Month: July 2015

Why we love it:

• It’s simple, but really effective. From the outside, this cake looks quite unassuming with it’s pristine white icing. The surprise lies on the inside, waiting for the cake to be cut…
• There are a couple of ways you could achieve this tonal effect. You could opt for slightly different coloured food dyes, or play with the amount of food dye you include in each layer of sponge for a light-dark effect. 
• You could play with the way the layers are stacked for a different effect, e.g. light-dark-light-dark or a gradient effect going from light to dark. 
• This cake looks very feminine, but you could experiment with different colours, such as blues, greens, reds, etc for a man. 
• The white icing on this cake works well with the pink coloured sponge, but you could use any coloured icing too – to match the colour of the sponge, or chocolate could be good too…

When I was a kid, mum would make my birthday cake in the shape of the age I turned each year. This was a great idea, as every year my cake was very different and when I look back at photos of me with the cake I know exactly which birthday it was. She would then decorate the cake in a colour or theme that I was into that year (a little like the Peppa Pig cake I made for my daughter here). Using a number as the base for a birthday cake is a great idea for kids, as they are usually so proud when they turn another year older. I’m not so sure this would be the case once you turn 30 though…I don’t think I would want everyone to know my age now;-)

• A number-shaped base makes an interesting cake, so you can make the icing and other decorations as simple or as fancy as you like. 
• This concept works well for male or female birthdays, and especially well for kids who are excited when they turn another year older (they’ll soon get over that;-)
• If you don’t want to buy all the numbers, some cake stores will let you hire cake tins.