You may have seen kicking around on Pinterest a few uninspiring looking cakes that look nondescript from the outside but have a hidden secret within.
When sliced open the recipients name or some other word or symbol is revealed, much like the rock candy you can buy that is popular as wedding bonboniere.
With my second sons birthday approaching we agreed I would surprise him with a cake that I had chosen. Normally my kids spend weeks before their birthdays pouring over the cake books.
So, having seen this name cake on Pinterest and the birthday boys name being 'Sam', I thought 'what could be easier.' As it turns out, pretty much anything else I could have aspired to try.
My research showed me two different methods, one where the name in the centre of the cake was made of more cake tinted a different colour, the other being the name made of ready rolled smooth icing.
I decided to give the cake centre a try and copied this blog: http://www.handmadecharlotte.com/diy-colorful-peace-cake/
It was a total disaster!
I made rainbow cake mix in my bar tin to cut out the letters with. I used cooking cutters and cut out SAM as well as 10 (as a test run) and stacked them end for end in the tin. I then back filled with a basic batter mix. All was looking good and I was very confident!
When I lifted it out of the oven - total disaster! The SAM letters had floated to the top somehow and the 10 had fallen apart like it was cleaved down the middle. Neither had worked >:(
The failure of this cake was really my own fault. If I'd followed the instructions properly it would have worked the first time, but somehow I got it into my head that I had to place the letters end on, not facing up. By the time I got that bit sorted, I'd changed the filling I was using and it was still failing.
Attempt 2 was now undertaken following the instructions on this blog:
http://asubtlerevelry.com/typography-cake
Looking at it again now, I can see that it uses edible dough which my brain translated into icing, I guess because that's what it looks like in the photo.
This time I decided to reuse the bar tin and stack the letters upwards. As the bar tin has 90 degree corners I could then slice off the top and turn the cake on its side to give the correct reveal when sliced. I intentionally overfilled the pan so that it would be sure to reach the top and give enough edge to be sliced off.
To shake things up a bit I went for turquoise letters and revolting purple batter.
Once again everything seemed to be going well. This is where we come back to the fact that I used icing for the lettering. I didn't even get it out of the pan before it became apparent that once again I'd failed. The icing had melted into a bluey/purple gooey mess and the whole thing went straight to the bin. If trying this cake out DO NOT USE ICING!!!
My third attempt was to be my last. If this didn't work I was giving up. Indeed I only had a third crack at it because I had already made two rainbow logs and still had one left over.
This time I cut my cake with the cookie cutters again and stacked them high in the bar tin with the intention of using the methodology from the second cake, with the filling from the first cake attempt.
Once again it all looks good...
After baking the suspense was killing me whilst I waited for it to cool.
With the top sliced off I can see letters lurking under the surface!
And for the grand finale (which I guess will technically have to be another blog post in 2 days after Sam's birthday so you can see it iced and revealed)...
As this was just the very edge of the cake, the lettering still looks a little dodgy, but I'm assuming that will change on the next slice.
Obviously this is quite a small cake and it will need to be cut along its length which is unusual, but Sam only has 1 friend coming for a sleepover so there will be plenty to go around.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
