2 Tiered Jungle Cake with Fondant animals and Swiss Meringue Butter cream: All Homemade for the Sonny Boy

Last weekend we celebrated Sonny boy’s 3^rd Birthday. And when we asked what he wanted for his special day he asked for a big cake, which he will take to school and cut with all his friends around. I was too happy to oblige as seldom I get a chance to do an elaborate celebration cake. So I decided on a jungle themed cake and with the guest list in mind it had to be a 2 tiered one. Now if you reside in India you would understand how difficult it is to do something good with cake decorations here. I mind sound like cribbing a lot about this but that’s what it is here. We don’t get any standard product here and when all things are to be homemade, half the fun is gone. Still I wanted to woo the kid who even refused the doodle pro saying he only wants a big cake (though the grand parents got it for him anyway). The cake needed lot of effort and time which I gladly  put in. 

The end result was satisfying and the birthday boy kept on smiling and telling everyone “ei caketa amar jonyo mumum banieche. Amar mumum sab theke bhalo ranna kare”(Mom made this cake for me. She is a very good cook). Guess who was the happiest and proudest of them all????

It was difficult to make the fondant at home as half of the products were unavailable. Dint get glycerine or good shortening. Gel food colours are unheard of so had to make do with liquid colours which is an absolute no-no for fondant making. But still the homemade fondant tastes way better than what they use on the store bought cakes. The icing was super yummy and firm enough to hold all the cake tiers and the fondant animals.

Jungle theme cake

Please mail at ahomemakersdiary@yahoo.in for the recipe. Thanks.

You will need

1. Vanilla cake: 2 classic yellow 5” round cakes (recipe given below)

2. Chocolate fudge cake: two 9” round cakes (use THIS recipe)

3. Swiss meringue butter cream: 4 cups; Recipe given below
4. Fondant: makes 3 cups or more; recipe given below

Assembling the cake:

Place 4 strips of butter paper or foil around the edge of your serving plate. During decorations it will catch all the dripping icing and when done remove the strips to get the cakes standing on a clean surface.

Chop off any dome from the cakes to level it. Place one big fudge cake on the serving plate. Spread some icing and level it with a offset spatula. Place another fudge cake (bottom up) on it. Make sure the edges match.

Take one white cake and place it at the back of the 9” circle (not outside). Spread icing on it and place the other layer (bottom up) on top of it.

At this stage I inserted to bamboo skewer through all the four layers to make it more stable. Cover the whole structure with generous amount of frosting. Put in the fridge to set.

Before your guests arrive place all the decorations and the name cookies and serve.

A Homemaker's note:

This cake calls for a lot of work so plan accordingly. Make the cakes a day or two before and store wrapped in cling film.

Make the fondant animals prior to the day you want to present the cake and air-dry them at least for 24 hours. I was too excited to see the cake in its real avatar and placed all the animals on it in the morning itself. The party was in the evening and the cake had to sit in the fridge for 6-7 hours before cutting. The water in the air made it shiny and glossy. Do not put the final figurines in fridge as water will make it shiny.

Make the name cookies beforehand or you might forget all the

Make the butter cream on the day of party itself. It tastes best when prepared fresh.

All the recipes that I have used here are really very flexible. You can scale up or down but be sure to maintain the proportion.

The yellow cake is very very delicate that’s why I dint slice and made more layers. If you get cake dowels then you can slice all the cakes horizontally to make an even taller and exquisite looking cake.

Events:
Sending this labour of love to the following event


Cake of the week at Casa Costello. 

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