Making a Book Birthday Cake

Everyone likes birthday cake right? And it sometimes becomes 100% better when it is made especially for that person. My eldest daughter recently requested that I make her a birthday instead of buying one from the shop. The problem being that I am not an expert baker and I was worried that it would end up a sponge disaster but I impressed myself. I didn't make a master piece but I'm proud enough that I wanted to show it off.

Elise is a huge book worm so I chose to make her a cake that resembled a book.

I began by using the chocolate cake recipe which I found here. I changed it slightly because I baked the cakes in rectangular tins instead of circular.

Then I added butter icing to one sponge and strawberry jam to the other. On top of the jam layer I placed srawberry laces which had been plated together, creating the bookmark. Finishing by sandwiching the cakes together.

Onto the tricky part.

I rolled out a piece of fondant icing and after measuring the cake, I cut out the size I need to wrap the icing right round the cake.

Placing the cake on the right side of the icing, leaving just a slight overhang, I used butter icing spread over the top of the cake as the "glue" to keep the icing attached.

I used a ruler to make an indentation giving the appearance of the books spine.

Lastly icing pens at the ready to give the book its title and cover design.

It may not have been perfect but it must have been tasty as the cake only lasted 2 days.

xxxx