How to make the perfect kids cake!

If you think back to your childhood birthday parties, what was the highlight of your birthday party?

Chances are it was the birthday cake.

For a young child, they can spend months researching what cake they will be having for their party, with the ultimate pressure landing on mum to make the cake and impress the sugar-high kids.

Helen from @zsweetexpressions shared with us on Instagram, her son’s 5^th birthday cake which featured our unique Chocolate Rocks.

We were that impressed with the cake and we felt you would be too, so we thought we would share the recipe with you.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 ¾ cups plain flour
• 1 ¾ cups caster sugar
• ¾ unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons of bi-carb soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups of buttermilk
• ½ cup of vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Top Tip: For that extra chocolate boost, we suggest adding some of our Couverture Buttons which are perfect for cakes.

Fondant:

• 2 teaspoons unflavoured gelatin
• ¼ cup cold water
• ¼ cup glucose syrup or corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon glycerine
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• Food colouring

And finally a 250g bag of Chocolate Rocks.

To make the cake….

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Grease two 9 inch round cake pans and line with baking paper.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, bi-carb soda and salt into a bowl and set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, mix the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla essence in a large bowl until well combined.
5. Slowly add all of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the electric mixer on low.
6. Divide the batter equally between the baking pans and bake for approximately 25 minutes.
7. Allow the cake to cool completely.

To make the fondant…..

1. Combine the gelatin and cold water together and let it stand until thick. Place the gelatin mixture in top of double boiler and heat until dissolved.
2. Add the glucose and glycerin and mix well. Stir in the butter and just before it is completely melted, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. The mixture should cool until lukewarm.
3. Place 4 cups of confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and using a wooden spoon, stir in the lukewarm gelatin mixture. Mix in sugar and add more a little at a time, until stickiness disappears. Knead in remaining sugar, until the fondant is smooth and does not stick to your hands.
4. Separate the fondant in different size portions, depending on what colours you want on your cake. Helen used blue, red, green and yellow and black, but the choice is yours.

*If fondant is too soft, add some more sugar. If too stiff, add some water (only a drop at a time)

To decorate the cake….

It’s time to get creative! Exactly how you want the colour scheme of the cake to look overall is up to you (and your child!). Helen used a blue base and then added in some clouds and trees, made out of fondant on the base.

To make the train we suggest using five similar sized rectangles. To do this you can either make another cake and cut out five rectangles or use a pre-made cake such as lamingtons and coat with fondant in the desire carriage colour you want. We like the bright fun colour scheme Helen has on her cake.

To assemble the train, place four of the rectangles laying down flat horizontally and then add the final rectangle vertical above the first carriage, which will form the front of the train.

For the steam coming out of the train, simply roll 8 little balls of fondant and thread onto a thin piece of wire.

Add in the Chocolate Rocks on top of the carriages and around the base of the cake.

If you have used any of our chocolates for your birthday cakes, please let us know by sending us an email at marketing@chocolatebox.com.au or tagging us on Instagram @thechocolateboxmelb.