A piece of cake!

Well, the summer is here and soon it will be 'Bake-Off' season. I am no Mary Berry, but I do love a bit of stirring, mixing, and cake faffing! The latter being the operative word! I have always tried to make a special effort with the childrens' birthday cakes, since the day I became mum. It's the one thing I love to do for them, because nothing beats the surprise and excitement on their little faces as they puff out those candles! My oldest turned thirteen this weekend...Bear with my while I just sit down for a bit to let that sink in....thirteen...I am the owner of a teenager...Help! Well, of course I had to make a little effort with her cake again, as it's a rather special birthday.

Now, I can't and don't do 'fancy'...My skills don't stretch that far, and smoothly perfected masterpieces is not something I even want to attempt. But I can do rustic! So, with the very popular trend of  'naked cakes' gracing wedding and celebration tables around the world, I thought I'd have a go at making one for my girl. It is a lot easier than having to drape a cake in flawless fondant icing! I merely baked four layers of sponge cake, iced them together with buttercream, and didn't even have to bother with the sides! The idea is to spread none, or just a very thin layer of icing round the sides so that all the layers are visible. Easy..a piece of cake! The fun part was dressing the top. I used fresh roses, daisies, some handpicked sweets, sprinkles, quirky flags and bon-bon toppers. Voila! A very rustic naked cake!

And she loved it...Phew!

Blessings