Abundance of Birthdays...

Abundance of Birthdays - Danny's 21st

Danny adores cards and poker so what better way of celebrating his birthday with a card themed cake.
I actually thought this cake would be the hardest to make because it seemed so fiddly but it wasn't too bad. 

Steering away from the usual hemisphere cake tin, I decided to go for a normal round pan this time as I wanted a flat surface at the top.

This cake is a Victoria Sponge (usually I just make a normal sponge cake) so I made my own buttercream and used non seeded jam in between the two cakes. Instead of using two cake tins, I used one and divided it into two with a cutting wire so I knew I would get two equal sizes.

To make the cards I cut out the fondant icing using the red tool from the Wilton Icing Tool Set (http://www.lakeland.co.uk/15936/Wilton-Icing-Tool-Set). I had to pick the icing up with icing tweezers so I wouldn't deform the card shape. 

I attached them to the cake using water, however, when attaching the card suits it proved better if attaching them with icing pens and the water made the colour run.

Unfortunately I don't have a third photo as Danny decided to do the honours of taking a photo and I forgot to mention I usually take a side angle photograph. But, the suit card shapes are still visible so this isn't a problem :) 

I used the heart plungers to make the hearts (be silly not to) and the spades as I knew it would be difficult carving them out of the fondant and making them look the same. For the diamonds I made strips and cut them diagonally so they would be of a similar size and shape. Then for the clubs I used the flower plunger and cut it into half.

If to do this cake again I would use cut out a thicker piece of fondant icing for the last card (hearts) so an imprint of the other card couldn't be seen through it. I would also use icing letter cutters to write the 'Happy 21st' instead of using icing pens to give it a fuller appearance.