on Cakes

Birthday Cakes. I've kept most of the pics of cakes I've made here (sometimes the link is down, so I am slowly backing the pics up elsewhere and will replace the broken pic links here asap). I'll post a few pics below to share. Mostly I work from the Debbie Brown cake books because I like the challenge, other times the Women's Weekly cake books and other times just whatever.



I have been asked a few times what I use underneath. I used to bake the cakes from scratch, and did once make the DB suggested cake recipe but didn't find it to my liking. I found that the Betty Crocker Devils/Choc cake and Vanilla Cake mixes, are very reliable and strong enough to support a 3D Cake icing. Instead of buttercream underneath the ready-roll icing I use Betty Crocker Vanilla frosting - one because it's easy to access and two because everyone actually likes to eat it - no point making a cake that looks great but doesn't match it in taste. It also leaves more time for me to do the actual decorating.

However if the Betty Crocker cake mix isn't avail or I don't feel like using it, I just use the choc cake recipe from the old CWA women's cook book lol. I keep a few tubs of the frosting in the cupboard - great for just home made cupcakes as a treat (thanks Joanne for putting me onto it!) - it's really yummy! The bought mixes I use are gelatine-free so no prob for

vegetarian, although eggs are added so would be prob for vegan.
The colours are gel colours (again check ingredients for dietary requirements) from a cake dec shop - great choice in colours, reliable and you can do BLACK - which as those of you who have done any cake will know, is very hard to achieve with icing mix+food colour.

Then there are the simpler cakes... like the carrot cake below, and you can do frosting with rose petals (which are edible if you feel like it) - quite pretty and very simple.

Anyway, some more pics. One day I'll get around to photoshopping the background out, and it's usually late at night/early morning when I finish them so the light isn't that great... thanks to Tina (huntersmum) for photoshopping the top two for me. The rest of the pics are avail in the link in the first para. So for those embarking into the world of kid's cake decorating, I hope that info helps! Cheers, Kristy.