How To Make A Toadstool Cake For An Enchanted Birthday

Image © prostooleh, under a Creative Commons license.Learn all about how to make a toadstool cake, the perfect option for any fairy tale-loving child celebrating their birthdayYour child’s birthday is always a magical time, and this fairy tale toadstool cake will certainly add to the excitement. Kids who love stories all about fairies living in mysterious forests will love this cute toadstool birthday cake, which is easy to make.This mushroom birthday cake is an especially great idea for a child having a fairy birthday party, and will definitely wow any party guest.This simple guide includes a handy list of everything you’ll need, as well as some cool and creative ideas for decorations for the perfect fairy toadstool cake.IngredientsFor A Vanilla Sponge Toadstool Cake:250g caster sugar250g butter6 eggs250g self-raising flour4tsp baking powder2tsp vanilla extract4 tbsp milkRed food colouring (optional)For A Chocolate Sponge Toadstool Cake:350g caster sugar350g butter6 eggs200g self-raising flour100g cocoa powder or instant hot chocolate powder3 tsp milkFor The Buttercream Frosting:280g butter560g icing sugarFood colouring (optional)For The Decorations:At least three ready-rolled fondant icing sheets in a variety of coloursCookie cutters shaped like butterflies, circles, hearts and squares (you don’t need all of these shapes!)Green tube icing (optional)Image © UnsplashMaterialsTwo pudding steamers, one about 1.2 litres, and one about 2.2 litres.Sieve (optional)Electric mixer or large bowl and spoonSpatulaTwo wire cooling racksTwo cake boards (chopping boards will work as fine alternatives!)Method1. Preheat your oven to 356F/180C.2. Grease your pudding steamers thoroughly with some extra butter.3. Mix the caster sugar and butter together, until they have formed a creamy blend. It is a good idea to soften your butter before this to make the process easier, especially if you are mixing by hand.4. Gradually add in the eggs to your mixture, stirring thoroughly before adding each one.5. Mix in the milk. If making a vanilla sponge cake, add in the vanilla extract at this point.6. Sift the baking powder and flour (and cocoa powder if making a chocolate cake) into the mixture, and beat well until you have a smooth, thick batter without any lumps. If you are pressed for time, you can simply pour in these ingredients instead of sifting them.7. If you want the cake to be a cool colour, add in a few drops of food colouring (this will only work if you have made a vanilla cake) and mix in.8. Pour a little under half of your mixture into the smaller pudding steamer, until it is mostly, but not completely full. Then do the same with the rest of the batter and the larger pudding steamer.9. Bake your smaller cake for about 35-40 minutes and your larger one for about an hour. Remove each from the oven and leave to sit for around 10 minutes, before transferring onto a wire rack.Image © prostooleh, under a Creative Commons license.10. Whilst your cakes are cooling, mix the butter and icing sugar together to make some tasty buttercream icing.11. Once your cakes are cool, put the smaller cake on a cake board, with the wider side down. This will be the stem of your toadstool. Cover it all over in a fairly thin layer of buttercream.12. Place your larger cake on your second cake board with the wide side facing down. This will be the top of your mushroom cake. Cover the cake in buttercream, but leave some left over.13. You should now roll out your fondant icing sheets, in whichever colours you have selected. Lay a fondant sheet over your toadstool cap cake and firmly but gently press the fondant sheet onto the cake, starting from the centre. Cut off any excess at the edges with a knife. Do the same with your stem cake.Top Tip: Your choice of fondant is an important part of the decoration of this toadstool cake! You could choose a white fondant icing sheet for the stem and a red sheet for the mushroom cap, for a classic toadstool look, or get creative and use baby pink, yellow or even green. For a seamless look, you could also pick the same colour for the stem and the cap.14. Spread most of the rest of your buttercream on top of the stem cake, making sure you leave a small space between the edge of the cake and the icing, so it will not ooze out when you place your toadstool cap on top of the stem. Carefully lift up the toadstool cap and place it over the top of the stem, making sure it is held securely by the buttercream.15. Once you have constructed the toadstool shape, you can have some fun designing it!One way of decorating your toadstool cake is to use a small cookie cutter to cut circles out of a fondant icing sheet and stick all over the mushroom cap using small dabs of buttercream to stick them on. You could also use heart-shaped or butterfly-shaped cookie cutters. Adding some shop-bought sugar flowers is another adorable touch.For the stem, you can create the image of a fairy door by cutting out an oval or square shaped piece of fondant and adding a little dot of fondant or silver dragée for a door knocker. You could make windows all around the stem by cutting out square pieces of fondant and using liquorice for window panes, to give the impression of a fairy house.For a forest feel, you could also use some green tube icing to draw on blades of grass at the bottom of the stem. For an especially magical touch, you could also place some fairy dolls on top of or at the base of your cake on the cake board.Image © nomadsoul1, under a Creative Commons license.Extra Tips And InformationFor some extra support, you could use dowel sticks to prop up your cake. Simply place your cakes on top of one another before icing, and push two to four dowel sticks down through both of them. You can then complete your icing.Once baked, this cake should be kept in an airtight container and eaten within five days. It can also be frozen.The cake is suitable for kids of all ages to make and eat! The construction element could, however, be tricky for younger children and is best left to adults and older children.Coconut flour is a good substitute for wheat flour, and soy milk and margarine are good dairy replacements. You can also combine two tablespoons of water and a teaspoon of oil per egg, to replace eggs in a cake. It is a good idea to check the labels of all these products if the cake will be served to anyone with allergies

Image © prostooleh, under a Creative Commons license.