How We Made our Rainbow Birthday Cake

We recently had our boys Ethan & Declan’s birthday party (see our post below) and decided to make a rainbow cake for one of them. Since showing you our pics we have had many requests on how we did it, so here I share with you our super secret recipe!

Not really for me the more time I spend out of the kitchen the better, im not a fan of cooking! We actually just used a packet cake mix. Now before I go on just a reminder I/ we are in no way cake makers/decorators and we dont sell cakes, we are simply a Mum and a Dad who were making their boys a birthday cake and this is how we did it

We were making a large base cake, our tin was 30cm so we used 4 vanilla cake mixes.

- Mix up your cake mix or make up your mix if using a recipe according to the instructions.

- Decide how many colours you would like to use. We used 6 in ours. Split the mix into even amounts in separate bowls. Add a colour to each bowl of mix and mix it in. We used both Wilton cake decorating colours and also just your regular food colouring that you buy at the supermarket and both worked perfectly.

- Grease your tin, its always good to remember that! Then choose one colour and pour the mix into the centre of your pan. Repeat this process with your other colours. Pour each colour into the centre of your pan, on top of the other colours. The mix will spread to the edge of your pan as you add more colours.

- Bake your cake.

- Then when its baked and cooled you should have a bright array of colours when you cut your cake

We were concerned the first time we made it as the top went quite brown so we didnt think it would work out but this didnt have any effect on the inside once we cut it, it looked excellent. It was all covered with icing anyway so didnt really matter.

As our cake was so big we did all 6 colours in one hit, however if you are using a smaller cake pan it may be better to split your mix in half, add one half of your colours and bake and then do the same with the other half and once both are baked, put them on top of one another. Just another way we have seen it done when making a smaller cake.

So there you have it, super easy but it really does make an impact especially to little ones! Good luck with yours!

Kate xx

Ethan and Declans Carnival/Circus Party

Well after months of planning and preparation, our Carnival/Circus party was finally here for my two beautiful sons Ethan & Declan! After weeks of sunshine and clear skies, the rain decided to come two days before our party, so we had to make a few last minute adjustments to the set up and little Declan spent most of the party asleep as he wasnt well, but all in all the day was fabulous! I couldnt have asked for a better turnout, the kids had a blast and lots of fun was had by all! This is rather a long post with lots of pictures, but whats the fun in pictures if you cant share them! (If you want a closer look at any of our pictures just click on the image and it will display the full size image.) Hope you enjoy!

The invitations, made up by my brother Jack …

The kids table and my gorgeous polka dot bunting I purchased from Zippy Zippy

www.madeit.com.au/storecatalog.asp?userid=1135.com

The ‘Sweets’ table (horrible rain wet my backdrop, but nevermind!) and our gorgeous Tissue Paper Pom Poms made by Ah- Tissue http://ahhtissue.blogspot.com/ these really set the scene, they looked gorgeous!

Details, Details! Various circus bits and bobs we found and of course what’s a Carnival without balloons, lollies, fairfloss & popcorn!

(Fairyfloss & helium balloons from Decorate & Celebrate – Ellenbrook WA)




I chose to use plain ivory & red tableware and then accessorise with themed hats, decorations and cute little water bottle covers I made up.

Our Carnival games had to be moved inside to the garage, but with a few streamers & balloons and some carpet cut offs, courtesy of our lovely neighbours we were able to cover the concrete floor and set up a pretty good games area. All the kiddies were rounded up, given game tickets, a showbag to put all their prizes in and a glow stick necklace to get them in the spirit! I must say, glowsticks are a definate winner with the kids

Our games included; Pin the Nose on the Clown, Goldfish Toss, Clown Velcro Ball Toss, Elephant Ring Toss, Clown Basketball & Ducks.
Our duckies decided they wouldnt float once we put the hooks in the top, but that was nothing some liquid nails and plastic plates wouldn’t fix! Our ‘Goldfish Toss’ game prize was little flashing fish that flash when in water, they looked super cute and here is hubby and his trusty assistant making balloon animals… plus some of our other prizes on the Prize Board.
After lunch, games and lots of fun on the Big Top bouncy castle http://www.jumpingjjays.com.au/, then it was time for cake! Hubby and I were quite proud of ourselves for making these and think they turned out pretty good. They tasted yummy and the rainbow cake was a bit of a hit! (A big thanks also to my lovely friend Cassey for making the sitting decorations for our cakes )
Cute goody boxes to take home … filled with traditional type lollies - sherbert, fads, coloured rock candy and pop rocks, old fashioned card games, magic tricks, circus tattoos, pinwheel and lots of confetti!
It really was an excellent day spent with our family and close friends and I enjoyed every minute of planning and preparing it for my kids I also want to make a special mention and a say a big thank you to my sister Mel, my brothers Jack and Caleb, my Gran and brother in law Dean for all your help with setting up and cleaning up, it was most appreciated and helped Anthony and I out a lot :)

A huge thank you to Emily from Lightbox Photography http://lightboxphoto.com.au for being present on the day and for all our lovely photographs, its so nice to have such lovely memories that we can look back on for years to come.




Here at Piece of Cake Parties & Celebrations we stock many of the decorations and games I used for my party so if you are planning a party dont forget to head over to our website and check out our great range http://pieceofcakeparties.com.au/

Thanks

Kate xx

Making your own Birthday Cake...

My nephew Mayson had a Spiderman party for his 3rd birthday in 2007 and I ended up in charge of the cake. First time I had ever used one of those character cake tins, you know with the nice lines on the tin showing where all the different colours go when icing it? Well let me tell you when the cake was baked there was no lines on it and I was baffled about what I did wrong. How was I supposed to know where all the lines went on his face now? So, I had to wing it and let’s just say that’s easier said than done, who would think it would be so hard to draw a spider web?

“Oh Kate, that’s a lovely dinosaur” says my Grandma. The tears of frustration and embarrassment flowed then and I spent a lot of the party sulking and finding a hidden meaning behind people asking, “Who made the cake” or saying “great cake”.

But you know what, when that silly old cake was brought out Mayson was grinning from ear to ear yelling “bider man, bider man”. He knew it was Spiderman and not a dinosaur, so ultimately that was all that mattered wasn’t it, because it was his special day

Parties are supposed to be fun and they are about the birthday boy or girl and in the long run they aren’t going to remember how much you spent on the cake, whether you’re icing colours were right or whether Spiderman really did look like a dinosaur. So now I just try to have fun with it, try my hardest and overlook the imperfections. After all, kids are only going to remember the fun they had and the love that mum and dad put into making their day special, wonky birthday cake and all!

Some tips from me, all basic but even the simplest things can sometimes be forgotten …

- Plan your cake in advance and make sure you have all your ingredients and equipment organised. (Extra ingredients are always handy ,just in case)

- Let your child help you make their cake. Ethan, my oldest is only 2 but he loves to help, he puts on his apron, pours in the milk and lays out the patty pans if we are doing cupcakes and he cant wait till he is old enough to finally be allowed to do the eggs. Kids love to help and even the smallest of jobs make them feel proud and special, and the look on their face once they see what ‘they’ have made is always worth it.

- Be mindful of allergies and if you are having children from your child’s school or sporting group double check with their parents if they haven’t advised you already, just to be on the safe side.

- Don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice. Get tips from cake books, the internet or ask at a cake decorating shop.

- Don’t get frustrated or aim for perfection. It doesn’t matter if you use a packet mix instead of a recipe or if you create something from the good old Women’s Day Cake book rather than a 5 tiered original masterpiece. Laugh at the imperfections, just have fun!

- Oh, and lastly always remember to grease your cake pan!

So don’t be afraid to give it a go Mums and Dads and hey if all really does fail, who doesn’t love a choccy mud cake from Woolies

Kate x

A few of my cakes and some others submitted by some lovely mummies via our Facebook fan page. Thank you to all those who shared their cakes with us xx