How to make a Peppa Pig Cake

When I attempted to tip the cake out of the cake tin on Saturday afternoon, and it didn’t just ‘slip’ out onto my wire rack I knew I was in trouble. Everyone’s recommendations of outsourcing, or buying from Woolies came crashing back to me, not helped by the fact that Harper told me, very loudly, that her Birthday cake was RUINED. So I scraped it out, let it cool down, then wrapped it up and whacked it in the fridge until Sunday morning. The Birthday girl and her sister exited stage left early with Rob to nippers so I had the place to myself. I had coffee. I had music. I had space. It was time to create Peppa.

The cake was packet. Yep! Two packets of plain vanilla. I baked them together in a rectangle (stupidly sticky) slice tin. which gave me a good blank canvas to work with. I think that freezing the cake would even make it better for the icing – but for me the overnight fridge did the trick too.

To start with, I looked online at pictures of Peppa. Not cakes, just images from the show. I got myself a piece of A3 paper and I free drew a picture. It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t to scale, but it was home-made and that’s the POINT of making a birthday cake for your kid. It’s made with love. I drew Peppa and then cut her out.

P1 P2

I then placed the cut out on the cake and started to carve the cake out around the stencil of my dodgy drawing.

P3

For the icing I used fondant. Or fucking fondant as it became known to me 30 minutes later. This is only the third time I have used this stuff – and the first time I created my own colours using white and food colouring. I just used the ones you can buy at the supermarket in the cake decorating aisle – they have plain white ones, or ones that come in 3 packs (red, yellow and black). I’m sure if you went to a cake decorating place you would be able to get any colour under the sun! I created two kinds of pink – a lighter for her face, darker for her cheeks and smile – and then red for her dress, black and white for the eyes and shoes. Yellow for a sun in the corner. I had visions of green grass in the background and blue for the sky – but time and skill stopped me from creating this. I added a drop of food colouring and then kneaded and kneaded, using icing sugar to make sure it didn’t stick.

P4 P5

I used a plain butter icing (icing sugar and butter with a dash of milk) to layer between the cake and the fondant – to help it stick and to make it taste yummy too.

P6

I then rolled out the coloured fondant in sections, laid it over the cake, pushing it down around the ears, tucking it in almost and then trimmed the excess. I did this for the face and dress then used the extra fondant to roll into long, thin sausages to make the outline that the illustrators use when drawing Peppa. I cut out the eyes and cheeks with a small scone cutter and then just free formed the rest – using left over butter icing drops to help it stick (Mum said I should have just used water). Dodgy and home-made like.

P7

When it was done I squealed and clapped my hands – even though I was alone – I was stoked with it! As I said, a little rough around the edges, but that’s the point right? I was also told that I could have created a simple sugar syrup and brushed it over to give the cake more of a shine rather than the dusty look of mine (given that I was rolling the fondant in icing sugar to keep it from sticking). Smarties make EVERYTHING better too right?

When Harper returned back, ready for her party, and I saw her little face and heard her say “You did it Mum!” it made it worth every stuck piece of fondant, every stained finger. She loved it, and so did I.

P8 P9 P10

Got any home-made cake decorating tips?

Comments

  1. Annie Maurer says

    One tip……get someone else to make it! For my daughters 21st I made a Dr Who Tardis…..with ‘fucking’ fondant icing! On the day of the party I only had to assemble and ice the cake and make some salads…..I was soooooo organised!!! That cake took me all day, I had blue fingers for a week and luckily my two girlfriends were there and they made all the salads. Of course my 21 year olds delight made it all worthwhile but still I say….buy it!! Annie M

  2. I totally recommend buying pre coloured fondant. It’s not that expensive and it’s SO much easier then colouring your own. I buy it online from a baking supply store and they post it straight to me…. et voila!

    Great effort on the Peppa. All my cakes have that handmade with love look too.

  3. Lydia Woodroff says
  4. Chelsea Sutherland says

    I had visions of green grass in the background and blue for the sky – but time and skill stopped me from creating this. <~ ahhhh the old time & skill combo gets me every time too. This looks amazing though! I would give Peppa the vote if you were still doing a cake off.

  5. Oh Beth, Harps’ reaction is the whole reason I’ve been home making kids’ cakes for 18 years now – they’re never perfect but they’re perfect in their eyes. xx

  6. Nikki Daking says

    Oh thats awesome Beth. That is SO the point home made with love. I had that argument with my husband on baby’s recent birthday. He likes to ‘outsource’ everything but I just think a birthday cake should always be homemade. I let him win and I do regret it now looking at photos of the cake. Feel so guilty for not making it myself. Will never ever have a outsourced birthday cake again!

  7. The cutest cake! I’d love one for my birthday. Made with love, tastes so much better than Woolieworths bought!

  8. Reannon Hope says

    As stressful as making these novelty cakes can be my advice is enjoy it while it lasts! For the past two years both my big boys have said no to these types of cakes. I understand my eldest cause he’s a teenager now but this year he BROKE MY HEART buy saying NO CAKE AT ALL! No cake! I nearly cried as he was 13 this year & to me it was a huge ginormous milestone in all our lives. To him, it was nothing. When I begged to make him a cake, even just a plain old boring one, he said “I don’t want a cake OK! You just want me to have a cake so you can eat it.” Fair point but he still broke my heart. The 10 year old has for the last 2 year wanted a Freddo Frog ice cream cake. I blame his father for this who has asked for the old school Neapolitan ice cream cake for the past 14 years. This does not please me. But I have Blake now & in 6 months time he will be one& I will be bake in the novelty cake zone- I’m excited 🙂
    Also I have been told by friends who make cakes for a living that mudcakes are the easiest to work with- smother, less crumbly, easier to cut.

  9. Gibbergunyah says

    I made the Women’s Weekly fire engine for my eldest’s 2nd birthday last year. The baby was only 3 months at the time. It involved tinting fondant grey and black, and of course LOTS of red buttercream icing. He LOVED it and talked about it for the next 12 months. I, of course, had black fingers with red nails for the week after.

  10. Janelle Spear says

    Great job. I love making cakes and am looking into starting a business. A tip when adding fondant pieces to the main cake, just brush a little water on the piece and it will stick to the fondant. It is very stressful. I made the attached cake for a friends 40th. Stress city, but she loved it!! My boys are 10 and 13 and are always thinking of different cakes I can make them!! Enjoy!

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      Wowsers!! Looks fabulous Janelle! Mum told me that tip re: sticking the fondant down AFTER I had finished. Next time!

  11. Lisa Mckenzie says

    It is amazing Beth you did a wonderful job,you deserve a medal for this cake I love it and I am glad Harper did too.I love it,you are good at Craft see!
    On a different note I just got my Benift gimme brows and it is awesome it really is better than brow powder it is the BUISNESS as you would say,Thankyou for Blogging about it xxx

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      Oh I’m glad you like it Lisa…I love that stuff! Got some more yesterday when I was at the Benefit Brow Bar!!

  12. Amazing job 🙂

  13. Oh Beth! So clever, love the description of Harp’s face.

  14. Oh Beth, she is beeeeutiful, but I’ll give you the secret to fondant… Corn flour, not icing sugar, that just makes it more sticky! A very fine dusting (wrap in a nappy liner and tie with a rubber band) and use to make a very fine hosting on your bench before kneading and voila! It will make it much easier xoxo

  15. Well done Beth!! No wonder Harper loved it, it’s exactly like Peppa!
    I agree with one of the other Ladies – corn flour, just a little, not icing sugar. Butter cream and Fondant can hide a multitude of cake errors too, that’s part of the fun.

  16. Margaret Elvis says

    Honestly, you are brilliant!!

  17. brilliant beth! she’s totally perfect. yes, your mum is right, water is your best friend and worst enemy when using fondant – a little goes a long way – and also instead of using icing sugar when rolling and working in colour, use cornflour. my mum used to be an avid baker and that was always her trick of the trade when using fondant. x

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      I’m onto it now…the icing sugar just made everything stickier! Perhaps I should have googled such matters before throwing myself into it!

  18. Margaret Elvis says

    Harper’s opinion was all that really mattered. xx

  19. ahoy.jenni says

    Beautiful Peppa! I would pay you for a cake like that!

  20. I think this cake looks amazing. I am making a pepper cake for my grand daughter ( Harper) when I saw this one I knew it was the one. Thank you for your honesty, your description of the fondant made our whole house laugh.

  21. Hey Beth, I am just about to make a Peppa Pig cake for my 5 year old, did a google search and came across your post! Your cake looked lovely…. I have just put the slab in the oven and so the journey to Peppa Pig begins. Thanks for the ideas!

Trackbacks

  1. […] 1st number 1 cake Harper’s 2nd Rainbow cake Harper’s 3rd tiger cake made by me Harper’s 4th Peppa Pig cake made by me Harper’s 5th gymnastics cake made by […]

  2. […] (THANKS ROB) versus my Princess castle Harper’s 3rd Tiger cake Daisy’s 4th Pig Cake Harper’s 4th Peppa Pig Cake Daisy’s 5th love heart cake Harper’s 5th Gymnastics cake Daisy’s 6th Pussy cat […]

Leave a Reply to jess Cancel reply

*