Lovin’ Life 31/7/2016: Birthday Cake Season.


It’s birthday cake season for my family and friends right now which means that the next month is going to be one weekend after another of baking, decorating and eating good cake with the people I love most.

I’m feeling chocolate this year (surprise, surprise) and to kick off the festivities, here’s Donna Hay’s Chocolate Melt and Mix Cake via Fat Mum Slim dolled up with a few bits and pieces I’ll explain later on.

That’s 250g of butter being melted for the cake…

Along with all the usual ingredients you need for chocolate cake, this recipe also features a good 1 1/2 cups of desiccated coconut.

If you have one on hand, a three year old can be very helpful in telling you how the batter beating is progressing and whether or not it needs a little help from his spatula.  And to think it wasn’t that long ago that I had to carry him on my hip in between cake making steps so that he could see what was going on…

In the frosting department, I’ve used my favourite recipe for chocolate buttercream frosting from Add A Pinch.

But the star (what a pun) of the show are these chocolate stars from Dr Oetker (an inventor of baking powder and most importantly, SSG Manor’s official brand of frozen pizza) whose range of cake decorating products recently arrived on our shelves via Coles and Woolworths.

The giant stars retail for around $4 and come in packets of twelve – six each of milk and white chocolate.  As you can see from my reveal, the stars are very well protected in their packaging and all twelve of my pack were in perfect condition when I opened their box.  To remove them, just peel back the plastic casing a bit and they pop out easily.

I’ve been YouTube-ing and Googling cake decorating tips this weekend in preparation for all the frosting I have ahead of me this month and I picked up this great tip for the less tidy sides of cake frosters amongst us.  Lay down strips of baking paper under your cake before you start.

It works a treat and the paper just slides out from the sides of the cake.

Are you the birthday cake baker in your family?  Is there one recipe you stick to or do you rotate through a few favourites and new finds like me?

Have you tried any other products from Dr Oetker’s cake decorating range?


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