Lucien's 7th Birthday
Some of the pictures are missing from this post due to a webpage crash. While thats sad, we still have these memories x
Amidst the chaos of the Easter School Holidays, out eldest Son turned 7. As we always do, we had a small family party to celebrate, and celebrate we did. Minion Style!
For some inexplicable reason, I chose cakes for my children, that I find the hardest to make. I don't know why It always happens, but happen it does, and this time I finally caved, and settled on a Minion cake.
Yeah fair enough, most of you cakers out there have probably made a minion cake, you might even think "done that, no big deal!", well it is if you have only made 4 sculpted cakes in your life! So shaking in my little denim overalls, I set to work.
The F word
Yep. Fondant.
Not my favourite thing, but definitely the easier choice for this cake. Yes, this absolutely can be done with Buttercream, but it would be more difficult, and why make things hard for yourself just to prove a point amirite?
I mixed in a little Modelling Chocolate, not just to make it taste good, but to give me more time to fiddle. I'm a fiddler.
Building a Minion
I found an image of "Bob" on the internet, and printed it off letter size, so I could use it as a size and style guide. I CANNOT stress enough what a good idea this is. Following plans isn't my strong suit, but after watching the awesome results of Zoe Hopkinson from Zoe's Fancy Cakes, I figured there was something to this whole "accuracy" thing.
The cake itself is my Dark Chocolate Mudcake, with Basic Buttercream, and Mini M&M's mixed into the Buttercream. Aw yeah.
Shockingly, it came together much quicker, and easier than I expected. I genuinely haven't been stressed about making a cake in a long time, but this one was WELL out of my comfort zone!
When we put the cake in front of my Son, his eyes lit up, and he wanted to hug his cake. That's what makes it all worth it right there âĪïļ
The Party Food
Liquid Minions
Ok, So its Vanilla Custard, but seriously, you need an abundance of whimsy to run a themed party. Especially if you wanna pass off all the regular party food as "Minion".
I found an image of Minion googles online, printed it out, and glued them onto plastic cups. That's seriously it. Took all of about 10 minutes, and they were a hit.
I may have eaten 2 liquid Minions.
Chocolate Bananas
Is there any more Minion food than Bananas?? No, there isn't, and thankfully (possibly due in no small part to the Minions) its one of the few fruits that my kids love. Add Dark Chocolate, and they're gone before you can say "Bello!"
The trick to coating food in chocolate, which I would like to think has become a lifelong pursuit, is to add a little oil to the chocolate before you melt it. It gives you more time before the chocolate sets, its less brittle, and you can get a smoother, thinner coat. Oranges are also delicious dipped in chocolate, just make sure to blot with kitchen towel before dipping, so the chocolate sticks.
As to other food covered in chocolate, I will continue the research. You're welcome.
Minion Bark
This is my personal favourite, and one of those "I saw it on Pinterest" things. See, all those hours on Pinterest paid off *cough*
Quite simply, melt some White Chocolate (not Candy Melts, they taste gross, proper chocolate), mix in some colour, swirl, and sprinkle with Candy Eyes and mini M&M's.
Ideally, you would use Chocolate Oil based food colouring, but I didn't have any, so I took a chance with gel colour. The result wasn't as vibrant as it would have been had I used the right stuff, but it was good enough for us. I also added a little oil to the chocolate before I melted it to keep it smooth, which may have helped the colour blend.
And in case you are wondering, I didn't buy yellow and blue Mini M&M's, I picked them out of the regular mix. Seems like a lot of work? What do you think happened to the ones that I didn't need? IN MA BELLY! We all make sacrifices *cough*
Chocolate Spiders
Last but not least, the perennial favourite, Chocolate Spiders. Basically equal parts melted Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter, mixed with Fried Noodles (the dry, crunchy ones).
I personally think they are gross, but my Husband and Son's go mad for them, so to ward off anarchy, let there be spiders!
Things I have learned..
Freaking out over a cake is pointless, and usually makes the job harder than it has to be. So just chill. That, and kids think its awesome no matter what, provided they can eat their body weight in it.
You can fit 40 Helium filled Latex Balloons in a Hyundai Getz.
Birthday parties for children are better held in the morning, so you don't have to listen to said children ask for the bazillionth time when the party is starting.
You CAN eat too much custard.
Viva La Buttercream (and custard!) xx