ICED DELIGHTS (kids’ birthday cakes)

Big Sis doesn’t have the best time of year for a birthday – smack bang in the middle of summer when everyone’s on holiday – but this year was particularly ill-timed as it fell on the same day as her great-grandad’s 80th birthday party.

We made the decision to postpone the big day for a couple of weeks, and have a combined celebration with Lil Sis, who’s turning four mid-September. It made logical sense, and Big Sis wasn’t really bothered, but it just felt a bit wrong not to acknowledge that day six years ago when OH and I became parents for the very first time (naaaaaaaaw!).

So it was perfect timing when an email pinged in my inbox from CAKES BY ROBIN. They’re a Wimbledon-based company that creates the most UH-MAZING kids’ birthday cakes in pretty much design you could imagine, and they were inviting us one of their deliciously delectable bespoke designs. Erm, yes please!

I simply mentioned a few of Big Sis’s favourite characters (Frozen, Peppa Pig and Toy Story) and left professional cake designer Robin Campbell to weave her sugary magic. Which she absolutely did. I mean, have you seen the photo above?! It’s  jaw-droppingly good. Which is exactly the reaction we got from Big Sis when she saw it: first she stared, then her mouth fell open, then she literally started screaming with excitement.

It seemed such a shame to actually eat such an amazing work of art. But we did. And it was good. REALLY good. Just as much care and skill had been paid to the cake itself – layers of sponge, filled with creamy chocolate ganache. Even the icing was better than I’d ever tasted before – it wasn’t just the usual bland fondant, this had a rich, almost nutty, taste to it. Delicious!

A huge thank you to Robin and her team for giving Big Sis such a special cake for her semi-birthday – although I now have impossibly big cake-making shoes to fill next year.

PS: if you want to try one yourself, they custom-bake designs for all occasions.