It's A Boy: Baby Shower Cakes

It's A Boy: Baby Shower Cakes

For the last few Saturdays I have spent my time in a series of antenatal classes. My beautiful friend is about to have a baby boy, so I went along. I will not go into the details of these classes as I am sure you can use your imagination. Plus some of what I have seen still haunts me. Anyway we had a lil baby shower for her and I decided to make a cake... of course. I decided to do a 23cm round red velvet cake and then some vanilla cupcakes. This cake requires time and patience, but the result is a cute cake, which you can customise for any special occasion. 

Red Velvet Cake 

Ingredients:

350g Butter, Softened 

350g Caster Sugar

6 Eggs

1/2tsp Vanilla Essence

Small Pinch Salt

300g Plain Flour

50g Cocoa Powder

15g Baking Powder

50ml Red Food Colouring

1kg Pack Ready to Roll White Icing

Buttercream:

250g Butter, Softened

600g Icing Sugar

100g Cream Cheese 

Equipment:

23cm (9in) Round Cake Tin

23cm (9in) Cake board

Two Cake boxes

Blue Food Colouring (decorations)

Blue Ribbon 

Method:

1. Line and grease the cake tin with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. 

2.  Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Then gradually beat in the eggs, vanilla and salt and some of the flour, if the mix starts to curdle. Then add in the remaining flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and mix together. 

3. Add the red food colouring and mix well, spoon into the tin and bake for 1hr 15mins. Test the cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean when inserted. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. 

4. For the buttercream, cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the cream cheese and add some vanilla essence to taste. Cover and chill until ready to use. I left the cake overnight to cool before I added the buttercream. 

5. Cut the cake in half carefully and spoon the cream cheese frosting in the middle then sandwich together. Using a palette knife also cover the tops and side of the cake with the buttercream with a very thin layer. Put the cake in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes. 

6. Knead the ready to roll icing until it is pliable, then roll out with a rolling pin until it is a very large and thin surface area, so you can drape over the cake. You will need to work very fast and make sure you dust the work surface with icing sugar. Carefully lift the icing with the rolling pin or your hand and drape over the cake. Ensure that the surface is very smooth with your hand. Then cut the edges. 

7. Leave to dry. Whilst you are waiting you can make the decorations. I coloured some of the leftover icing in blue and cut out small circles and hearts. I left some dots plain and added a button detail to the rest. Decorate with anything you like, and add a ribbon to the edge of the cake for a perfect finish. Use a tiny amount of water to stick the decorations onto the cake... et voila!

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

115g Butter, softened

115g Caster Sugar

2 Large eggs, at room temperature

1/2tsp Self-Raising Flour

Lemon zest to taste 

Makes 12

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper cases.

2. In the food processor, beat the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and optional zest until smooth.

3. Turn off processor and add flour. Mix the flour in, stopping as soon as it is blended.

4. Divide the mixture between the paper cases.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and springy to the touch.

6. Add vanilla frosting and decorate with the same roll icing decorations as the main cake. 

Lipstick & Marzipan *TIPS*: Be very careful with the red food colouring you use as they vary in strength, so try and get the best one that you can. It is also worthwhile to test it out on a few cupcakes beforehand just to make sure. Don't be dismayed by the ready to roll icing, it is not easy, but practice makes perfect. 

All photos taken by myself