Teddy Sleepover Cake

The latest birthday cake request from my darling charge Mr F, who was having a build-a-bear party (absolute nightmare - avoid at all costs) followed by a sleepover. A red velvet cake in the shape of a bed with teddies on it. Should be straightforward....

 .... and in reality it was! Yay! What a relief!

For this cake I used the hummingbird bakery red velvet cupcake recipe, but made it as a tray bake instead. Here is the recipe adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Recipe Book for a 35cm by 25cm tray bake (or 24 cupcakes):

Ingredients:

• 120g unsalted butter
• 300g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 20g good quality cocoa powder
• 40ml red food colouring (I used the silverspoon brand)
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 240ml buttermilk
• 300g plain flour
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3tsp white wine vinegar
• 
  

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3
2. Put the butter and the sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour, and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Scrape down the side of the bowl again. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 35 mins (or until a skewer comes away clean). For cupcakes bake for around 20 mins.  Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

After cooling the cake, I levelled it (keeping the top slice for later) and cut it in half to make 2 equal rectangles roughly the shape of a single bed (see? It's almost like I had a plan....), and filled then crumb coated with vanilla buttercream. I doubled the quantity of buttercream in my recipe but was left with plenty to spare - so it's up to you to decide just how much you want left in the bowl to lick! (Definitely the best part of any baking session)

The next step was to cover the cake in white fondant giving the effect of a sheet.  I then sandwiched together two rectangular pieces of the left over top layer (filled and crumb coated like a mini cake) between two larger rectangular pieces of fondant - to create a pillow. Thank you Mummy Boss for that fab idea!

The last part of the bed was straighforward enough, I rolled out a piece of blue fondant and cut small circles out of the leftover white with the small end of a round piping nozzle and stuck them to the blue fondant with a little bit of water. This was really time consuming and if anyone has any suggestions on better ways to do this please leave me a comment! After that it was simply a case of cutting the fondant into a rectangle and placing on the cake to look like a bedspread.

The adorable teddies were put together by Mummy Boss who is very good at the arty crafty stuff also. I found a brilliant book in the library showing exactly how to make them - please do take a look if you can find it, it is brilliant - Cake Characters by Ann Pickard. These cute little ones were made from coloured fondant (the colour aptly named "teddy") and some chocolate ready-to-roll fondant.

He's my favourite.... Teddy Freddy.

All that's left to do is places the teds on the bed! I hope you try this out, it was a very quick and easy cake to make. Enjoy!