We were challenged by Stork to bake a simple kids birthday cake devised by Ruth from The Pink Whisk. Well, it was perfect timing as my best friends youngest was about to turn four.
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Did you know that 44% of parents spend two and a half working days baking their children’s birthday cake (between 10 and 20 hours every year)! I am going to admit that I didn’t even bake my boys cakes until they were three. We just bought cheap supermarket ones!
One in 10 parents bake well after midnight to make their child’s birthday cake – this I can understand as often we want the cake to be a surprise, so we do it once they are asleep.
We are fans of keeping things super simple here and I adore that Ruth’s cakes are so achievable. We decided to try her all in one chocolate cake (Although Mini loves a vanilla sponge) recipe. There is no need to cream the Stork and sugar, just pop it all in the mixer. This was such a simple recipe that Mini did it all himself, all I did was put it in the cake tin and bake it.
We also love using chocolate fingers to cover cakes, they are perfect for hiding any imperfections. Instead of covering the top of our cake with chocolate shavings, we covered it with smarties as the birthday boy had requested a colorful cake for his special birthday (when you are nearly four, you have the right to put in requests)!
Ingredients
- 250g Stork with Butter
- 250g caster sugar
- 4 eggs, large
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200g self-raising flour
- 50g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Frosting
- 150g Stork with Butter
- 300g icing sugar
- 35g cocoa powder
- Decorations
- 300g chocolate finger biscuits
- 4 packets of smarties
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160c (fan)/180c/Gas Mark 4.
- Grease a 7” cake tin well and line the base with a piece of non-stick baking paper.
- Place all the chocolate cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat together until the cake mixture is even and well combined.
- Transfer the mixture to the tin and bake in the oven for 50 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer when inserted into the centre comes away clean.
- Place the cake onto a wire rack and allow to cool fully.
- Beat together the frosting ingredients until well mixed and light and fluffy.
- Place the cooled cake onto a serving plate and cover with the chocolate frosting.
- To decorate fill the sides with chocolate finger biscuits, cutting them down to size if necessary. Scatter the top of the cake with smarties
Mini and his best friend had fun licking out the bowl – cooks prerogative!
In total this cake took 25 mins to prep and decorate and 50 minutes cooking time.
Simple Kids Birthday Cake
Trust me it is a really great cake to make and the chocolate fingers mean that you do not have to be a whizz with icing!
That looks fab! I am planning to make my girls birthday cakes soon…..This might be an idea. Thank you. x
Love it – looks like a pool full of smarties to dive in 🙂
Have to admit I cheap and get a baker to make me cakes! But this looks like something I could do! Looks fab
Oh dear, that was meant to say cheat*
Nice cake! Looks like you did a great job!
Mmmmm that looks delicious. I’m a fan of chocolate fingers too – they make even my creations look good x
It looks fabulous! I love cakes like these – fairly easy to do but so impressive looking. I’ve seen them with kit kats around the edge too, that also looks good. I’m a huge fan of sticking smarties in buttercream for my kids’ birthday cakes, it always looks so colourful and homemade too. x
Wow that is one incredible looking cake! I can’t believe it was so simple to make! x
Oh my, this looks absolutely amazing, my mouth is watering x
So simple but so effective! It looks like he had fun baking it too.
ohhh I like the look of this cake so simple, I will have to make this this week!! Thanks for sharing!
Jen, I never made Emma’s cake before and she will be 6 soon, lol! But I think, considering our recent successful cooking experience, that I may give this a go with Emma, I am sure it will become a favourite in our household, as I have two chocaholics!xx
I think I will give this one a go for Bugs’ birthday next week. It looks dead easy and incredibly tasty 🙂
This looks absolutely fabulous, but so good to know that it’s not too tricky to make! Bet this would be popular at any party.
I did this style cake for my daughter’s birthday two years ago and it went down a storm!
I think even I could make this, ha ha! It looks great! xx
I have to admit that although I love baking i find it a real struggle when smal people are about. Might give this a go for Kian’s as it looks easy
That looks fantastic. To be honest, it really looks better than the one on the Stork website. Are you absolutely sure there’s a cake underneath all those chocolate fingers and sweeties? To be honest, the kids probably wouldn’t be that disappointed even if there wasn’t!
I made a similar cake last year, minimum effort but maximum impact. You’ve done a great job. Mich x
What a gorgeous and yummy looking cake. My girls would love this!