The Birthday Cake Book ~ Hardback ~ Fiona Cairns

Fiona Cairns made the cake for 2011's Royal Wedding. Fiona Cairns turns her attention to birthdays, adding a touch of bling to her trademark pretty style. Every day of the year is someone's birthday, the chance to celebrate with close friends or family, or maybe an excuse for a larger bash. A birthday cake is the centrepiece, ablaze with candles, cut with a secret wish and shared to create precious memories. Many families have a treasured recipe, baked for every birthday. Perhaps you'll find a new family favourite in these pages. Whether you are one or 100, a Goth or a gardener, there is the perfect cake for you here. The Birthday Cake Book has 52 new recipes and 61 cake decorations, including 16 cupcakes. Every recipe is delicious. Try the sensational masala chai cake with ginger fudge frosting, or a sophisticated pistachio, Grand Marnier and olive oil creation. Many require no sugarcraft skills at all. Fiona also gives five spectacular themed parties, from Vampires, with an eye-popping crystal skull cake, to Vintage Tea Party, with a super-realistic crocodile handbag cake. So bring a special gift to a birthday party, and get baking! Reviews From her crystal skull cake to her super-realistic crocodile handbag, you'll be amazed. –Good Housekeeping Whether you want a novelty cake for a little one or a boozy indulgent one for the grown-ups, there's a clever cake to suit everyone. –Woman & Home Magazine Mouthwatering birthday cake recipes from Fiona Cairns –Daily Mail, September 2, 2011 SAMPLE RECIPE Liquorice toffee cupcakes (pictured left) Ingredients For the cakes: 12 cupcakes cases 85g unsalted butter, softened plus more for the tins 100ml whole milk 30g liquorice (Fiona used 22×6.5cm lengths of soft, sweet Australian liquorice), roughly chopped 200g dates, pitted and chopped 175g self-raising flour 1tsp bicarbonate of soda 140g golden caster sugar Seed of 1 vanilla pod or 1tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs, lightly beaten For the buttercream: 170g unsalted butter, softened 200g icing sugar, sifted For the liquorice caramel: 100g demerara sugar 60ml double cream 1 tbsp black treacle 30g liquorice To decorate: Piping bag and star nozzle Liquorice allsorts Method For the cakes: Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Place the paper cases in a cupcake tray. In a small saucepan, bring the milk and liquorice to a boil. Remove from the heat, stir and press on the liquorice to extract the flavour. Cover and leave to infuse for at least 30 mins. Taste the milk. It should be a liquorice milk flavour, then strain. Meanwhile in a heatproof bowl pour 175ml boiling water over the dates and leave to soak for 20 mins then mash with a fork. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds or extract for about 5 mins with an electric mixer. Add the eggs gradually with 1tsp flour to stop the mixture curdling. Fold in the remaining flour, date mixture and milk. Divide the batter between the cases and bake for 15–20 mins, or until the tops spring back to the touch. Remove from the oven, leave in the tins a couple of minutes, then cool on a wire rack. For the buttercream: Make the buttercream by creaming the butter and icing sugar for at least five minutes in an electric mixer (or with a hand-held mixer). For the liquorice caramel: To make the caramel, in a small heavy-based pan, dissolve the sugar with 3 tbsp water over a gentle heat, then increase to a boil. Leave the pan undisturbed for a few mins, until it turns a lovely rich, caramel colour and has thickened. Give it your full attention at this stage! Remove from the heat and add the cream and treacle, protecting your hands with a tea towel. Stir well, then return to the heat with the liquorice, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low, stirring all the time, and continue to cook until the mixture thickens. Remove and leave for all the flavours to mingle and allow the mixture to cool. Taste; it should have a toffee liquorice flavour. Remove the liquorice and, when the caramel is only barely warm, whisk well into the buttercream. (If the caramel is too cold, it will need to be warmed very slightly so it will combine easily into the buttercream. Too hot, and it will melt the buttercream.) Divide the buttercream between the cakes, piping it on if you wish and decorate with liquorice allsorts. Author Biography Fiona Cairns made the cake for 2011's Royal Wedding. Her greatest innovation was the miniature cake – since widely copied – and first sold to the Conran Shop while working from her kitchen table. Her company now bakes 750,000 exquisite cakes every year for Waitrose, Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, and Le Bon Marche in Paris. She also makes Sir Paul McCartney's Chris­tmas cake every year. Despite the fact that her bakery doubled in size in 2010, Fiona loves home baking and still makes cakes at home for friends and family. She lives in Leicestershire with her husband and two children. This is her second book, following the critically acclaimed Bake & Decorate, also published by Quadrille.