Birthday Ideas & Advice

A cake is an important part of lots of celebrations. More so with birthdays. A birthday would not be complete without the birthday cake. We do have the traditional cakes like chocolate and chiffon and etc., but how about a fudge cake?

Impossible? Of course not! We could also make a chocolate fudge cake and you can even make it as a present for your friend’s birthday or for 1 of your family member’s birthday. Below is a recipe for a yummy choco fudge cake that will surely leave you and your guests wanting for more. Enjoy!

Cake:

1.5 c sugar

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder

2.5 tsps baking powder

1.5 tsps baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 c buttermilk

3 large eggs

2.5 tsps pure vanilla extract

6 tbsps unsalted butter, softened

1 c hot coffee

Frosting:

1 1/4 lbs bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 c heavy cream

2 tbsps light corn syrup

5 tbsps unsalted butter, softened

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp water

MAKE THE CAKE: Preheat the oven up to 325°. Line the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with rounds of parchment paper. Spray the pans and the parchment paper with vegetable cooking spray. Into a large bowl, whisk the sugar with flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda & salt. Inside a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk with eggs & vanilla. In another small bowl, melt butter in the hot coffee.

Using an electric mixer beat half of the buttermilk mixture into your dry ingredients at low speed. Beat in half of the coffee mixture, and then scrape down the bowl. Beat in the remaining buttermilk & coffee mixtures.

Pour the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake them for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until cakes become springy to your touch. Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely. Peel off the parchment paper.

MEANWHILE, MAKE THE FILLING AND FROSTING: Put chocolate into a large bowl. Into a small saucepan, bring the cream and corn syrup to a boil. Immediately pour over your chocolate and let stand inside a warm place for 5 minutes.

Gently whisk the ganache until smooth. Whisk in butter until incorporated. Refrigerate, stirring frequently, until the ganache is thick enough to spread, about 30 minutes. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the sugar with the water then heat for 30 seconds. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set a cake layer on a cake plate or cake cardboard and brush lightly with the sugar syrup.

Spread about 3/4 cup of the frosting onto your cake in an even 1/4-inch layer. Repeat with the remaining cake layers, sugar syrup and frosting. (I skipped this step completely. I didn’t want to spread sugar water on pieces of cake; I just didn’t see the point.)

Spread the remaining frosting around the sides of your cake. Let cake stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour before slicing. And then, because I’m a genius, I decided to cover the top of my cake using fresh raspberries. Obviously you would wash them in cool water, pat dry, and put the open end facing down on the frosting.

Since you are working with ganache, you have to be somewhat fast since it sets into hardened chocolate really fast

It’s your child’s birthday and you want to surprise him/her with that special treat-a really great tasting chocolate cake that is sure to be a hit with his friends. Just check out those 2 chocolate cake recipes for your kids’ birthday

Moist Chocolate Birthday Cake Chocolate Cake

Ingredients: 2 cups sugar (1 white, 1 dark brown-Domino Brand) 1/2 cup Parkay Margarine (1 stick) 2 eggs 1/2 cup Hershey Cocoa 1 TBSP vanilla (imitation) or 1tsp real vanilla Pinch of salt 1 TBSP baking soda (Arm & Hammer brand) 1 cup buttermilk (or powdered buttermilk-follow directions on label to equal 1 cup buttermilk)

2 cups sifted flour (measure flour first prior to sifting it) 1/2 cup boiling water Chocolate Cake Icing Ingredients: 1/2 box Domino’s Powdered Sugar (1 lb. size) 1 stick Parkay margarine 2 level TBSP Hershey’s Cocoa 2 tsp imitation vanilla 1.5 TBSP milk How to

Make the Chocolate Cake: Beat Parkay margarine and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, salt, and cocoa. Mix baking soda in buttermilk until it starts to fizz. Pour buttermilk into batter. Stop mixer and add flour.

Mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add boiling water and mix. Pour batter into long cake pan 13 by 9 by 2. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Test if it’s done using a toothpick. If toothpick comes out clean, it’s done. If it doesn’t come out clean, leave in a few more minutes and retest.

How to Make the Icing: Feed in mixer. The longer you beat it the creamier it gets. Cool cake first before frosting.

For vanilla icing, use same recipe but omit cocoa. Best Chocolate Cake Ingredients: 50g/2oz plain flour 60g/21/2oz ground almonds 225g/8oz good quality dark chocolate (at least 70 per cent cocoa solids), broken into pieces 225g/8oz butter 6 free-range eggs, separated 50g/2oz soft brown sugar grated orange zest (optional) 175g/6oz caster sugar icing sugar, for dusting Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm/8in loose-bottomed or clip-sided cake tin with greaseproof paper.

3. Sift the flour and almonds into a large bowl.

4. Place the chocolate pieces and butter into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl. Heat while stirring from time to time, until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and allow cooling slightly.

5. Separate the eggs into two large bowls. Add the brown sugar to the bowl with the egg yolks and whisk together for a few minutes until frothy. Add the flour mixture, melted chocolate and grated orange zest, if using. Fold lightly to mix, using a large metal spoon.

6. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Gradually add the caster sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed.

7. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture. Pour the mixture into the cake tin.

8. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until crisp on top and squidgy inside. Test the cake with a cocktail stick or skewer – it should come out a bit sticky, but not wet. Allow to cool on a wire rack – the cake will sink but that’s ok. Carefully peel the paper off when the cake’s cold

9. To serve, dust the cake with icing sugar and cut into slices.

If there’s one thing that should be said about birthday cakes, it is that they are sweeter if you make them yourself. Buying a birthday cake is something that anyone can do. But baking a birthday cake yourself is sweet, and sends a message to the birthday girl or the birthday boy about just how special he or she is.

If you have skill, the cake that you made yourself could even be more delicious than the one you bought at the cake shop. But if you don’t know the first thing about baking, don’t fret because there are a lot of resources that gives you a step-by-step guide to making birthday cakes. And then there are cake pre-mixes too. The trick to making a luscious cake is in the decoration. So, if you’re working with cake pre-mixes, whip up your creativity for some wonderful cake decorations.

If you’re making chocolate cake for the chocolate lover, put some chocolate icing on top. You could border the cake with strawberry halves. If the birthday celebrant has some allergy problems, try baking a gluten-free chocolate cake with semi-sweet chocolate icing, or dairy free ice cream with milk-free icing.

If you want to offer something richer, try making a cheesecake and top it with berries. Also, try to get more creative with common cake cream recipes. Tweak ice cream recipes by using high-end ice cream instead of common ice cream. Or replace frozen whipped cream with fudgey whipped cream. Or you could also exchange the fudge topping with something a little more different, like sliced mangoes. And instead of candy toppings, try chocolate shavings instead. If the birthday celebrant prefers something lighter, trying making lemon-glazed cake or creamy orange cake. These cakes are particularly good with champagne. For kids, try making a root beer float cake or chocolate pudding fudge cake.

There can be nothing better than making a birthday cake yourself but for those of you who do not want to get in the trouble of making it yourself you can simply buy a mouth-watering birthday cake online.

Easy cake decorating ideas are on the web and in library books. You see, when you bake a cake it looks very plain. It is the icing of the cake looks more appealing. You can make your otherwise plain looking cake into a work of art. Even though sometimes cake decorating looks like a tough job some very easy cake decorating ideas can help to make the transformation.

The basic part of the cake decoration is the icing. You can make the icing at home but for that you need to have practice. It is easier to buy the icing from the market. Apart from the ready made icing, you get cake decorating kits as well. In the kit you get icing bag. Different shaped tips that come with the kit makes it easier to draw flowers or some design.

With the use of different shaped tips you can decorate the cake by creating different patterns. If you use different colors or sprinkle sugar granule colored with food colors the cake will look good and different.

With the help of stencils you can write a message on the cake or can get a ready made message and just stick it on the cake.

A birthday cake with a loving message and some icing flowers and candle can make the birthday boy/girl feel very special. The happiness that you see on the face of your kid makes all the effort and time spent on decorating the cake makes it worth it.

For easy cake decorating ideas for kid’s party, all you have to do is try and look at the world from your kid’s eyes. The power of imagination can create many beautiful things. All you have to do is to translate them on the cake.

With the help of different food colors, the ready made edible flowers, you can create anything you want on the cake. The cake becomes a creation of art. You can use different colored candies. You can use different types of icings. You can decorate the cake with royal icing. You can draw the border on the cake and spread some jam in the middle and on the top of that place some candy ducks. The kids will love it.

Another thing you can try out is bake a large flat cake beforehand. Cut that cake into small squares. Allow your kids to paint them in different color paste that you have made using icing sugar and food colors. After they are done make it into a quilt. Kids will enjoy the experience.

Using fondant is another easy way to decorate the cake. It is icing sugar dough which can be easily manipulated. You can drape it over the cake and achieve a flawless finish.

You can use white icing sugar for the border and sprinkle chocolate shaves on the top to achieve a dramatic effect.

If you want the colors to hold then use cane sugar as it has the ability to hold the colors longer than the beet root sugar.

You can decorate your cake with fresh fruits as well. You can place a piece of pineapple on the cake and place a cherry on it. It looks good and taste delicious as well.

Easy cake decorating ideas are really easy provided you have correct tools with you.