Strawberry Fondant Cake

On my return journey from the airport to my house last sunday, my nephew told me he wanted Avatar with Aang as the main picture for his birthday cake. My sister quickly added that she will send me the pictures as reference. As they have seen my previous work on the Ariel, they wanted something similar. I also had the same thoughts when they discussed the main cast with me.

However, when the day drew nearer, I realised that I didn't have the time to colour out Aang! I panicked. Then I decided I shall do fondant instead. And so, I created the head, a Aang-look-alike. Based on one of the picture which my sister sent, I thought the arrow was grey colour. Subsequently, I realised that it was blue. *gosh*
He also asked for a strawberry cake, which was quite rare. I had earlier told my sister that it will be a challenge because I don't want to buy strawberry essence just for this cake. Also, I personally don't believe in artificial flavourings. So in the end, I tweaked the lavender teacake recipe to include fresh strawberries into the cake. I used this cake as I felt that it'll be strong enough to hold the fondant frosting which I want to decorate. I like the result of the cake as the strawberries were very well spreaded.
I used fresh cream and strawberries to sandwich the cake together. Then cover the cake with chocolate fondant. I also used some stencil, which I bought from KC, to print the background. Okay, got to admit that I didn't do a good job here. I hope to improve on it the next time I try again. My daughter also suggested that I put "happy birthday" around the base, which I had initially thought of using a "happy birthday" tag instead. Good suggestion made by her though.
The taste of the cake was pretty good, except that I have slightly overbaked it a little. The lightness of the fresh cream and the partial sour strawberry was a good combination to the cake. I asked my nephew if he liked the cake. He nodded and told me "but the strawberry is very sour!"  Okay, at least that wasn't my fault! My sister told me he was expecting a pink strawberry flavoured cake. I had told her to explain to him on my behalf about using artificial flavourings. Being a brilliant boy he is, I'm sure he understands why his Er Yee (二姨) didn't give him a pink strawberry flavoured cake. Lastly, I want to wish him a very happy 9th birthday!

15 comments:

youfei said...
August 23, 2010 at 12:34 AM

Nice work there! I think your daughter's got a flair in decorating cakes too eh?

I have to agree with you on the strawberry essence/paste/flavouring. And I'm glad you insisted on using fresh strawberries instead. =D

Pei-Lin said...
August 23, 2010 at 12:48 AM

Shame on me ... Being a non-movie goer, I haven't watched "Avatar" before ... Haha! I don't think I'll ever watch unless I'm persuaded by someone else to spend a few hours to suck up the details ... Haha!

Eh, I know nuts about fondant lor ... If I can make something like this birthday cake, I'll be so proud of myself! So be proud of it lar! Considered very good liao. Maybe you can also pull your daughter into the pastry world with you.

Agree with that the point with home baking and cooking is to be void of as many additives as possible. I wouldn't spend a few bucks on strawberry flavoring.

busygran said...
August 23, 2010 at 1:16 PM

Cute fondant works! The cake looks good with cream and strawberries.

WendyinKK said...
August 23, 2010 at 4:15 PM

So cute.
The strawberry tea cake sounds good.

Passionate About Baking said...
August 23, 2010 at 9:20 PM

Hi Youfei,
Ya, I must really robed in my children in future. I think they can be a real help!
I'm so glad you also have the same thoughts about using artificial flavourings.

Hi Pei Lin,
Thanks very much for your encouragement. Ah, you must venture into fondant world soon. You'll be hooked! I'm sure you can make many beautiful pieces too!
Thanks for reassuring that my decision on non additives is right! :)

Hi busygran,
Thanks!

Hi Wendy,
Thanks for dropping by. The strawberry teacake taste quite nice actually.

Bakericious said...
August 24, 2010 at 11:14 AM

cute fondant cake and yummy cake :)

thecoffeesnob said...
September 1, 2010 at 1:18 AM

The cake looks really good, Jane! And the combination of strawberries and cream sandwiched in a cake sounds to die for! :)

Passionate About Baking said...
September 1, 2010 at 9:12 PM

Thanks Laureen! Also thanks for dropping by despite your busy schedule. :)

Passionate About Baking said...
May 19, 2011 at 5:55 PM

Hi Youfei,
Ya, I must really robed in my children in future. I think they can be a real help!
I'm so glad you also have the same thoughts about using artificial flavourings.

Hi Pei Lin,
Thanks very much for your encouragement. Ah, you must venture into fondant world soon. You'll be hooked! I'm sure you can make many beautiful pieces too!
Thanks for reassuring that my decision on non additives is right! :)

Hi busygran,
Thanks!

Hi Wendy,
Thanks for dropping by. The strawberry teacake taste quite nice actually.

Pei-Lin@Dodol and Mochi said...
May 19, 2011 at 5:55 PM

Shame on me ... Being a non-movie goer, I haven't watched "Avatar" before ... Haha! I don't think I'll ever watch unless I'm persuaded by someone else to spend a few hours to suck up the details ... Haha!

Eh, I know nuts about fondant lor ... If I can make something like this birthday cake, I'll be so proud of myself! So be proud of it lar! Considered very good liao. Maybe you can also pull your daughter into the pastry world with you.

Agree with that the point with home baking and cooking is to be void of as many additives as possible. I wouldn't spend a few bucks on strawberry flavoring.

Jess @ Bakericious said...
May 19, 2011 at 5:55 PM

cute fondant cake and yummy cake :)

Preciouslyjaded said...
February 8, 2012 at 11:18 AM

which tea cake recipe did you use and how did you incorporate it to be strawberry?... it looks awesome and i wanna bake my dad one and use a fondant to decorate

passionbaker said...
February 8, 2012 at 1:04 PM

Hi,
I tweaked the recipe from here: http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2008/09/lavender-teacake.html. Instead of adding lavender flowers, I cut strawberries and add to the cake. You can add more than 1 punnet of strawberries if you prefer more strawberries. Hope this helps.

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