Dr Oetker Shimmer Spray and a very easy way to decorate a Birthday Cake

In the run up to Christmas I took part in what may have been my first twitter party (I can’t remember), hosted by Maison Cupcake in conjunction with Dr Oetker, and was delighted to receive by post within days, a parcel of treats to use in my baking.

Having spent my late teens in Germany, I am more familiar with the pronunciation of Oetker than most, and used the infamous Backin powder almost every day. Some of the treats I received were new to me though, the Shimmer Spray being a case in point. I mean- spray painting a cake? Really? So it sat and it sat, along with the soft gold pearls (because those things are never edible either. They break your teeth. Judge a book by the cover? Why, yes, I will thank you.)

Until, that is, it came to Dimples’ birthday. Which is when I thought it was high time they earned the space they have been taking up in my baking box (not a euphemism) and came up with a plan so cunning that it could have come straight from a Blackadder script. OK, maybe not, since it all ended rather well, but you never know exactly do you?

There was a plan for a big Rainbow Birthday Party the day after her birthday, but you cannot have an actual birthday without cake. So I made the only kind of cake that really matters to Dimples: a chocolate one. And then I cut out a number ‘2’ stencil from a leftover cereal box and rested it on the top of the cake. One good belt with the Gold Spray and I had a seriously cool cake. Such a shame I couldn’t find the birthday candle stash I have somewhere and ended up using some scented candles.

 

So when, mere days later, it was Granny’s turn for a special cake, I turned to the impressive gold shimmer spray paint. Another chocolate cake, this time welded together by a layer of chestnut puree and smothered in molten Betty Crocker (trust me- it gives a top finish.) Once sprayed the colour of an Oscar, I used the white icing from my gift-pack to write a large number across the middle, and dots around the edges. Then it was time for the genuinely soft, soft-pearls, which I used to stud the icing. Perfect.