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July 28, 2016 by Lauren

Sailboat Birthday Cake

Sailboat Cake

I love making themed cakes for children’s birthday parties, especially for family and friends, as you get to see the child’s excitement when they first see the cake (not to mention eating it!). My nephew loves boats. For his 2nd birthday he had a nautical themed party and asked for a sailboat birthday cake. I did a lot of research into different types of sailboat cakes and many of them seemed really complicated. I’ve tried to make this cake as easy as possible.

The first step is to find a large rectangular baking pan.

When making themed birthday cakes I don’t want to spend all my time baking and mixing the cake so I always use my fool proof trick ‘how to make a packet cake taste like homemade’ which you can find here. For this cake I used two packet cake mixes.

So, this is how you make a sailboat birthday cake!

Sailboat Cake

Once baked and cake has completely cooled cut like so.

I recommend making the cake the day prior to decorating as you can store it in the fridge overnight, making  the cake easy to cut and alleviating any worry about it breaking into pieces, especially if it is a very moist cake like this one.

Sailboat Cake

Now position how you would like the sailboat cake to be placed and check the cut is correct. As you can see it looks pretty rough but icing will cover any lumps and bumps. The good part is if you wanted to make the sailboat smaller you could trim the cake now to change the size or correct any errors in cutting.

Sailboat Cake

It’s time to frost the cake! I started with the white frosting for the sails. You can find my frosting recipe here. Add a few drops of Wilton White White Icing Color to get that crisp colour.

Frosting Tip #1

The best way to frost when you have exposed cake crumbs from cutting into a shape is to do a rough icing layer collecting cake crumbs and all. Once frosted then refrigerate for 15 mins. This will allow the icing to set and then when you do the final layer the cake crumbs will be set and won’t run into the top layer of icing.

Sailboat Cake

Here is the top layer. As you can see, it’s smooth with not a cake crumb in site.

Frosting Tip #2

To make the top layer of frosting super smooth use a metal spatula and before smoothing dip the spatula into a cup of boiling water, quickly wiping off excess water and then slowly running the spatula across the frosting.

Sailboat Birthday Cake

Before the frosting set, I decorated the sails, opting for a simple pattern made with smarties.

Sailboat Cake

Now for the base of the sailboat cake. I used my favourite chocolate frosting recipe. It always works and tastes delicious. Click here…. My Favourite Chocolate Buttercream!

Frosting Tip #3

I always use an offset icing metal spatula, see example offset icing metal spatula. This type of spatula helped to create the indents in the frosting of the boat section of the cake.

Sailboat Cake

It’s time to add the top sail and place onto your cake board. For the top sail I just cut a small flag out of blue wrapping paper and doubled it over securing around a toothpick.

Sailboat Cake

Happy 2nd Birthday James!

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Boys Party Inspiration, Kids Parties, Party Cakes, Tutorials Tagged With: Boys Party, Chocolate Cake, Frosting, Icing, Kids Parties, Nautical Theme, Sailboat Cake, Tutorials

May 28, 2015 by Lauren

Construction Party Favours Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies

Honeycomb Chocolate Brownies for Construction Party

For my son’s second birthday party I’m thinking of a construction theme as he is mad for anything with wheels and trucks are his favourite.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

As I’m about everything cake, giving guests lolly bags just doesn’t seem right. Instead, I came up with the idea of making favour bags containing chocolate honeycomb brownies and a toy truck as a gift.

Here’s how it’s done….

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Start by cutting butter into cubes and add 150 grams of dark chocolate. You can also use dairy milk if you would like the brownies to be super sweet but I’ve always found brownies are richer with dark chocolate. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a glass bowl over a low heat. Whilst the chocolate and butter is melting sift and combine all dry ingredients.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Don’t forget to check the melting chocolate and keep stirring every few minutes to avoid lumps and burning. Once melted, remove from heat to cool slightly… oh, look at the chocolate…yummy!

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Time to add the eggs one at a time and then vanilla. Don’t worry if the mix is very dry and lumpy – this is normal.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Stir in the melted butter and chocolate. The mix will again be lumpy but that’s ok as it helps with the brownies chunkiness!

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Mix in chocolate chips. If I wasn’t adding honeycomb I would have used bigger chocolate chips but these are the perfect size when adding another chocolate ingredient.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Preheat your oven to 170 degree Celsius (340 Fahrenheit). As I wanted thinner brownies for the favour bags I have used a 33 x 23cm (13 x 9 inch) rectangular tin. If you would like thicker brownies use a square tin however I would recommend doubling the quantity of the mixture so you have enough for the favour bags.

Pour in half of the brownie mix. The the texture will be a bit like a paste so you will need to spread it all over the tin. My favourite part… as I might have had a piece of honeycomb or two… chop honeycomb pieces in half and press into the mix. Allow space between otherwise the brownie will become one big honeycomb piece!

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Pour remaining brownie mix over honeycomb pieces, don’t worry if the honeycomb is sticking out slightly as the brownies will rise during baking to cover.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Yum brownies baking! Bake for 35 – 40 minutes. You want the brownie to be a bit goey so when it hardens it will be moist.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

The finished brownie! Allow 10 minutes to cool in pan before removing otherwise you risk it breaking into pieces.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

The real fun begins – making the favour bags!

I would recommend making the favour bags the afternoon or morning prior to your party so the brownies are kept fresh. Refrigerate the brownies for at least two hours before cutting into small squares as this will limit breakage when packing into the favour bags.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Slice the brownies into small squares…look at that honeycomb!

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Here is the assembly line for the Construction Party favour bags. You can really add any type of chunky chocolate you like. I’ve used chopped honeycomb and chocolate chips, but you might like to add Maltesers or yellow M&M’s.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Add three to four pieces of brownie to the favour bag. I’ve chosen cellophane bags so the brownies and gift can be clearly seen and look oh so good on display!

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Time to add the honeycomb and chocolate chips plus any other chocolate you desire.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Add your gift, tie off with a ribbon and thank you tag.

I love these trucks from Mega Bloks . Inexpensive but a great toy that any boy would love! You can also buy other styles of truck for girls as well. If you are in Australia I purchased mine from a local Woolworths on sale for $1.95 each.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Matchbox also have a really great range of construction vehicles to, which I have included in the favour bags as well.

Makes approx 8 to 10 favour bags. If you are trying to save you could also make without the gift.

Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies Construction Party Favours

Here is the finished product! Happy Construction Party!

 

Save Print
Construction Party Favours Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies
Author: Lauren
Recipe type: Kids Cakes
Prep time:  20 mins
Cook time:  40 mins
Total time:  1 hour
 
Ingredients
  • 225 grams (8 ounces) unsalted butter
  • 1¼ cups of sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup of cocoa powder
  • 2½ cups of plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon of vanilla
  • 150 grams (5 ounces) dark chocolate
  • ½ cup of chocolate chips
Instructions
Honeycomb Chocolate Brownies
  1. Preheat oven to a moderate 170 degrees Celsius (340 Fahrenheit)
  2. Melt 150 grams (8 ounces) of dark chocolate and unsalted butter together in saucepan or microwave
  3. Mix all dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Sugar, cocoa and flour
  4. Gradually mix in each egg one by one
  5. Add vanilla extract
  6. Add melted chocolate and butter. Mix well until all combined
  7. Mix in ½ cup of chocolate chips
  8. Mixture will be fairly stiff and moist
  9. Pour half the brownie mix into 33 x 23 cm pan (13 x 9 inch)
  10. Slice honeycomb and layer
  11. Pour remaining brownie mix over the honeycomb layer. Brownie mix will be the consistency of a paste so you will need to spread the mixture over the honeycomb
  12. Bake for 40 minutes
  13. Brownies will come out of the oven a bit gooey however will harden once cooled
3.2.2929

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Filed Under: Blog, Boys Party Inspiration, Cake Gift/Favour Bags, Chocolate, Kids Parties, Recipes, Tutorials Tagged With: Boys Party, Chocolate Honeycomb Brownies, Construction Party, Favour Bags, Gift Bags, Kids Parties, Lolly Bags

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