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Here are 10 ideas for birthday cakes that everyone will love
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Whatever age you're celebrating, number cakes feel personal and they're very easy to make by cutting out the number twice
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which you can do using a sheet cake or rectangular cake. Chilling the cake in the fridge before cutting it will make it less crumbly
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and less likely to break when you move it. The reason for cutting out two of the number
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is so that you can layer them with filling in between, which could be piped buttercream like this in any flavour or colour
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You can decorate the top of the cake with piping too, and add candies or chocolates, or frost the cake and cover it with sprinkles
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or choose a theme, like these ones. And of course, if age is a sensitive issue
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you can make light of it with a humorous 21st birthday cake. With a few chocolate chips, you can make your own birthday cake toppers
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melting the chocolate in the microwave at 80% power for 30 seconds at a time
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so it doesn't overheat and seize. and then use a sandwich bag to pipe the chocolate into whatever shape you like
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A number, happy birthday, or I'm writing yay for this one. Use parchment paper or wax paper or baking paper so the chocolate doesn't stick
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and push toothpicks or paper straws into the chocolate before it sets
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which you'll poke into the cake to stand it upright later. You can pour sprinkles over the top to make it colourful
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and when the chocolate sets, after about 10 minutes in the freezer, pick the top up and push the toothpicks down into a frown
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crusted cake. Tadda! For a small celebration, make a mini cake, which is the perfect size to enjoy with a partner
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I used four inch pans for these layers or you can use a round cookie cutter or the rim of a round glass to cut circles out of a larger cake and use those as your layers There are lots of tricks to frosting mini cakes and I share all of those in my tutorial on how to frost a mini cake
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and the link for that is in the video description. You can cut these just like a full-size cake, or dig straight into them with a fork
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This is my small batch chocolate cake, and the recipe is on British Girl Bakes.com
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Turn any cake into a birthday cake by simply writing happy birthday on it
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You'll need a small round piping tip, like a number three, with a piping bag
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and you can pipe straight lines, which I find the trickiest because my hands are so shaky
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or lots of little dots to form the letters of the words. And you can do this on top of the cake, or for tall cakes you might have more space on the sides of the cake
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For cursive writing, the top of the cake is definitely easier, and I suggest writing or printing your message first
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so that you can hold it beside your cake as you pipe the letters to make sure that they're all the right size
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and that the spacing is right so that the whole message will fit, centered, on the cake
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If you're not confident piping a message onto a cake, you can buy letter embossers that you push into frosting
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to leave an imprint of the message. Then you can paint the letters with metallic paints
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to make them stand out. These are sweet stamp letters and I'll put my discount code in the video description
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If you don't have enough celebrations in your year, add a half-birthday to them
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Half-burtly cakes are easy to make by cutting round cakes in half
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and layering them to make a semi-circular cake, and then you can frost and decorate them however you like
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Cartoon cakes are fun and trendy at the moment, and the idea is to make all of the details on your cake flat and then give them a thin black outline breaking the line occasionally to give it a cartoon effect When the cake is finished it will look superimposed like it been drawn onto your background
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For children's birthdays, or really at any age, you can create a character on your cake using homemade stencils
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Print out your character and trace the details of each colour onto a different piece of parchment paper or wax paper
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and cut the details out to leave the surrounding paper intact. You'll use these as stencils on your cake
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The frosting on your cake needs to be cold and firm to do this, so put the cake in the fridge for at least an hour before you start
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and after each colour you stencil onto the cake, put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes
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or the freezer for 15 minutes, to set that colour before placing the next stencil on top
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and that way you won't damage any of the details you stenciled on. You can add small details, like facial expressions
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by piping them on at the end. This is such a simple and effective and affordable way to create any character you like on a cake
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If you don't have any cake tools at all, you can still make a cake with super smooth frosting by using just a plate, a ruler, and the wheel from your microwave
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Watch my tutorial on how to make a cake with no tools to see how. If you have no time to bake a cake, do a cake makeover by jazzing up a cake from a grocery store or supermarket
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scrape off any of the decorations you don't like, and if you want the cake to be taller
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you can stack them on top of each other, using a straw or dowel through the middle to keep it
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standing straight, so it doesn't lean. You can scrape off the frosting and re-frost it
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if you like, and add your own decorations, like this easy chocolate wrap or chocolate collar
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The trick here is to put the cake in the fridge for an hour to set the chocolate before you peel off the parchment paper or wax paper or baking paper Offer two flavours with just one cake which is great for joint birthday celebrations
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Cut your cake layers in half and attach two halves, one of each flavour
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by piping or spreading buttercream down the middle. Add different fillings and use different flavoured frostings as well
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covering up one half of the cake at a time with parchment paper so that you keep each flavour on just one half
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Remember to do a crumb coat so that you don't get any crumbs in your final coat of frosting
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Use the leftover frosting of both flavors to pipe swells down the middle
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to cover up the join between the two flavors and you have a unique cake with two flavors for everyone to choose between
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or of course they can try both. Just because you're traveling somewhere for a birthday doesn't mean you can't take a cake with you
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Bake and assemble your cake at home on a piece of plastic wrap and then wrap it up and put it into the pan you baked it in
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You might need another pan on top if it's a tall cake, and fill any space in the top pan with a piping bag or frosting
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and if necessary, a kitchen towel so that nothing moves around within the pans
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Put this into the freezer for up to two months until you travel, and then put it into a cool box with an ice pack so that the cake and frosting soar gradually while you travel
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I've taken cakes like this on airplanes and cars across the country. At your destination, take the cake out of the pans and put it on a plate
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and add any details you like using your piping bag. Push in a candle and you have a very well-traveled birthday cake
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I hope you've seen some ideas you'd like to try. For more cake decorating techniques and designs
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visit my cake school on Britishgirlbakes.com. Thanks for watching