Birthday cake!

It was my mum's surprise birthday yesterday. The BIG FIFTY! It was exciting to watch my dad plan the whole thing. It was amazing because he is the last person to organize anything! They have been married for thirty three years and as far as I can remember, he has almost always forgotten her birthday! There was a time when all of us had forgotten her birthday and I still don't forgive myself for it.

My mum has always been the definition of love. Anyone who knows her will say the same. She is unbelievably genuine and doesn't hesitate to express her love. She is always hugging and kissing us, whether it is right after my run or right after my shower, a hug is what I ALWAYS get! We HAD to do something special for her. God knows she most certainly deserves it!

It was so easy organizing this party for her because EVERYONE agreed to be a part of it. I had to have a special cake for her. I just HAD to. This was the first time I've been nervous about a cake. Firstly, I couldn't bake at home since it had to be a surprise, and then there was the weather! So ridiculously hot! I was working with so much butter cream and I almost had a meltdown. My poor husband was at the receiving end of that! Last but not the least, I was baking for a big crowd. Well, thankfully the cake turned out well and my mum was happy with it :-)

I decided to make an ombre cake. I have always loved the concept. It's just so pretty. I'm surprised that I haven't tried it before but I will definitely make it again.

For the cake, I made vanilla sponge cake and added some Baileys Irish cream liqueur along with the vanilla extract. Baileys Irish cream works magically with desserts.You have to try it! So, it was a six layer cake with chocolate ganache between each layer. 

After stacking the layers, I crumb coated the cake and then piped the cake. For the icing, I used butter cream. I divided it into three portions and added one, three and six drops of red food colouring respectively into the three portions. I decided to make rosettes (mine were definitely not perfect). You can make ruffles, pearls, pleats, etc. I started with the darkest layer at the bottom and worked my way up. Make sure you pipe to fill the spaces between the rosettes. The cake was then stored outside in a cool room.

After my first successful attempt at making tres leches cake, I decided to make tres leches cupcakes. I used whipping cream to ice the cupcakes.They were then stored in the refrigerator.

Baby's first cupcake!

Cupcakes are ideal for parties. You can go crazy experimenting with them as well. They are so much fun!

So happy that my mum was genuinely surprised and she looked like she had a blast! Cheers to many more years with this wonderful lady.