Daddy's B'Day 2009

Teatime treats for my Daddy's birthday on the 22nd of February 2009 with my parents, my brother and his family and my husband.

Since I began to make treats, it has become a joy to rather than buy cakes, to make them myself.

Today is an occasion of which I did so, for my dad's birthday. I must say that the satisfaction of watching family members enjoying it is one thing. Another is the fact that every last bit of the cake was eaten up! Unlike when you buy a cake for a family member's birthday, it always takes a few days to finish because everyone can only manage to eat a piece. Unlike a homemade cake, not only the taste, but the quality is different and a cake made from a good recipe will get good response on a happy occasion like this. I know that my cakes may not be perfect in terms of its decoration, since I am without any formal training on cake decorating or frosting skills. No matter, I believe it is the imperfection of homemade, which shows the effort and the heart put into the making and decorating of a cake for someone special.

The cake in question is the recipe for my previous Strawberries & Cream Cake, the recipe available here or in the 2009 February issue of Wanita. It has become my favourite, whether frosted or plain because the cake, which is made of whipped cream, without butter, unlike a butter cake, is rich and has a thicker texture that makes me feel that what I am eating has 'some substance' compared to a 'load of bubbles' you get from store bought cakes, if you get what I mean.

The frosting is the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting, which has cream cheese as well as whipped cream to make it rich, not over sweet, creamy and oh so 'sinfully' delicious. But a word of warning, in the hot and humid weather of ours, it takes some practice making or it will definitely melt and turn watery if exposed to the heat for even a little while. So those making it, make sure the bowl is thoroughly chilled, the whipped cream also thoroughly chilled and make quick work of the beating 'coz immediately when it gets stiff, you better get cracking and frost the cake and pipe the frosting on 'el-pronto' so that you can get it into the freezer to retain its form and shape. Even after all that, I still love this frosting.

Here are some photos of variations of the Whipped Cream Cake and the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting...

Daddy's birthday cake! I used blueberries and peaches, compared to originally using strawberries. You can experiment with your favourite fruit. I had to be quick to get the frosting to stay up on the sides like that before it melted.

The leftover cake that is trimmed from the cake prior to frosting is used to make Layered Surprise Cups so that every delicious bit of the cake is not wasted.

This one is layered with the cake, the peaches, the frosting, store bought vanilla ice-cream and Hershey's strawberry syrup drizzled on top. My nephews and nieces loved this one.

This is the original version of the cake, with strawberries between the cake layers and on top of the cake -- mmmm heaven.

Again, the cake can also be used to make these delicious cups layered with surprises.

Well, I hope that everyone can have the satisfaction to make nice and delicious cakes. It's not too difficult to do actually, with a little bit of effort and a lot of patience. It doesn't have to turn out perfect when it comes to looks. I bet your love ones will understand, after they have taken a delicious bite out of your creation.

Happy baking.....