Birthday cake

It was my friends 50th birthday this week and they have just got back from a nice holiday. So to celebrate their return and belated birthday wishes I decided to have a go at making a birthday cake. Just a Victoria sponge with icing and butter cream...!? Interesting challenge as I have never really decorated a cake, only at Christmas.

So, I made the cake on Saturday morning and put the icing on in the afternoon. It nagged at me all night and I wasn't happy (not that I am a perfectionist). The cake was fine, but I wasn't happy with the icing. So on Sunday morning I made another Victoria sponge and instead of doing a a buttercream to stick the icing on the cake, I used apricot jam. The second cake was much more of a success.

I decided to do a polka dot theme and covered the kitchen totally in a thin layer of icing sugar... so now everything is sticky! I don't know how real cake makers have the patience! It took me ages to do the colouring, make the "dots" and stick them on! Anyway, the cake is complete.

Back to the first cake. I didn't want to waste it, so I decided to decorate it with the remaining "dots" and buttercream I had left... and it was fine, to be honest! SO the first cake would have been fine! Nevermind, I had fun trying to be creative!

This is the second cake that I made and was given to my friend for her birthday....

This was the first cake that is now going to the office tomorrow to be eaten!

I think I will leave cake making and decorating to the professionals! Time to get out a bucket of hot water to clean all the icing sugar from the kitchen floor!

Nic xoxo