Beau turned 11 years old on the 14th November which just happened to be a Friday. Scouts is on Fridays, so I hatched a cunning plan. Her Scout group were going into London to see the poppies at The Tower of London. It was a ‘Poppies and Pizza’ evening but as there were 25 of them they couldn’t get a table in London and came back to the Bromley Pizza Express for the pizza part.
My cunning plan was to make a cake and deliver it to the Pizza Express while they were out. When I dropped Beau off at the train station I told the leader my plan but she wasn’t expecting me to make sure there was enough for everyone. She obviously doesn’t understand how a Jewish mum’s mind works. Food is king and there’s always enough to go around.
The cake was a 10″ Madeira cake with a mint green coloured buttercream filling. I also coated the cake in the same buttercream and rolled it in 100’s and 1000’s. I’ve made a few cakes now which are covered in sprinkles and I am yet to do it without making a huge mess!
How to decorate a cake with sprinkles
I always start by giving the cake a butter cream crumb coating followed by twenty minutes in the fridge for that first layer to firm up. I then add a second butter cream coating to the sides which the sprinkles stick to when I lift the cake up and hold it sideways between my hands from the top and bottom and roll it in a tray full of sprinkles. I then pop the cake back in the fridge for the butter cream and sprinkles to firm up enough to decorate the top of the cake. I add a generous amount of butter cream with a spatula to the top and give it 10 minutes to chill then I position the name and age cut out on the top and press down gently around the edges of the letters and numbers so no sprinkles can get underneath the paper. I then gently add sprinkles to the top. I brush off the excess with a bristle pastry brush and then – you’ve guessed it – pop it back in the fridge, this time for ten minutes. Then I remove the paper letters and numbers and carefully transfer the cake onto a cake board, put it in a box, take a few snap shots and shoot out to Pizza Express.
Beau was really stunned and I think just a little bit chuffed with the surprise. When the parents got there to collect their scouts there was tons of cake left over so there was definitely plenty to go around. We even cut some up for people to take home. I definitely didn’t want any at home as we had the second birthday cake and that was also a biggie.
The birthday party cake
When I asked Beau what cake she wanted for her birthday party this year she already had it planned. Her one word answer was “Smarties”. For some strange reason she has got really into Smarties recently. I think it’s the boxes with the letters on the lids. Have I ever mentioned that Beau is really into crafting and a lot of that revolves around making things from boxes. I’m in big trouble if I try to throw out a toilet roll tube!
Well, for the cake she wanted to have two tiers and it be Madeira cake with chocolate butter cream as the filling and on the outside with the whole thing covered in Smarites. I chose to add a few of the Renshaw mini bean cake toppers to the cake to add a bit of scale. Tim managed to get hold of one of those tubes of just pink Smarties so I could use them for the words and ’11’. Beau loved it and I’m not sure how we managed to get the cake to the bowling party without any going missing!
I think she liked it. Judging from this smile I think it was a winner! I must say that I seem to have a recurring theme with photos of my daughters and their birthday cakes. They always seem to be wielding massive knives!
I can’t actually believe that I now have an eleven year old. When did that happen. She’s so young and grown up all at the same time.
Happy Birthday Beau Beau Bob. We love you soooooo much.
Mama. x
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Looks really good
Rowena
Oh I love them both! Such simple ideas and yet so effective. Really inspiring because it feels like even I can make that!
Indeed you can! x