House Cake Project: Stage 6 – Birthday Cake For Joe

For this installment of my House Cake Project, I decided to take a break from the rolled fondant. I have found a brand that I really like, however I wanted to try something new. {Well, “new” for me is “not working with fondant”…}

There aren’t any special recipes for this cake, instead I’ve put together a layer cake. I asked Joe what his favourite types of cake are. His reply was “rainbow bit, and cheese cake!”, so I had to find a way to blend the two… And wow, was this ever a tasty combination…

I decided on making 2 “rainbow bit cakes” {box mix}. Then, in between the top and bottom layers of rainbow bit cake, I placed some frosting, sliced strawberries, and a cheese cake. The cheesecake was a basic cheese cake recipe {vanilla/plain} with strawberry preserves swirled throughout the top of the cheese cake prior to baking.

The layers, from bottom to top, are:

1. rainbow bit sponge
2. vanilla cream cheese frosting
3. sliced strawberries
4. cheesecake {no crust} with strawberry preserve swirl
5. vanilla cream cheese frosting
6. sliced strawberries
7. rainbow bit sponge
8. strawberry preserve glaze on top of cake {For the glaze, simply ice the sides of the cake, and leave the top un-iced. Then, microwave the strawberry preserve/jam in a bowl for about 45 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds. Allow to cool slightly, then spread over the top of the iced cake.}

The cake was then iced with the same vanilla frosting. I toasted some sliced almonds with a sprinkle of cinnamon for about 5 minutes in the oven, and tossed them along the side of the cake. I also prepared some double chocolate dipped strawberries for garnish {dipped the strawberries in melted milk chocolate, then drizzled some melted white chocolate over the berries once the milk chocolate was set}, and made a chocolate plaque for the top of the cake. {The plaque was just some melted chocolate, poured and shaped with a spatula onto some parchment paper, then writing was piped on with a piping gel and allowed to set in the fridge before application to the cake.}

Everyone seemed to really enjoy this, as there was no cake left over afterwards! The cake turned out significantly larger than I had hoped, but that’s okay… 😉

Here’s the visuals!

Finished product!!

Just because it’s pretty, here’s a picture of a double chocolate dipped strawberry! 🙂