Kids’ birthday cakes these days are sickly
sweet, both in colour and flavour, mostly covered in inch-thick layers of marzipan
and decoratively inspired by Disney merchandise. The constant barrage of them
ruffles my feathers, especially at this time of year, when my twins have their
birthday. In my eyes, the Barbie princess cake, the three-tiered Minion castle
or the giant Peppa Pig are unedible and unpleasant; they are the ultimate proof
that our world has gone consumer mad.
Obviously, most kids love these cakes. Not
to eat perhaps, but to poke each others’ eyes out with. Shouldn’t cakes be about
eating, though? Let cake be cake, is what I say. I’ll give them some Peppa Pig
tonight instead, on the ipad.
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| cake before twins |
Wholewheat chocolate birthday cake with
strawberries & cream
This cake is slightly healthier than normal
thanks to the wholewheat flour, giving some crunch and texture in the process.
Otherwise it is all that a birthday cake should be: sweet & crumbly with
cream on top.
175 g wholewheat flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
175 g soft brown sugar
175 g butter
3 eggs
2 tbsp strawberry jam
100 ml whipping cream
1 tbsp caster sugar
250 g strawberries, hulled and sliced
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Sift the flour,
cocoa powder and baking powder into a large bowl, then sprinkle over the bran
that is left in the sieve. Add the brown sugar, butter and eggs and mix with a
hand-held mixer until you have a soft batter. Add 1-2 tbsp water and mix again.
Grease two 18 cm round cake tins and line
their bases with baking paper. Divide the batter over the two tins, place them
in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the cakes are springy
and done. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Spread the jam on one of the cakes. Divide
over about one third of the strawberry slices and top with the second cake.
Whip the cream and caster sugar and spread
over the top of the cake. Decorate with the remaining strawberries, add
candles, serve & sing!
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| cake after twins |
