Saturday, October 8, 2011

superman birthday cake - white cake filled with whipped cream and strawberries and covered with cream cheese frosting


My son Matthew normally doesn't like to eat cake.  I know.  I don't get it either.  But we were recently at his friend's birthday party, and when all the games had ended and it was time to eat, he finished his pizza and then promptly told me he wanted to go home.  I said we couldn't leave until we'd had birthday cake, to which he declared he didn't want any cake!  I told him that he didn't have to eat any of it, but that he had to stay long enough to sing happy birthday and watch his friend blow out the candles.

When his friend's mom was passing out the cake, she offered me two slices, but I only took one and told her that we'd share (since I knew Matthew didn't want cake).  But when he saw that the cake was filled with whipped cream and strawberries, he asked if he could eat my strawberries.  After he had eaten all the strawberries off of my plate, he still wanted more.  So I got him his own piece of cake, and to my surprise he devoured the whole thing, cake and all!  And that's when I knew what kind of cake I would make him for his birthday.


I used the same white cake recipe as I did for his dad's "heart surprise" birthday cake,  and since I was making a 12 x 18 inch cake I had to make four of these in 9 x 13 pans!  (Which took quite a long time since I made them one at a time and the batter is more complicated than my regular cake recipes, as it requires folding in whipped egg whites to make the cake fluffy).


After baking and cooling all four cakes, it was time to assemble.  I placed two of the cakes side by side after slicing off the connecting edges, and then covered it with a thick layer of homemade whipped cream.  Then I topped that with sliced strawberries, and then another layer of whipped cream.


After letting it set in the fridge, I topped it with the last two cakes, and then covered it with blue cream cheese frosting.  Now here's where I realized my mistake in judgement.  While I love the taste of cream cheese frosting (especially compared to buttercream), it just doesn't hold up as well as buttercream.  And no matter how many times I tried to smooth out my cream cheese frosting, it was just gloppy.  And runny.  And melty.  I think on a regular 8 inch cake it would have been fine - but on a gigantic 12 x 18 inch cake?  There was no way I could get it to work.  Next time I make a cake this large, I'm definitely using buttercream!!!


But it was too late, and I had to just roll with it.  So I piped my superman logo outline in black, and then filled it in with red and yellow frosting using a star tip.  I wanted to do some sort of decoration on the sides, but my favorite basketweave design just didn't seem to fit with the whole Superman theme.  So I just used a frosting comb to make a design on the sides.  And then it was time to pipe the border in white.  But since my frosting was already goopy and melty, the border on the top edge started drooping (sigh).  But at this point it was past 3am and I was too tired to do anything about it.  So I just left it alone.


In the end, it didn't matter anyway, because while driving to the party we had to brake really hard at one point, and most of the borders got smashed against the box!  Argh!


When I finally tasted the cake, I loved the combination of all the flavors, but I thought the cake itself was a little bit dry.  However several people asked for seconds, so I guess they must have liked it?  And most importantly - the birthday boy loved it.  And that's all that really matters, right? :)


*** Update: I also made Superman cupcakes and cookies!  You can find the cupcakes here, and the cookies here!

12 comments:

  1. So cute! u did a great job -- especially considering the texture of the cream cheese frosting.

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  2. Happy birthday, Matthew ♥

    He's lucky to get such awesome homemade goodies!

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  3. Wow - what an amazing job! The cake looks delicious and your decorating is spot-on!

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  4. What a cute cake. Both the cake and Matthew are super adorable. :) Happy Birthday, Matthew.

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  5. I love your blog!

    I started cooking very recently and your blog help me a lot :)

    I've got some recipes I did in my blog

    I'm following you!

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  6. What a great cake!! Can't go wrong with strawberries and cream in anything!

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  7. Keeping that memory of the friend's cake looks like it sure paid off-your birthday boy is lucky! Happy birthday to him.
    Awesome looking cake with classic flavors-fresh strawberries are hard to resist.

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  8. Fabulous cake...and not gloppy looking at all! Superman looks like he was thrilled with it :) And I love the idea of layering whipped cream and berries in the middle...yum!

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  9. How do u do the outline?

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  10. That cake was so good, I dream about it!

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  11. I love your Superman cake, you did great!

    I have the perfect recipe for a whipped cream cheese frosting, it's sturdy and DELICIOUS! I've frosted and even PIPED with this recipe and I REFUSE to use buttercream now.

    1 (8 ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
    1/2 cup white sugar
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Stop and scrape the bottom of the bowl a couple of times while you continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak.

    Let me know if you use it and if it works for you! :)

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  12. Where can I find the recipe for the homemade whip cream?

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