Being a birthday girl is a big thing when you’re wee, so I make an effort to ensure Little Miss’ big day is one to remember. I remember my mum making cakes for my parties when I was a child, a carebear, princesses, castles with ice cream cone turrets and jelly tot jewels and I loved them all, so I hope Little Miss will have fond memories of my bakes too.
As you know this year’s theme was Starwars and a two-tier cake was also requested, there’s a first time for everything and this year my challenge has been stepped up.
After spending almost £50 in Lakeland on 6″ and 9″ cake tins, ready to roll icing and a drum board the next stop was Amazon for cake boards, plastic dowlings and star shaped plungers. In hindsight it would have been cheaper to commission someone to make a cake for my little Starwars princess but then it wouldn’t be as special for her, at least I hope that’s the case.
Thank goodness I did my research and found out Victoria sponge is not a good option for tier cakes and Madeira is the cake of choice. With only gluten free flour in the house I never know how recipes will turn out, so I took my chances on a Madeira cake recipe I found via a Google search. Worried it would lack flavour I added the zest and juice of 1 lemon to the 9″ and zest and juice of about half a lemon to the 6″ mixture, it seems luck was on my side as the cakes rose to the occasion and looked fine.
The next challenge was to fill and cover the cakes, so with the counter covered in corn flour I rolled out the icing and was happy with the result even though it was a bit rough around the edges.
After a bit of tweaking to print the ‘Starwars’ text to fit my base layer I used it as a template and then plunged away to create some silver stars.
I opted to save the tier stacking for party day but followed instructions on inserting dowels so it was all set to go on the day.
Next job was a Princess topper, I am probably showing my age by opting for Princess Leia but that’s who I think of when it comes to girl power in Starwars. However, the Entertainer seems to have other ideas so had to buy a wobbly head Rey as a back up topper.
With Little Miss and daddy enjoying a movie together, I poured a glass of wine and set to work on my Princess Leia made from what is basically edible plasticine. When I can focus my energy on something creative without distractions I enjoy the moment…
My interpretation of Princess Leia looks like she’s over indulged in galactic goodies over the festive period but Little Miss liked her and that’s all that counts, so I can rest assured Leia won’t fall over on our drive to the party venue with the bottom she has!
My OCD nature wouldn’t allow me to ignore the small gap on the pink icing, so after breakfast I rolled out some of the leftover pink icing to create a ribbon to hide the flaw.
With a couple of star topped decorations added to the base tier the cake was complete and not only was Little Miss happy with my efforts, our party guests gave it the thumbs up too for taste and aesthetics. The kitchen is now closed until my OH’s birthday when I will no doubt have to look for inspiration again.
In the meantime I can now focus on getting back to the gym to work off the birthday cakes and festive over indulgence, and of course eat more cake with less guilt as it’s something I enjoy.
Categories: Family Life, Food & Drink, Lifestyle
Tanoshimi 