Last weekend, we finally celebrated Summer's birthday with her friends at her long-waited art-themed party. Since she absolutely loves drawing, painting and anything creative, I knew I wanted the cake and macarons to reflect her bright and colourful personality.
I spent a couple of days planning and baking everything myself, from the birthday cake to multiple batches of macarons. It was definitely one of the memorable baking projects I have taken on in a while, but seeing everything come together on the party table made it so worth it.
The birthday cake was designed around the party's art theme. I wanted it to look playful and creative, almost like an artist's canvas covered in colourful paint strokes. The bottom tier was decorated with textured Swiss meringue buttercream in bright rainbow colours, while the top tier was kept softer and more elegant with pink buttercream and fresh edible flowers.
Inside, the cake was just as special. I used alternating layers of vanilla and chocolate sponge, filled with whipped chocolate ganache and strawberry yoghurt mousse. The combination was light, creamy and not overly sweet, which balanced beautifully with the richness of the buttercream.
One of my favourite moments was finally cutting into the cake and seeing all the layers inside after spending so much time assembling and decorating it.
Alongside the cake, I made a large tower of rainbow-coloured macarons which quickly became one of the highlights of the dessert table.
I made them in a variety of pastel shades and filled them with different flavours including berry ganache, chocolate ganache, vanilla ganache, and cookies and cream buttercream. I love making mixed-flavour macaron batches because everyone always find a favourite.
Seeing the colourful macarons staked together next to the birthday cake made the whole table feel even more festive and joyful.
For the birthday favours, I wanted to create something a little more playful and unique for the children. I made rainbow-shaped macarons sitting on top of giant white macaron bases, finished with rainbow-coloured Swiss meringue buttercream and raspberry jam fillings.
They were probably the most-time consuming part of the entire bake because every little rainbow and cloud had to be piped separately, assembled carefully and matched together. But honestly, they were all the most fun to make.
I loved how cheerful they looked once finished, almost like tiny edible decorations from a storybook.
Baking for children's birthday parties is never the easiest option. There are always late nights, kitchen messes and moments when you wonder why you decided to do everything yourself. But then you see the excitement on their faces and suddenly every bit of effort feels worthwhile.
Watching Summer proudly show her cake to her friends and seeing the children so excited about the macarons made me incredibly happy. These are the little moments I want my children to remember - homemade celebrations filled with colour, creativity and love.
