The journey: thinking about, designing and receiving the bespoke plant-based cake for my hubby's 40th
Making this birthday even more special
Many of us will have had two birthdays whilst we are in a lockdown or while socialising is restricted. This year would have been Suraj’s second ‘lockdown’ birthday and it was the big 4-0. Of course, none of us could foresee what we’d be ‘allowed’ to do in advance and if we had an idea, we were also aware that things might change. Even if there were no restrictions in place, I had no idea whether we’d feel comfortable or ready to meet up with many people, so I wanted to think of another way to make it special for him.
The various potential plans
I took what I knew about Suraj and came up with a plan. The plan involved:
ordering a cake that’s too big for us to consume on our own
putting a couple of entries in our joint calendar so he knew that some time had been aside for a surprise on the weekend of his birthday
the cake would arrive and Suraj to choose whether to cut it up and deliver slices to friends and family or not
if he chose to do this, I had cake boxes ready, so that transporting the cake would be easy
I started making a list of people, who I thought he might want to visit, with the understanding that he may want to modify the list
I know that he treasures meeting people both, with and without me, so I would give him the choice of visiting them alone if he preferred that
if he didn’t want to visit anyone, that would also be fine
I wanted him to be in control and decide what he wanted to do, in case I got it wrong and the above wasn’t appealing to him.
Finding the cake maker
I reached out to a few to find someone who made ‘fancy’ vegan cakes. My preference is always to support a vegan business. In this case, if it wasn’t possible, I was open to working with non-vegan companies as long as they had experience with making plant-based cakes.
I found an image of a fancy cake online and shared it with a few cake makers that were recommended, as well as, some that I found myself.
I explained that I didn’t want them to make a replica of the cake shown in the image, but something fancy. I shared what it was for and that it needed to be vegan. Some of the people I reached out to were mega busy as Mother’s Day was approaching, so they said they’d get back to me later. Others had a limited range of flavours. Based on the responses, I created a shortlist.
I discussed the job with about three people and then decided to go with The Vegan Cake Company. Why did I choose this company?
it was a fully vegan business
the owner was responsive, clear and super helpful
she spent time asking questions to ensure she had a clear understanding of what I wanted
she made suggestions
she could make cupcakes so that I could try the flavour before making a final decision
You can find The Vegan Cake Company on Facebook and Instagram.
The trial run
She was meant to deliver four cupcakes, each being the same flavour. However, she did a bit of experimenting and sent two different flavours. One was a hazelnut espresso chocolate combo and the other had praline in it.
The one with praline was super delicious. Suraj had no idea that I had ordered them as a trial run to see if he liked the flavour, before making a decision for the flavour of his surprise birthday cake. He gave them both a score of 10 but preferred the praline one, as did I, so that’s what I opted for.
Below you’ll see what their ‘regular’ flavours are.
The thinking behind the cake
We took a number of things into account when discussing the style of the cake and some of these were:
Suraj’s favourite colour
his love of Jazz
the tech that he prefers
Suraj’s must-have drink
his favourite flavour
the musician that he loves to listen to the most
The size
It was really hard to decide which cake to order. If he (or we) went to visit all the people that I had thought of, we’d need the 10-inch cake but if he didn’t want to or couldn’t, we’d end up with lots and lots of cake. Also, the way we sliced the cake up would have a big impact too.
I didn’t know what finger portions were until I started thinking about this cake! I was learning so much! It was great!
What I ordered
It was tricky and I couldn’t be sure, so I took a punt and ordered the 8-inch.
The design
Here’s the initial design. I was fully aware that the cake wouldn’t look exactly like this and was fine with it. The cake maker clearly understood what I was looking for. Therefore I knew it would be perfect.
What happened on the day?
We had already agreed the date and time for the delivery. All I can say is ‘wow’! The cake was in a sturdy box which was easy to carry but also showcased the cake really nicely. It was like a present waiting to be unwrapped.
After we removed the packaging
The Vegan Cake Company were really good at sharing tips and guidance about what to do before cutting the cake, the best way to slice it up, how to store it and so on. It was easy and fun too!
Suraj decided that he wanted us to go and visit various friends and family, so we cut the cake into finger portions, put them into the boxes that I’d ordered beforehand and went to visit loved ones with some cake in hand.
Here’s a close-up of the cake. :)
How to cut the cake
Here are some of the tips that The Vegan Cake Company shared with me.
If you’re not cutting it straight away, keep it in the fridge.
Take it out of the fridge about 15-20 mins before cutting it.
Remove all the decorations before cutting it. In our case, this included the cake topper, saxophone, espresso cup, chocolate sail and so on.
It’s worth marking the centre point to help you work out where to cut. This will also help you see how many slices you’ll get.
Use the biggest and sharpest straightedge knife.
Using a hot knife on a cold cake creates neater slices.
It’s helpful to wipe the knife between cutting each slice.
It might be helpful to warm the knife by dipping it in hot water and then wiping the water off the knife before slicing.
Expiry
The owner told me that, unless there’s fresh fruit in the cake, it would be good to eat for up to 2 weeks.
The cake can also be frozen! She shared tips about how to freeze and defrost it but I won’t get into that here.
Once the cake has been cut, if there’s more (unsliced) cake, which is going to be kept in the fridge, it’s worth pressing cling film up against the exposed sponge ie where the slices have been cut, as this stops these parts of the cake from drying out. This doesn’t need to be done on the part of the cake that’s covered in buttercream.
If you’re like me and you don’t like using disposable items, like cling film, you can keep the cake moist by storing it in an airtight container.
The decorations on the cake
As you can see from the photos, there were a number of decorations on it. They included:
the cake topper
saxophone
espresso cup filled with cake
hazelnut crunch truffles
roasted coffee beans
sheet music
chocolate hazelnut sail
an Apple watch
Apple airpods
drip
All the decorations except for the cake topper were edible
The cake: taste and texture
I’ve talked about the design but what about the taste and texture? The sponge was lovely and soft. The flavour was delicious! The buttercream was a little sweet but when it was eaten with the rest of the cake, it was perfect! The sponge itself was just right in terms of sweetness too.
Is being plant-based or vegan a hindrance?
For me, this experience proves that being plant-based is easy, full of joy and there’s no loss involved!
I’ve never ordered a cake like this before and I know that a large group of people will be surprised that something this indulgent, beautiful and plant-based can be so moist and delicious. I can’t stress enough, how amazing this cake was.
I would definitely order from The Vegan Cake Company again.
Have you ever used The Vegan Cake Company?
If you have ordered from The Vegan Cake Company before, I’d love to hear about your experience. As You can tell, I can’t praise them enough! :)
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