Surprise Inside Cakes

My sister is a cake boss. She constructs amazing theme cakes for her boys -and neighbours, and friends- coated with marshmallow fondant in crazy intricate shapes and designs. And so I knew she’d appreciate this new book – the source of one of her latest hits – this adorable pink bunny cake, which as you can imagine was the center of attention at our Easter brunch.

Amanda Rettke, uber-popular blogger at I Am Baker, recently released a fab new book called Surprise-Inside Cakes – filled with recipes and techniques to make stunning cakes, each with something special inside. You can imagine how popular these are with kids – who knows what’s inside until you cut into it? And once cut, everyone gets the same pattern in their slice – no arguing over the icing roses!

The first one I saw was her all-white cake with the brilliant red velvet heart baked inside – I’ve since seen her rainbow heart cake (on the cover, below) – but in the book there are so many more, from hearts to bunnies to balloons, all gorgeous and unique. The step-by-step instructions make it simple – or at least doable – for those who don’t have a whole lot of kitchen confidence. The patterns are made with a mixture of crumbled cake, icing and food colouring similar to the inside of a cake pop – a combination that’s mouldable enough to engineer patterns within the layers that produce faces, shapes and other images. It’s the next wave in kids’ birthday cakes, I predict – and I’m sure I’ll be borrowing her book back… or perhaps picking up my own copy. I think I may even request one for my own birthday…