My Daily Recipes

Birthday cakes are fun and easy to make. Kid’s birthday cakes are probably the most fun to make. Castle birthday cakes are an enchanting and magical way to celebrate your child’s birthday party. Themed birthday cakes are gaining popularity for the extra excitement and surprise they create. In today’s world you can get birthday cakes in almost all types of shapes and sizes in all different flavors and decorations. Birthday cakes are sweet and delicious. Sculptured novelty birthday cakes are always a hit with children.

If you prefer making everything from scratch and baking your own birthday cakes make sure you plan it all out before starting. Try to get useful baking tips, techniques and recipes to make great cake. There are fundamentals to baking cakes that will apply to every cake you create. You know you perfected the baking the cake when the scent of the cake fills the air and it is like being in a bakery.

Try your hand at decorating these birthday cakes. Here are some tips when decorating birthday cakes, make sure you find icing that is easy to work with, that you find the correct color and writing tube to write on the cake. Find cake decorating books for a birthday cake idea which fits your needs. You can talk about cake decorating with people on the internet to get ideas. One decorating technique that I have used in the past to decorate my son’s birthday cakes is to use small toys on top of the cake. Finding cake recipes from Kraft Foods along with pictures and instructions usually makes it easier and reduces stress on what type of cake to make.

What makes a perfect Birthday is the flavor of the Birthday cake. Since you are thinking cake, what is the special someone’s favorite flavor for cake. Make sure your cake is very moist and light with an intense flavor. Try to shop for the birthday girl or boy favorite birthday cake flavor; this is one way to let them know you really put some thought into it. The same goes for the icing and the decorating, make sure you get something the guest of honor would like, not something you like. You can do beautiful things with fondant but the flavor leaves something to be desired. You may also want to experiment by changing the flavor of the cake mix you use too. You can also add color to the icing by purchasing food coloring and adding it to vanilla icing. This is another way of sprucing up the cake.

Let’s face it, birthday cakes are special to the birthday guest of honor. The shapes of birthday cakes are a big deal; you don’t just have to do round. You can go to the local craft store and pickup many different designs. The children’s birthday cakes are always a huge success; they always eat the cake and often ask for more. Choices for birthday cakes are numerous.

Black Forest Cake, is a chocolate cake with a strong cherry element to it which is popular throughout North America.

Called Schwarzwälderkirschtorte in German, which means Black Forest Cherry Torte (torte is the German word for cake).

The origin of this cake in unknown, but it is believed to have originated in the late 16th century in the Black Forest Region (Der Schwarzwald in German) located in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. The area is known for its sour cherries and Kirsch or Kirschwasser (a double distilled, clear cherry brandy made from the sour Morello cherry).

It is a chocolate layer cake with Kirsch, whipped cream, sour cherries and chocolate curls.

Ingredients:

Cake

4oz Irish butter

8oz brown sugar

4oz plain chocolate

7oz self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 pint sour cream

3 tablespoons strong cold black coffee

2 eggs

pinch of salt

Pastry Base

4oz cream flour

pinch of salt

2oz icing sugar

2oz/ Irish butter

1 egg yolk

a few drops of vanilla essence

Other:

1 pint cream

1lb tin black cherries

4 table spoons black cherry jam

brandy or cherry juice

4oz grated chocolate

Directions:

Cake:

Cream butter and sugar together well.

Melt the chocolate and beat into the creamed mixture, then mix in the eggs.

Sift flour, salt and cinnamon together.

Fold the dry mix lightly into the liquids, then fold in the sour cream and cold coffee.

Into a lined and greased 9-inch round, deep tin pour the cake mixture and bake for 1 hour, 25 minutes.

Set to cool on a wire rack.

Pastry Base:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and bind until the mixture stiffens.

Roll the pastry onto a floured board worktable until pastry is about the same size as the base of the tin.

Lay out on baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Assembly:

Whip cream until it holds its shape.

Put some cream into pastry piping bag with a star pipe attached, and reserve this for the decoration.

Slice the cake into 3 equal-sized layers.

Drain the cherries, reserve 8 for decoration and remove the stones from the remainder.

Put pastry on serving plate and spread the pastry with black cherry jam.

Soak the cakes with sprit used.

Put one layer of cake on top of coated pastry.

Spread a layer of cream with half the stoned cherries.

Put the second layer of cake and add another layer of cream and cherries.

Add the final layer of the cake.

mask the entire cake with the remaining cream and press on the grated chocolate. Decorate the top with piped rosettes of cream and the reserved whole black cherries.

Tips:

Using 3 identical cake pans instead of 1 large is OK.

Margarine, vegetable oil or regular butter will substitute for Irish butter.

In some countries the brandy is often replaced by rum, in Germany itself it is almost always replaced by Kirschwasser.

This recipe did not come with a temperature to bake at for either the pastry or cake. Cakes usually work at between

325°F and 400°F (160°C and 205°C). Pastries usually work at between 350°F and 425°F (175°C and 220°C).