What a wonderful summer we have had so far! The weather in Glasgow has been quite something over the past week and the next few days are looking rather promising too. Yipee! What’s more, the arrival of this lovely weather has conveniently coincided with a busy week of entertaining at by Mrs D HQ. Our little garden has been home to lots of family and friends enjoying the summer sun! And the reason for all the entertaining? It was Mr D’s birthday last week. Happy Birthday Mr D!
Of course, a birthday gave me the perfect excuse to do some baking (I say that as if I need an excuse…)! But what to make? The lemon and blueberry sponge went down so well for my brother’s birthday that I decided not to stray too far from this recent success. I opted for a lemon sponge with extra lemon zest, teamed with a raspberry jam and lemon buttercream filling to make sure the flavour really packed a punch. And I’m pleased to say it did just that!
In previous years, Mr D’s birthday treat has taken the form of a vanilla sponge in the stye of the NBA basketball logo and (slightly left-field for a birthday cake) a key lime pie. With Mr D being a massive basketball fan, I decided that it was time I attempted to make him an edible basketball! I duly went about finding the sugarpaste icing, purchasing some red and yellow to make the orange (as I couldn’t find any ready-made orange) and black for the markings and cake board. Now although I have cupboards full of baking equipment, I do not have a tin capable of making a spherical cake… problem? Well, I decided not to let this put me off and got creative instead. What I do have is a ring tin – perfect for making doughnut cakes! I must admit, I hadn’t attempted a doughnut cake before and so this was new territory. I had no real idea of how this would turn out… so here goes!
What do you think? I covered the cake board with a thin layer of black icing and finished the design off with a ‘hoop’ made from orange sugarpaste icing and white royal icing.
I couldn’t wait to present this to Mr D and so he received it as an early birthday surprise the night before! I have to say he was rather excited which is exactly the reaction I was hoping for. All in all, a baking success and a happy birthday boy! Do you think that earns me some wife brownie points?
Mrs D xx
by Mrs D 