I have around 15 guests coming. I'll have other food too. Should I do it? I've made cakes before but with a baby running around, I'm kinda intimidated to take this up. How did your experience go? Any tips?
I baked the smash cake and had a bakery prep an adult cake.
Smash cake was simple vanilla with vanilla frosting, with a smile made of fruit I knew she loved. Bakery cake was decorated like a huge faux watermelon slice and OMG delicious. But we also had a ton of people come.
I did, but we just had a family party both times. I didn't try anything fancy decoration wise, just a normal cake with some sprinkles. I went for taste over looks. The baby wont remember!
I just ordered some cupcakes. I was already stressed out about having a ton of ppl in my small house; I wanted to take as much OFF of my plate as humanly possible.
Yes, but the parties for the boys were small. Just my folks, ILs, and siblings. I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for one, and a never fail chocolate cake with strawberry topping for the other. They weren't decorated, just frosted. Neither one complained about their appearance, lol.
BIL decorates cakes as a side business, and does an awesome job, but I wanted to make the cakes for their first birthdays.
I did! It did not look professional but was very good (if I do say so myself). We had a ton of family coming in, so I kind of let them roll with baby the afternoon before the party while I made cake. Tips: If you don't have a big enough cake plate, you can make your own out of a cardboard box and tinfoil. Just cut a piece of cardboard to size (a little bigger than your cake pan) and cover it in foil. Make sure it fits in your fridge.
make a plan before you make the cake
Be forgiving of yourself. No one (but you) expects it to be perfect.
Now is not the time to try something new. Use a recipe you've used before.
Yes, but it was just her, DH and me. And I like baking.
I made an enormous, three-layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (my first layer-cake ever). She had one of those days when she was exhausted by dinner time, and by the time I put cake on her high chair (and tried to get pictures/sang to her), she refused to even try it, screamed and cried, and passed out as soon as we put her in bed.
It was, um, less than Pinterest-y. But she liked the cake when she had it the next day, lol.
Ok. Momentary lapse of judgement. I really wanted a naked cake. None of the bakeries here do that and it looks SO easy. But I do want to be as stress free as possible. Store-bought, it is. Maybe I can get a plain one and scrape of some icing and decorate it how I want.
Ok. Momentary lapse of judgement. I really wanted a naked cake. None of the bakeries here do that and it looks SO easy. But I do want to be as stress free as possible. Store-bought, it is. Maybe I can get a plain one and scrape of some icing and decorate it how I want.
Look how pretty this is.
But... but.... FROSTING.
In all seriousness, I wouldn't scrape off icing from a cake! Some bakeries will sell it "dirty iced" or "crumb coated" if you reeeeally want to go that route, but I still am not sure that will work. I think naked cakes need to be a specific kind of cake that won't be crumbly at all when frosted. That would be my fear anyway.
I did, but I like making cakes. For DD's I did three of different sizes - small, med and large circles. Hers was the little one. Simple decorations - chocolate frosting with pink polka dots on the large, vanilla with pink polkas on the med and the small was white with a pink cursive "L" for her name. For da, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Tinted some and did a caterpillar. Small cupcake with an "M" for his name for him.
Yes, but we only had family over for the first birthday.
For subsequent years, I always made a simple sheet cake for birthday parties, and usually threw on some sprinkles and whatever miniatures fit the theme (tiny princesses, little rockets, whatever). I love that shit, though. If it'll just add to your stress, then outsource.
Post by ElizabethBennet on May 3, 2016 20:53:36 GMT -5
For my first I made all the food for the party. It was insane and I was so stressed leading up to the party.
For my second I bought everything and ordered cupcakes and cookies from a friend that were homemade, but I didn't have to do them. Her party was much more enjoyable for me.