The birth of each of my daughters are among the most perfect days in my life. Every year on their birthday I strive to make them feel as special as I felt that moment, I first held them in my arms. I know that I may go a little over the top. That I may drive my husband absolutely crazy and keep him up till all hours of the night. Whatever the theme of their choice is that year I want them to know that I tried my hardest to bring their dream to reality in our house.
Birthday cakes are one of my passions. I found I loved to make birthday cakes even though my artistic skills have always been lacking. No really, I am pretty sure my grade school art teacher even questioned some of my so called “art-work”. After many attempts at decorating and a healthy sugar rush from eating all my mistakes. I was able to get pretty good at brining my girlies vision of their birthday cake to life.
For Nora’s fourth birthday she decided she had to have a Mouse and cookie cake with rainbows inside. It took a little time and complete acceptance that I was buying figures before I had a complete plan. Honestly this cake was quite simple. My husband was thrilled that we were done decorating the night before by 9:00PM, usually we throw the towel in about 2:00AM on the night before a birthday.
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ cup pure cane sugar
- 2 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 3.5 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 cup whole milk
- 4 eggs
Brown Sugar Frosting Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Directions
Cake
- Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 350ºF.
- Spray two 9 inch baking pans with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. For a more fluffier cake you can sift this, but it is not necessary.
- Add Butter, milk, and vanilla.
- Mix ingredients for 3 minutes ensuring that all ingredients are combined and the sides of the bowl are scraped down.
- Finally add the eggs and mix for an additional 2 minutes to ensure all ingredients are fully combined. If you are adding color this would be the time to add food coloring to tint the batter.
- Pour batter equally into 9 inch baking pans.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, test for doneness with toothpick inserted in middle, if it comes out clean the cake is done.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and place a light dishtowel over them for 10-15 minutes before removing them from the pan.
Brown Sugar Frosting
- In a medium saucepan at low heat bring the butter, and brown sugar, and heavy cream to a boil. It is important to stir constantly.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
- In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment on low slowly add powdered sugar to the brown sugar mixture on low speed and work up to medium until creamy and combined.
Decorating
- Stack the cakes in reverse rainbow order so the red will be on top. Add the frosting or filling of your choice between each layer.
- Ice the cake with the brown sugar frosting. The frosting will be thick as it cools so you may need to wet your icing spatula with some hot water to smooth the surface.
- Place chocolate chips around the cake to make it look like a big chocolate chip cookie.
- Add buttercream frosting using a grass tip on the top of the cake and add Mouse and Cookie figures. Create a pond with some extra frosting dyed blue and sprinkles for shimmer;)
- The tree is created with a pretzel stick and rice crispy treat shaped and then covered in butter cream icing.
