Birthday Cake Hall of Fame No. 1

Baking doesn't get more exciting than birthday cakes. Wedding cakes, as great as they look, just don't come round often enough and look more stressful than anything else. And there's also no room for redemption in a years time if you know what I mean. 


In no particular order (and baring in mind there is a large backlog and a few exciting birthdays coming up...):


1. My sister made this many years ago for a pizza loving friend. White and pink coloured icing for the "pizza" base and sauce, sweeties for the toppings, and grated white chocolate for the cheese. And I'm pretty sure it was on a pizza plate as well.  

2. Spending a year (and a birthday) on the other side of the world was exciting, but having this incredible chocolate orange cake, made by my very very good friend Mad-dog Gates, on my 21st birthday made it feel much more like home. I will never forget waking up with a horrific hangover and shoving two massive slices of this down my throat. I can't say it made me feel better, but it definitely made me feel happier. 

3. Later that same year, I made this for my amazing house-mate, Margarita, on her 26th Birthday. It is two layers of almond sponge on either side of a chocolate and chocolate chip sponge layer. The icing is Nutella-Cream cheese butter icing (with varying degrees of Nutella), with an extra layer of pure Nutella between the sponge layers. We started singing happy birthday without the Birthday Girl (half-way through the second attempt she appeared) and all she got to taste of it in the end was the bit she ate when they thrust her face in the cake, after she had blown out her candles (a Chilean tradition). In any case, it disappeared incredibly quickly, which is never a bad sign. 

4. My sister made me this for my 19th birthday, combining two of my favourite things - peanut butter and jam. The icing is peanut butter and it is covered in peanut-butter and jam jewel biscuits from Nigella's Domestic Goddess. It had Jam between the sponge layers too. 

5. To conclude the first Hall of Fame, this has yet to be topped in my opinion. Made by my sister for my 18th Birthday, it is 3 chocolate sponge layers, with peanut butter cream and chocolate peanut butter icing, surrounded by a sheet of milk and white chocolate, and topped with glitter covered peanut butter lindt chocolates and a frosted rose (which I did actually eat). It was GREAT warmed up.