Birthday Weekend
I don’t know where the time goes but my one and only kiddo is now 9. 9! How did that happen?! Grade 4, and 9yrs old. Jeez, time flies.
This year has been the year of Harry Potter. She’d skirted around the edge of the series for a super long time. Reading a little here, and a little there. But she was never interested in reading a whole book, or watching any of the movies. But then something changed! She made friends with a girl in her class who was reading the books. Well, now suddenly it wasn’t just Mom telling her they were good, it was a peer. And just like that all the movies were watched, and the books were blown through like she had to make up for lost time. She’s currently stuck halfway through the last book, I think a little reluctant to have the series come to an end.
All that to say when it came to a cake theme for her birthday this year, the answer was obvious: Harry Potter. If you’ve been with RageBake for a while you’ll know that cakes and I don’t usually get along. I’ve not mastered piping in any way. Can rarely get a decent crumb coat. And icing, ugh I have had my fair share of disasters (Instagram followers would have seen one just recently). But I was determined to make this cake awesome.
My biggest baking flaw is not taking enough time. I am a perpetual rusher. I have zero patience for allowing things to cool the proper length of time, etc. and it always bites me in the ass. I know this and am working to fix it. So I gave myself 3 solid days to get this cake made. There would be no rushing at the last minute.
I won’t bore you with the details but I really took my time and ended up with 4 coloured layers (burgundy and gold), a fairly smooth white icing, and then Zoe and I decorated with fondant HP glasses, lightening bolt, Deathly Hallows symbol (Zoe’s addition), and the iconic HP letters on top. It was fun! Fondant is fun to work with but a definite pain. While searching for inspiration I saw tons of fondant eyeglasses. But do you think I could make some work? Nope!! Every time I made a circle it would turn into an oval before it reached the cake. Lol. So I cheated and used my largest cutter to make a circle print in the icing and then guided a strip of fondant around that to make the O. Worked fairly well but, in retrospect, I wish I had used thicker strips for the glasses and more red coloring for a deeper burgundy. Oh well - notes for next time!
At the end of the day it wasn’t a perfect cake but Zoe was thrilled, and loved helping, so I am a happy Mom! Up next: cupcakes (or something) for her upcoming kid party at a local art studio. Do I stick with the Harry Potter theme? Or do I do an art theme to suit the activity? Decisions, decisions.
The recipe I went with for the HP cake comes from Ricardo. It was his Best Vanilla cake and it was delicious. Easy to do, no funky ingredients, and it worked beautifully. Only change I made was to boost the vanilla. I paired it with his vanilla frosting and that was also delicious! I doubled the batch (just in case), plus upped the vanilla, and added a healthy pinch of kosher salt. Perfectly delicous! I do have a fair bit left so that may go toward the cupcakes if I go that route for next weekend.
Happy Birthday kiddo!
Have you made anything from the blog? Anything fun? I want to see it!
Comment below, send me an email, or tag #ragebake on Instagram!