Wednesday 27 July 2011

Sponge Gremlins

As it was my little boys first birthday I had my mind set on making him a pirate birthday cake to go with his pirate themed birthday party. I had seen several simple(ish) designs on the net and Lakota made a lovely one for her son so I has to give it a go.

Now I am no domestic goddess when it comes to the kitchen, the reason why you will never find a recipes/cooking blog post on here. I do also however have an extra disadvantage and that my friends is the sponge eating gremlin who lives in my cooker.  This pesky little beast can ruin even the simplest recipe and so I was dubious when I put my cake in to bake....




20 Minutes later I took it out and all looked ok but when I turned them out to cool...



...the blooming middles fell through the rack!

There was no repairing these bad boys and the gremlin had made short work of the middle so I had no choice but to rush out for more ingredients and do the whole thing again.  This time however with the gremlin having a full belly they came out ok - hoorah!  So I managed to tackle the icing and with lots of cursing and rolling pin bashing the cake was ready:


 
My little man however couldn't care less how his cake looked:

 

Maybe next year I'll buy one ;o)


Scarlett x

31 comments:

  1. Aw ... he looks so cute! Glad your cake turned out ok second time around!
    Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

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  2. Now look at that cute little pirate of yours!

    Victoria xx

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  3. Why do we put such extra pressure on ourselves? Then again,there's nothing like looking back on photographs when you're older and seeing your mum's home-made cake on the table. He may not care much now, but as he grows up and sees things like his (awesome) pirate cake, he'll think "my mum is special".

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  4. Awwww how cute is Finley??? He looks adorable (hate that word but he really does!) in his little pirate costume and look at his happy little face!
    For somone who says she is not a Domestic Goddess you've done a wonderful job on that cake. It looks brilliant Scarlett, so glad you showed us a pic x

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  5. I find buying cakes is much easier!! well done on persisting though, it looks fantastic :)

    Bee happy x
    Have a delicious day!

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  6. This made me laugh, I remember having the same problem with my eldests first birthdy cake (21 years ago), I ended up popping out and buying a gateau. Living in a small village at the time there was no such thing as a shop selling a birthday cake.
    That'sa mighty handsome pirate, what a cutie pie!

    B xxx

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  7. That cake looks amazing! I'm sure he will appreciate it much more when he's about 7 or 8 HAHA! It turned out great in the end!

    He's got such a cheeky grin! Adorable little pirate!

    I had thoughts of Harry Potter running through my mind when you were talking of the gremlin living in your oven haha. xxx

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  8. OMG, Scarlett, that cake is amazing. We must have a permanent sponge eating gremlin in our cooker because any cake I've ever baked has turned out to be one big, hard, dry biscuit *sad face*. xx

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  9. I still have photos of all my cakes that my mum and sisters made for me when growing up - the barbie doll one with the big 'cake skirt' (how 80s!), a dinosaur covered in tootie frooties for spikes, and a Henry's Cat one! Awesome work! :)

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  10. I swear the sponge Gremlins are at their most hungry around the time of an important event! At least your first sacrifice appeased them - the final cake looked great, and Finley makes a super cute pirate. Happy birthday to him and congratulations on a full year of motherhood,it's an achievement - treat yourself!

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  11. How cute is the little pirate!! I bet he loved the cake, it turned out great!!!

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  12. Awww, your a good mama, buddy told me no one have eber baked him a cake for his birthday. Thats why i baked him the peanut butter cheesecake. All the effort is worth it amor. The cake looks perfect , like store bought.
    I am cracking up at cursing and at the gremlin monster.

    Here is my new blog link,spread the word.

    http://vpjlm.blogspot.com/

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  13. I think you did a brilliant job on that cake!! Little man looks so cute in his outfit too.I dont have gremlins in my cooker I have "not me monstors" and Sock and pen eaters instead.xx

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  14. The cake turned out great. If at first you don't succeed then try and try again :) xxx

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  15. Ooh its awesome! My old oven did that kinda thing too, basically burnt everything I put in it, so not even tried the one in my new place yet! :)

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  16. Your little pirate is so cute! I made birthday cakes for my kids when they were little BUT I NEVER ever even tried to make a sponge! I either bought a sponge cake slab from my friendly baker and cut it to shape and decorated it OR I made a homemade butter cake. Butter cakes can be cut to shape/size and filled and decorated anyway you like and are much less likely to be victims of the gremlins that lurk in the oven. ;)

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  17. That’s just the sort of cake a one year old appreciates - and it turned out great in the end. Now I understand your comments on my rocket cake, but what you didn’t know is that all the bits that went wrong went into my tummy, which is why I’m the width I am in the photo :) Since I retired and stopped trying to impress my children with my baking efforts I’ve become normal-sized again. Seriously though it really is worth it; lots of fun and a sense of achievement, and the picture to blog about thirty years later!

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  18. Love that cake and he looks soooo cute!

    E :)

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  19. Avast!! That is one cute little pirate.

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  20. Lol!! I remember imagining the collapsing sponges as Yorkshire Pud type creations when I read your email but those are like special Dr Who vanishing middles :-) The end result looks brilliant though so it was still a success! Love your icing too!

    Little man looks utterly adorable!

    Jem xXx

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  21. So cute.....you will look back at this and be so glad you baked the cake its adorable as is your little man!

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  22. Your little pirate is such a cutie! My Mum was too rock and roll to be a cook so our birthday cakes were usually a shop bought swiss roll, thickly coated in buttercream icing and spiked with Matchmakers to resemble a hedgehog. No wonder I don't eat cakes. x

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  23. Fab cake, amazed at how you managed to get the bottoms to fall out like that, you should have turned it into a giant donut! mmmmmm donuts!

    Your little man looks super sweet as a pirate btw! x

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  24. The cake is adorable! LOVE IT~~ I am not much of a baker either and growing up my girls were lucky their Grandma would make and decorate wonderful cakes for them. I did do a 'spaceship' cake one year and was so very proud of myself that it turned out really cute. Your darling son in his Pirate outfit...PRICELESS!
    Hugs, Linda

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  25. It turned out so cute! The cakes I make aren't nearly as nice!

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  26. Well done you...........it looked great and probably tasted fab too!
    -x0

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  27. Well it certainly turned out to be an adorable cake in the end! So I guess you beat those gremlins this time *winks* That gremlin shot is too good! I'm not a kitchen queen either....I keep telling my hubby that I could be with a new wolf range! Lol! Vanna

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  28. aawww your little man is just adorable bless his heart what a gorgeous little cheeky smile he has ;-)) I think your cake looks amazing well done you ;-)) dee x

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  29. Well, how in the world did that happen??? You won't see any recipes on my blog either LOL. Looks like all came out OK and your baby is darling!

    Carol

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  30. Fabbo cake! Well done for persevering I'd have been off to Sainsburys!

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  31. Those uniced cakes are the funniest things I have seen in a loooong time. But you did wonderfully well, perservering. That is a brilliant pirate face. Good on you. It all gets squished up in your mouth anyway.

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