Fun on the farm baking

Bring the fun of the farm indoors – without the muck (and with better smells) – with some delicious farm-themed bakes. Thanks to our fab range of themed cake tins, moulds, icing cutters and cupcake cases, any little fans of the farm can have an amazing birthday bash surrounded by all their favourite animals and tractors, all in sweetly snackable form. Whether you want to make a celebration cake to remember or simple cupcakes, we have all the inspiration you need here.

 

Tasty tractor treats

If your little one is obsessed with tractors, look no further for birthday cake inspiration. If you’re making a large cake, our Tractor Icing Cutter makes it easy to create a tractor and trailer any farmer would be proud to work with. Simply roll out fondant icing in your chosen colours, stamp out your shapes and assemble on your cake – easy. You could either stick your tractor on the top of your cake, using green fondant icing for grass and blue for the sky to create a farm scene, or, on taller cakes, stick them around the side of your cake. You can get as creative as you want. Alternatively, you could use grated milk chocolate on top of your cake to look like mud – and if there’s any left over, it’d be rude to let it go to waste…

For a quick win, you can simply pop our Tractor Candle on top of your cake – it’ll look great as part of a countryside scene, or even just on its own. And these lovely tractor cupcake cases are perfect for livening up simple cupcakes.

 

Old MacDonald had a farm

Until we ate it, that is… and who can blame us when it was made of delicious cake? And you can make your own munchable farmyard too with the help of our fab 3D Farmyard Silicone Cake Mould.

It’s so easy to use, turning out intricate designs that are sure to impress friends and family – and there’s no fiddly cake-carving to do either (but you can always tell people there was). Simply fill the mould shapes with cake batter, bake in the oven, leave to cool and decorate. Made from flexible silicone, they come out of the mould with ease. You can either decorate with different colours of piped icing or fondant icing.

Making and decorating your cake farm makes for a great rainy day activity with the kids. Or, you could have the little ones decorate them as a birthday party activity – the finished result can be their gift to take away.

Fridge and freezer safe, you can also make jellies or ice cream in the mould – a dessert that’s sure to be a hit at any child’s birthday party.

 

To top it off…

Why not have a go at making these adorable animal cake toppers? With our Farmyard Faces Silicone Mould, it couldn’t be easier to make these professional looking toppers yourself. Using firm fondant, modelling paste or marzipan, simply dust the mould lightly with cornflour before you begin, then push your paste into place, being careful not to overfill the mould. Once you’ve scraped away any excess, press on the back of the mould and flex to release perfectly shaped designs with incredibly defined detail. You can pop them atop a swirl of buttercream on cupcakes like we have, or place them on top of a larger celebration cake.

Whichever farmyard treat you decide to make, you’ll need a good sponge recipe for your base. Just in case you don’t have your own go-to favourite, we thought we’d provide you with ours. We’re nice like that. This recipe will make two 20cm sponges – you’ll need to adjust the ingredient amounts depending on what you’re making – a celebration cake, a batch of cupcakes, or if you’re using our 3D moulds.

• A little melted butter or vegetable oil, for greasing
• 125g butter, cut into pieces
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125g self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp milk

1. Put the butter into a large mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer until soft. (Ideally the butter should be at room temperature so that it creams easily). Add the caster sugar and beat with the wooden spoon or electric mixer until the mixture is very pale in colour and light in texture.
2. Beat the eggs together in a jug, then add them to the creamed mixture a little at a time, beating well between each addition. If the mixture looks like it’s about to curdle, add a teaspoon of the flour when you add the beaten egg – although don’t worry, as curdling won’t affect the end result. Beat in the vanilla extract.
3. Sift the flour and salt into the bowl. Now use a large metal spoon to cut and fold the flour into the mixture. Do this as lightly as possible – the trick is to avoid bashing out the air you’ve so carefully beaten into the mixture, so don’t use a wooden spoon or your electric mixer at this stage. Gently stir in the milk.

And your cake mix is ready to transform into the delicious farmyard creation of your choice. Of course, you don’t have to stick with plain sponge, you can make chocolate, lemon – whatever the lucky recipient likes.