Cake idea needed

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Janet H

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I need some help from the DC hive mind. I've been tasked to bake a birthday cake for 3 people who share the same birthday - one cake, 3 birthdays. They are BIG Birthdays with 0's and so the cake needs to be special.

It will be served at a smallish dinner party and the 3 celebrants have unique tastes.

One loves chocolate
One dislikes chocolate and almond flavors and prefers citrus flavors or carrot cake (but no raisins)
One likes berry, almond and caramel flavors
They all dislike fondant

I am up for making something out of the ordinary - maybe a 3 tiered cake; but need to ideas for flavor combinations.

Any ideas?
 
Sounds like a riddle! "A man has a goose a sack of wheat and a fox he has to get across the river in boat..."

Make a cheesecake with a variety of toppings including chocolate, orange, caramel and blueberry. Everyone's happy.
 
...I am up for making something out of the ordinary - maybe a 3 tiered cake; but need to ideas for flavor combinations.

Any ideas?
I don't know about three tiers. You wouldn't be able to please each "curmudgeon" without displeasing another's taste buds. :LOL: Those are rather distinct "don't likes".

Maybe three individual one-layer cakes, artfully arranged on one cake board. Like three leaves of a clover. They'd all be lucky for you to make something that would suit each of them individually.

I'd make one cake a deep, rich chocolate. Another could be a light lemon or orange chiffony kind of cake. The third one? Maybe a dense cake with berries mixed in? Or an airy white or yellow cake flavored with almonds (maybe include chopped almonds in the batter) and topped with a varieties of scattered fresh berries.

Good luck!
 
I've been watching "The Great British Bake-Off" a lot lately ;) Here's an idea - make a tiered cake that looks like a pile of presents and make each tier a different flavor. Maybe lemon for the top, chocolate in the middle a berry flavor with a caramel drizzle for the bottom. Then you could decorate around the bottom with fresh berries.
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One loves chocolate
One dislikes chocolate and almond flavors and prefers citrus flavors or carrot cake (but no raisins)
One likes berry, almond and caramel flavors
They all dislike fondant

I've been watching "The Great British Bake-Off" a lot lately ;) Here's an idea - make a tiered cake that looks like a pile of presents and make each tier a different flavor. Maybe lemon for the top, chocolate in the middle a berry flavor with a caramel drizzle for the bottom. Then you could decorate around the bottom with fresh berries.
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I just ran to the store and I've been thinking about this some more. Here are some more detailed ideas.

Tier 1: chocolate cake with smashed cherries mixed in and a chocolate ganache topping.
Tier 2: lemon cake with blueberries mixed in and a lemon buttercream frosting.
Tier 3: almond cake with strawberries mixed in and a caramel drizzle decoration.

Berries and chocolate curls around the bottom to decorate.

I've never made a large cake like this, but I'm imagining something like a wedding cake with a cake board under each tier so you can take it apart for serving after you get your ooohs and aaahs [emoji2]
 
I was thinking that a lemon cake with raspberry filling would cover 2 out of 3. Maybe a white chocolate buttercream? The non chocolate person might not object, and the chocolate person could be satisfied.
 
Sounds like a riddle! "A man has a goose a sack of wheat and a fox he has to get across the river in boat..."

Make a cheesecake with a variety of toppings including chocolate, orange, caramel and blueberry. Everyone's happy.


I'd never attempt such a challenge Janet, but someone with your baking talent will make whatever you choose spectacular.
I really like the idea from Andy above. It could be both beautiful and a nod to each special birthday.
 
If someone especially made something chocolate for me and then I discovered it was white chocolate -- I would be very sad and "put on a brave face" to be polite.
 
Make cupcakes to please each one and buy or make one of those cupcake trees like they do on that cupcake competition show to present them.
 
Make cupcakes to please each one and buy or make one of those cupcake trees like they do on that cupcake competition show to present them.

Ohhh, that reminds me of something I saw recently on Facebook. This might give you some ideas. In the picture on FB, you could see that some of the cupcakes were chocolate and some were something else.

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White cake, white frosting, with an inscription that reads "Happy Birthday to the Picky Eaters!"

Really, how about a spumoni inspired Italian cheesecake? I made this while consulting for Amoretti and it disappeard so fast I had to make a second one!
 
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I think medtran’s idea is great! Cupcakes in three flavors to fit each taste. You could even get three small cupcake trees so each person has his/her own personal cupcakes! Good Luck! Let us know what you decide to do.
 
Love the peacock but I am not up to it. There are some great ideas here however!

I've started to toy with the idea of serving 3 distinct cakes - all of the them small but tall and perhaps on the same platter, rather than a wedding style mutli tiered cake. Still wrestling with flavors however... I came across this pic that gives the idea but have never baked small cakes before - do they dry out easily?
 

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Love the peacock but I am not up to it. There are some great ideas here however!

I've started to toy with the idea of serving 3 distinct cakes - all of the them small but tall and perhaps on the same platter, rather than a wedding style mutli tiered cake. Still wrestling with flavors however... I came across this pic that gives the idea but have never baked small cakes before - do they dry out easily?

I had to send the peacock picture to DD as she's a fan. I think the "eyes" are probably fondant anyway, though could be modeling chocolate.

You mean small like 6 inch ish? You just have to adjust baking times.

If you want some height, angle variation, think about cutting the top layers like Mad Hatter/topsy turvy cakes. You could even do 6 inch and 4 inch layers and make each one a tiered or Mad Hatter cake to give them visual variation. The Mad Hatter cakes aren't hard to do, it's in the way you split the layers and there are loads of tutorials on them. I was really surprised at how easy it was when I did the first one.
 
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Love the peacock but I am not up to it. There are some great ideas here however!

I've started to toy with the idea of serving 3 distinct cakes - all of the them small but tall and perhaps on the same platter, rather than a wedding style mutli tiered cake. Still wrestling with flavors however... I came across this pic that gives the idea but have never baked small cakes before - do they dry out easily?

While not an baker, I do bake a lot of 6" cakes.. I have not had them dry out..
Disclaimer: Small cakes don't last long enough to dry out in my house.. ;)

As always, I suggest Christina Lane as a good source.. There are other good blogs for small cakes too.. Eliminates ingredient quantity and baking time concerns.. :)

https://www.dessertfortwo.com/

Ross

Ross
 
I ordered a couple of 6 inch pans yesterday - time for some test baking.

here's my current thinking:

Cake 1:
lemon cake layers
Interior: blueberry jam
Exterior: berry scented cream cheese icing
Decoration: piled up sugar frosted fresh blue berries

Cake 2:
Chocolate stout cake layers
Interior: penuche whip between layers
exterior: Baileys laced Cream cheese icing
Decoration: ???

Cake 3:
Yellow cake layers
Milk Chocolate frosting
Chocolate curls on top

Cake 3 option b:
Coconut cake
Toasted coconut icing
Chocolate butterfly on top

I've been looking for an excuse to try this out:

blueberry cake.jpg
 
Is option 3 the one that likes caramel? If so, you could do a caramel icing (one of my fave cakes, yellow cake and caramel icing) or do a decoration with caramel, maybe a dome for the butterfly to sit on?
 
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