered the cakes with fondant here, dropped the idea as I was out of time. They are frosted with the SMB. If you want to cover the cakes with fondant do it the day before the event and then store it in a cool place.
      I used 50% gumpaste for the animals and just fondant for the other things. Made all the decorations the day before.

      U must try SMB again, its awesome. I agree on the amounts of butter but thats true for all frostings right, atleast this one is not cloyingly sweet!

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  12. Wow the cake looks delicious. So well decorated and neat layers.

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  13. wow...no words,....amazing work dear........

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  14. Both the cake look so good,..:) nd cute,,,.belated birthday wishes to ur daughter,..

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  15. Soooooooo cute!! looks like a long process and the farm animals are just awesome!! Its a visual treat and i am sure your daughter would have enjoyed the cake!!


    Surya
    http://dhinamorusuvai.blogspot.com/

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  16. Wow wonderful looking cake and can make out how much the kiddo would have enjoyed just by seeing the cake.

    Teach me no how to frost the cake.I bake but i never attempted to frost my cake so daughters always want to buy their birthday cake from the bakery...

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  17. You are so talented. The cakes are so beautiful...

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  18. There is an award waiting for you at http://atastychallenge.blogspot.com/2012/05/awards.html

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  19. * THUD ...well that was the sound me hitting the ground..faint and floored!!!!
    The animals are sooooooooo cute!! and the texture of the cake is awesome!!!

    its not at all an easy thing to make animals and you have simply perfected them!!!

    Anushka loves farm animals and she has been making their sounds forever, LOL this is cuter!!!! :D

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  20. Beautiful cakes, looks so delicious n well decorated.

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  21. Such a lovely cake!! Looks very pretty!!

    Happy to follow you...

    If interested link your best recipes, to my collection of best recipes @
    http://youtoocancookindianfood.blogspot.in/2012/04/collection-of-best-recipes.html

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  22. Wow, its a master piece! great way to make a birthday cake for ur daughter !

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  23. Poornima, you make me come here again and again and enjoy the treat!! :)

    noticed another thing here... the pin button which stands separate and allows to pin a particular recipe!! Mine works just the oppsite ..it doesnt allow to pin the particular page/recipe lol..
    would be lovely if you could pass me over the coding, pls!

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  24. Beautiful cakes dear. Very artistic.....nice tips on making them ahead of time. Belated birthday wishes.

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  25. awww so adorable! My heart will break to cut it though.

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  26. Adorable cake.... n beautifully decorated!
    is this store bought fondant?

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  27. It looks professionally done. loved all the cute farm animals. i had a tinkerbell cake for my daughter's 2nd birthday. SHe loved it. Your daughter is one lucky girl and I am sure she would have enjoyed your beautiful creations.

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    Replies
    1. All the images of Birthday Cakes are so amazing, nice & well decorated. I really appreciated all your hard work.
      Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures of cakes with us.......

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  28. All the Pictures of Birthday Cakes are so amazing, design are too good & well decorated. I really appreciated all your hard work.
    Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures of beautiful cakes with us. Thanks a lot.........

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Poornima