Rainbow Cake

So first off apologies in advance if this post ends up with photo overload but it's just so pretty and rainbow. I have been waiting for an occasion to make this multi layer rainbow cake and the baby shower I threw, for a friend, the other week was the perfect opportunity. If you saw this post here you know that I went with a rainbow theme for the shower and made lots of decorations too. So anyway I was baking pretty much all week after reading Smitten Kitchens tips for making layer cakes over here I thought I was pretty pro.  

The most important part of making a layer cake is getting a flat surface on top so the layers go together smoothly. And also trying not to eat all the left over bits.

I always like to use jam and cream to go between my layers, I think in a cake this size if you used icing for between the layers as well as covering the outside would be a bit of icing overload.  

It gives the best final result if you do a first 'crumb layer' of icing before the layer that will be visible. This layer is thin, just thick enough to stop crumbs from coming through to the outside layer of icing. 

I was pretty happy with how it looked but if I were to do it again I would cut the top layer to the same size as the others as well. I just didn't really think about it among all the other stuff I was doing. 

Birthday Cake

With this weekend being one of my Best friends 21st Birthday, it was the perfect opportunity to do some baking. After seeing this post on Cupcakesandcashmere I really wanted to have a proper go at a layer cake so I headed over to Smitten Kitchen for some layer cake tips. One thing that I have never done before is frozen my cake before working with it, but when making layer cakes Deb from Smitten Kitchen suggests freezing each layer to make it easy to cut it.  

I was so happy with how it turned out and everybody enjoyed it.

Photos from My friends Birthday dinner Via my Instagram

Spoons: Berries and cream meringue layer cake

Me and my Ma spent boxing day this year cooking up a storm in my nans kitchen. After having Christmas day at my nans place we were driving to our cousins place the day after boxing day for another Christmas dinner. We made cinnamon scrolls and this amazing layer cake. 

I followed this recipe from Women's Weekly with a couple of little alterations. 

1. Preheat Oven to about 120°C

2. Draw a 20cm circle on baking paper, use this paper to line 2 baking trays, grease paper and dust with some cornflour

3. In a small bowl combine two egg whites and 1/2 cup of sugar, beat with an electric mixer on high until thick and glossy then stir in an extra teaspoon of cornflour

3. Divide the mixture between the two baking trays, spreading to cover the circles

4. Bake for about one hour or until meringue is firm and dry, cool in oven with door ajar (this part is important because if the meringue cools down too quickly it may crack)

5. repeat steps 2 through 4 two more times giving you a total of six meringue rounds (you may want to make an extra one too in case you have any meringue mishaps) 

6. Whip your cream and vanilla until it forms soft peaks

7. Peel your first Meringues away from paper, spread cream on top and layer with berries, repeat for remaining layers

8. Arange remaining cream and berries on top of cake and 'dust' with grated chocolate flakes

You'll be amazing at how easy this actually is to make. The only thing is that it does take a long time because you have to make the six meringues. It also doesn't hurt if you make the meringue the day before you plan on making the cake, I did and it was perfectly fine.

Believe me when I say it even tastes better then it looks... 

C is for cookie.

Is good enough for me.

It was my dad's birthday today so I made him these cookie monster cupcakes. I was uber uber happy with them and they weren't overly hard to make, just a little fiddley. Hope your having a lovely weekend. 

xx

p.s. why is one of them smaller than the rest of them, it wont go the same size?