Chat from the...

…Kitchen !

Cakes, it’s Mr KMT’s birthday and I always try to make him a cake, in fact I make a cake for most birthdays in the family. My husband is a man of simple tastes and his favourite cake is a Victoria sponge.

When the children were small I would go to a well known supermarket and buy their Caterpillar cake as the kids loved it, we’ve bought a few for various birthdays over the years as the happy face does make your day, let’s be honest !

I’m not a natural baker, as with most things in my life that is creative, it’s something that I have to work at to achieve anything near what is in my mind. I have made some serious disasters over the years. I wish I had a photograph of the 30th birthday cake I made for my friend 20 years ago. A chocolate sandwich cake with pink icing. The icing ran all down the sides and looked such a mess ! She was thrilled however, and said no one had made her a cake since she was a child. She has gone on to be a wonderful cake maker, making the most elaborate creations for her two gorgeous boys.

I, on the other hand still find it a struggle. When the children were small my mom took the mantle of novelty cake maker and they both had some lovely ones. In recent years I found a Mary Berry chocolate tray bake with chocolate ganache became a favourite. I would buy lots of sweets and sprinkles and let them delight in decorating the cakes in their own unique style. This cake became the birthday cake and each birthday I would make 2, one for home and one for school. The children delighted in taking the school cake in to share with their friends and with the amount of sweets and sprinkles adorning it, plus all the sugar in the ganache, a note of pre-warned apology from me about hyper children !!

Miss KMT, as most little girls, loves unicorns, rainbows, fairies and mermaids. A couple of years ago I took the plunge and tried to make her a unicorn cake ! 3 tiers of sponge, separated and covered with butter cream, icing and more buttercream to make the mane. I bought a Unicorn horn, ears and eyes only for them to arrive to find I had 2 left eyes !!!! So back out to buy an edible ink pen to draw the eyes on. The cake was far from perfect and sent my anxiety levels to new heights ! However, Miss KMT loved it and it tasted great too but I have not ventured into that realm of cake making since!

Master KMT being a superhero fan has often requested, when asked, a superhero cake, so I have to be honest the local supermarkets have supplied those very nicely, but he also always wants the chocolate ganache tray bake. Until this year. A sign he is growing up when he asked for a Victoria sponge! Master KMT is a jam lover so his Victoria sponge was covered with jam and cream swirls in the sandwich and cream swirls and mini eggs adorning the top, topped with a sprinkling of icing sugar - very grown up.

Normally my Victoria sponges are filled with cream and strawberries and I have to be honest I’ve made some corkers. It’s definitely the cake I make that always exceeds my expectations. Another Mary Berry recipe from her Baking Bible.

This year, I’m going slightly different for Mr KMT. Last year we watched a Rachel Allen programme and she made a mango and lime drizzle cake. It looked delicious and I made it for a friend’s McMillan coffee morning a few weeks later promising to bring a slice home for Mr KMT but it disappeared within minutes ! So this year’s birthday cake is going to be said mango and lime drizzle cake made into a sandwich with a lime cream cheese frosting as the filling! In my head it’s going to be amazing !

However, the supermarket shop arrived this week minus the limes, I ended up working longer hours at the end of the week than planed and did not get time to nip to the local shop to get some, so I need to stop writing this blog and go buy them so I can get his cake made before he gets home !

Pictures to follow…

...and it tasted...A.MA.ZING !!!