Baby blocks cake

12th March 2011... How time flies.. It seemed like only yesterday my whole family was gathered in my sister's living room anxiously waiting for the arrival of my sisters' baby. In a blink of an eye, my niece is now 1 month old. In line with chinese tradition, we decided to throw a full moon party to celebrate. Honestly, it was more like to celebrate the fact that my sister could finally have something that didnt revolve around sesame oil or ginger i.e. the main ingredients in confinement food. Hooray!

I wanted to make something special but decided to keep it a surprise as in the event it didnt turn out well,  i would the need to go buy one! After days of searching on the internet, i decided on making a baby block cake. I had to plan my time well as we needed to be at my sisters' for lunchtime on saturday which basically meant i had to get everything ready by friday night. Looking back, i have to say i was probably too adventurous!!

Friday 6.30pm - popped the ready made cake mix (Cadbury chocolate) and popped that into the oven. That would be the main cake. For the baby blocks, i decided to buy chocolate brownies (from M&S) that i could wrap easily with fondant icing plus i didnt have time to bake anything from scratch..

And so the process begins..

 I have to say though, now i know that this is NOT the right way to wrap the blocks!! Obviously i didnt realise it at the time and it did get the job done.. the right way would be to drape the icing sheet over the brownie and let it flop over, smooth it with your the cup of your hands gently and then with 2 cake smoothers to provide the professional finish. Cut off excess with a small palette knife and wrap under the block. Smooth as flat as possible. The completed blocks with letterings.

From the photo, you can see bits of brown as i should have used some buttercream or equivalent before wrapping the fondant icing round the brownies. Either that, or dont roll out the fondant too thin..Oh well, at least i know that now!

Next...time to make the baby booties and the baby onesies to go on top of the cake! i got the inspiration to create baby booties from www.notquitenigella.com

Step 1: Roll out fondant icing, and make small balls in 2 sizes (each bootie will need 1 big ball and 1 small ball)

Step 2: Take a set (1 big ball and 1 small ball) and flatten them slightly till the shape resembles a small baby shoe.
Step 3: Place the small bit on top of the bigger bit and flatten slightly again.
Step 4: Using a chopstick end, gently ease into the top to create a round indent.
Step 5: Use a toothpick, to then go round the edge creating lines.
Step 6: Use toothpick, and prick round the bottom to create a pattern to the shoe.
Step 7: Finish off by placing either a star or a heart in the middle of the shoe.

For the baby onesies, i just used the cutter i bought online and cut them out from a piece of rolled out fondant icing. I spent ages trying to track down the onesie cutter!! Finally found one on the internet!

A sample of a few of the blocks in the making.....

Next, wrapping up the cake with royal icing (ready made to roll icing bought from Sainsbury).

Similar to the directions on wrapping the baby blocks on top, use a rolling pin to drape the slab of icing over the cake. Smooth out with the cup of your hands, and use cake smoothers to get a smooth finish. Use one of the cake smoothers, to go round the cake at a 90 degree angle, to mark where the excess should be removed. Cut off excess with small palette knife, and smooth out with cake smoothers.

To cover up the blemishes on the cake, i made a giant ribbon to drape over the cake.

Lastly, assembling the cakes!

I added on the baby onesies at the end, as i felt the cake was still not quite complete! 10pm - Finished and time for dinner!

And on display the next day.. with the gold bangles that my sister wore when she was that age!

It was a good afternoon, check out the spread! mmmmmm

I have to say it was a fun but very tiring process...Glad everyone liked it!