5 Years Old with Peppa Pig

 

Today we had the pleasure of celebrating my niece's 5th birthday and of course, her favourite cartoon, Peppa Pig, was on hand to help us - splashing around in her muddy puddles on top of her cake!

Thankfully there were no muddy puddles for us as the weather was amazing. Kind of unusual for our family because everytime we organise anything remotely outside, it rains buckets. We will never forget my niece's 1st birthday - it blew a gale of tornado proportions, ruining all the cute decorations my sister had spent weeks searching out.

My sister and brother-in-law did an amazing job of creating a really fun day for the kids today though, with cake, lolly bags and pass the parcel. And the adults were happy because it was held at our favourite local pub! This pub isn't your average one though. There's a huge area for the kids, well away from the bar area, with a jumping castle and face painting - all free of charge.

But back to the cake - it's made of my go-to Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, thanks to the Women's Weekly recipe below. We made the 2 cakes and sandwiched them with the icing, half of which was coloured green for the grass. Peppa and her friends jump in their muddy puddles made of chocolate flavoured fondant icing, surrounded by sugar flowers.

If you're looking for a really tasty banana cake with a great texture for decorating, you can't go past this one. Try it out and let me know how you go!

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

(makes 1 deep cake with icing for the top - double it to make the tall one above)

Ingredients

125g softened butter
3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup (120g) sour cream
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
125g cream cheese
250g icing sugar

Instructions

1. Grease a deep 20cm round tin with baking paper.
2. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.
4. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients.
5. Transfer into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes (Give it a few extra minutes if you are going to layer two cakes).
6. Make the icing by beating the cream cheese with a hand or standing mixer until it is smooth, then gradually add the icing sugar. Place it into the fridge to harden slightly while the cakes cool. If it is difficult to spread, add a splash of milk and beat again with a mixer.