More Baking: Birthday Cake for a Doppleganger and a Carvable Cake!

Hi guys! I've done more baking since last time I wrote, which I guess is a good thing apart from the part that included lots of procrastinating on assignments that were due.. 
So last week, which was that first week back to school, I bumped into my friend Meggie, who apparently is my doppleganger from two years above! I still remember when I was a new to my high school and her friends introduced me to her.. it was very awkward. Anyways, she ever so gracefully reminded me of her birthday which was on 10th October. I had totally forgotten about it, but I made a cake nonetheless! It's quite a simple cake; strawberries and cream with fondant on top! It only took me about 5 hours to make altogether, which is ultra quick compared to the amount of time/effort I put into my other cakes.. 

I thought the idea was quite cute, with the moose and other forest animals. It creates a really relaxing feeling for me somehow..

Amidst all that, I am being bogged down with so many assignments and assessments! I have a maths test tomorrow, and a huge history essay due next week, an English assignment due in just over a week, and I just finished a PDHPE assignment where I made another cake. This cake was really fun to make, because it was my first time shaping it into a 3D cake. The recipe I used is incredibly easy, but I thought I would share it with you anyways. The cake that came out of the oven was completely flat, and was amazing to carve with!

Vanilla Cake for Carving

Makes an absolutely delicious cake that has a 'crumb' similar to a pound cake, ideal for decorating and stacking/tiering.

The behind-the-scenes of making my bikini cake for PDHPE. She even had a heart buried inside her if you can spot it! Try and cover all the cracks in the cake with more bits of cake.. or frosting!

The most hilarious part is shaping the boobs and making them all nice and round.. My brother walked in on me doing this part and he left with the worst judgemental face ever!

 Frost it up! You can see all the little bits of coloured fondant I have prepared for the next part.

 Just a little close up of the frosted finish. Make sure you get all the cracks and fill in all the bumps otherwise you'll end up with a really lumpy bumpy cake!

And here's the finished product! She's meant to represent the body image society places upon us, and I'm very proud of her. Mainly because she has a more fabulous body than I do..

SOUR CREAM CAKE FOR CARVING

• 1 Cake Mix Box (Duncan Heines®, Betty Crocker®, Pillsbury® etc.)

• 1 cup All purpose flour

• 1 cup white granulated sugar

• 1 generous dash of salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 large eggs

• 1 1/3 cup water

• 1 cup Sour Cream

• 1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 160°C. Spray and line a loaf or 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Mix flour, sugar, cake mix, and salt together with fork, set aside.

Put eggs, water, sour cream, vanilla and butter into a mixing bowl.

Add dry ingredients and mix well on (about 2 minutes on low speed). Pour mixture into a loaf or 20cm square pan.

Bake at 160°C for 30 -60 minutes depending on pan size and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Lift cake out of tin and place onto a cooling rack to cool.

For the best intricate carvings, freeze the cake for a few hours and then defrost a little to soften it out again. Divide into layers if desired, and add any icing, jam or cream in between layers to glue them together. Try a Roasted Chocolate Mousse, Orange Pastry Cream, or Mascarpone Cream Cheese Frosting!