I'm a newbie @ baking, but want to bake my babies 1st bday cake. I need some ideas as far as flavors and fillings go. I want to make a square multilayer cake. Should I make one big one or cupcakes or idk... And what flavors??? Also since I'm new @ this, should I use a box cake? I want something yummy moist and beautiful... AND EASY!!
I would use the box mix, but you can spruce it up. Here is a link to the cake mix dr. Cake mix creations are her specialty.
*edited - oh yea, and a regular size cake with a matching cupcake for him. Maybe instead of layers you could inject the filling into the center of his cupcake.
I love making cakes! My favorite flavor is vanilla and a recent tip I got from a gal who worked in a bakery was to use a box of white cake mix and a box of pound cake.... OMG! So good!! It's dense and moist like you would expect from wedding cakes. And don't even think of using store bought icing!! YUCK! Make your own, it's so easy and tastes much better. Go to a craft store and go to the aisle where they have cake decorating supplies. Most of the stuff is by Wilton. You can get the Wilton Yearbook. IT has recipes and cake ideas as well as the pans and stuff they offer. http://www.wilton.com/ if you want to check them out online. I'm sure you can even look on YouTube to get some help with all of this. And I recommend taking a Wilton decorating class (even if its after baby's birthday). It's fun and you really learn alot about making nice looking cakes. Mine used to look like a 5 year old made them. OH, and here's another link within Wilton: http://www.wilton.com/recipes/ it's the recipe page. There's a link for fillings and at the bottom, you'll see the link for icing recipes. I recommend the Buttercream. That's what I make and you can color it easy. You should be able to get alot of help from this site.
It's traditional in our area to give the birthday baby his own cake. So I second Lisa C.'s suggestion that you bake a cupcake or very small cake just for your baby.
I've found that cakes made with a box mix, especially when doctored up sum, are more moist and delicious than one made from scratch. To make a really good cake from scratch involves so many variables that are already taken care of in the box mix.
Any flavor of filling would be good. I like a cake frosted with whipped cream with banana slices placed on top and in the middle. You can use the same frosting for the filling or you can use a jam or lemon curd from a jar. I would stay away from chocolate because it stains and baby will make a big mess of the cake.
Go to cakecentral.com. They have tons of ideas.
Box cakes contain all kinds of extras that may not be good for your child as well as LOTS of sugar. There is an amazing recipe for a first birthday cake in the recipe section of What to Expect the First Year that we used for our son's first birthday. It turned out delicious.
As for fillings, you can use a cream cheese filling and add extracts such as vanilla, orange, or even add fresh fruit and a little sweetener.
i say attempt the cake from scratch if youre ambitious enough to! if not, i highly recommend Duncan Hines cake mix (dark chocolate is my favorite) but just get whatever flavor you like the best because thats the part your baby wont care about, because the cake is for everyone at the party, right? okay.
what i do is, i take the duncan hines mix and do milk (sometimes buttermilk) in lieu of water and sometimes butter instead of oil, but i like the oil if its all natural. i put the called for amount of eggs then bake it for the MINIMUM amount of time the box says, and your cake will be moist and delicious! and easy, because its just a box mix!
oh and some suggestions are;
if there are a lot of kids at the party, maybe do a white cake with light and fluffy frosting (kids shouldnt have really rich stuff when they are running around playing because their tummies are sensitive)
if there are lots of women, do chocolate! (we love chocolate what can i say! red velvet or dark chocolate is good too, with any kind of frosting)
if there are lots of men then do carrot cake. (ive noticed a lot of men like carrot or spiced cake, and sometimes fruit flavored, with cream cheese frosting)
good luck! and most of all HAVE FUN
velvet mini cupcakes, with sour cream and whipcream and coconut flakes topping ( half sourcream and half whip cream) I also do pudding filling, there is a special tool/kit by martha stewart to remove the middle of a cooked cupcake and fill the pudding of your flavor. happy baking!!! your little one will enjoy helping you, it will be so much fun. my kitchen floor is filled with sprinkles all over during our baking projects, but we have so much fun!!! we bake few times a week.
i love chocolate cake for the first bday pics, because the photos come out so good. you will need to prep a bath afterwards :) happy 1st bday to your little one.
Well --- remember that your 1 year old really doesn't care, nor will he/she remember; so this cake is really for you. Pick your favorite flavor and if you really want easy then just do a 9 x 13 sheet cake, no filling, no layers. Tammy's idea of taking some lessons is a great idea. I once tried to make a castle cake, didn't know what I was doing, did everything wrong and the cake was falling apart and I kept putting wooden skewers in to keep it together. Fortunately the 7 year olds didn't care either :) Have fun with it.
If you are going to get a box mix, get an organic mix with minimal ingredients, like they have at Whole Foods/Sprouts (I believe the brand is Dr Oetker). The ingredients in the regular box mixes are atrocious, and do not belong in anyone's body, let alone a very small child.
I did a home made cake for my daughter's 1st, but she didn't really eat any of it. I'd advise making cupcakes - it's simpler for a crowd, and your baby will have his/her own little cake to play with and for photo ops and such.
Happy Birthday to your little one!
