Making My Daughter's 5th Birthday Cake From Scratch!

I remember when I was a little girl I would stay every single Friday night with my grandmother. She always had some kind of supplies there waiting for my arrival to either make some kind of delicious dessert or a nifty craft. As I've grown older I have still enjoyed doing things like this, but never had a reason to for quite some time. Once I got married I began to tinker around again in making desserts, but they were the basic box cakes thrown in a pan. Don't get me wrong they were still good, but nothing special. 

Last year when I became a stay at home mom, my daughter and I started baking Banana Bread and other small cakes that she was giving to family members. This allowed my daughter and I to bond over making delicious desserts, and reminded me so much of when I was younger. I wanted to try to more, so for the holidays I attempted to make my own Eggnog Cheesecake. It was okay, but I truly felt that how it was mixed was the reason it wasn't great. I then made the decision I wanted an actual mixer, and I was going to take a break from the baking until I got said mixer. 

Almost a year later I made that plunge and bought a mixer! I was so excited to start baking again and seeing what I could actually do. However, I got my mixer so close to my daughter's birthday my husband said I had to make my daughter's birthday cake. I was nervous but decided to take on the challenge. 

​I baked two tester cakes throughout the week, making sure that I got the ingredients right for the batter and icing. My husband was my sampler and guidance throughout the entire process. His honest opinion allowed me to make any adjustments needed before a whole party of people tasted and judged my work. Getting a smooth buttercream around the cake seemed to be my biggest challenge. I'm not an icing lover myself, so I don't like the thought of a ton of icing on cake. However, as I progressed I learned that I needed more icing to make that smooth coat. 

The night before her party I was up until 3 am mixing, and baking the cakes. Now why was I up this late? Remember when I said I am the type of person that if I wanted to do something I was gonna do it? Well I had this great idea that I was going to mix the white cake batter with black cake batter to make it more of a Dalmatian cake. I probably shouldn't have jumped into something new that I haven't tried before, on my third ever cake, and especially not the cake that was going to be used for her birthday. However, though it did not turn out how I imagined, it still looked good. 

The next morning I woke up and started mixing the icing for the cakes. I must say out of everything, I absolutely LOVE making buttercream. I just wish it was something that could be made more often. While the buttercream was mixing, I began cutting the tops off each cake and cutting my spots out of the fondant. All that was left to do was put it together. 

The decorating of the cake probably took me about 2 hours and I didn't love the cake at first, but I was out of time. We arrived at the party, and my daughter instantly was grabbing everyone and telling them to look at her cake that her mommy made. This truly touched my heart at how happy and excited about her cake she was, and I realized this is all that mattered. Throughout the party I got several compliments on the cake, and people asking me how I made it. 

Overall, I would say the cake was a complete success! I look forward to continuing my baking journey and making cakes better each time. My son turns 2 in December and I am already planning how I will do his Blippi Cake. 

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Ingredients for Vanilla white cake 

These ingredients are for a buttermilk white cake, which in my opinion has the best consistency!

3 1/4 Cup all-purpose flour 
3 cups granulated sugar 
2 1/2 tsp baking powder 
1 tsp salt 
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) 
1 cup of egg whites (about 7 eggs) 
2tsp. vanilla extract 
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/8 cup vegetable oil

recipe thanks to chelsweets
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If you get the courage to bake your own cake, make sure to post them in the comments below or send them to us! We would love to see what you come up with!

Much Love, 
Main Street Mommy