Animal Crossing: Wild World - Birthday Cake

Animal Crossing: Wild World holds a bit of a special place in my heart; it was the game I got with my Nintendo DS (after I traded in Metroid Prime: Echoes due to stupid frequency of respawning enemies - the only game I‘ve ever traded in to date) and I played it constantly for several months after I first moved to London while I was waiting for my Xbox to join me. I’d spend many nights lying awake in bed waiting for it to rain at a precise time so I could catch that missing bug or fish or charm my exotic neighbour for some rare item of furniture. Never seemed able to save enough Bells to reap to benefits of a bank account though; far too many tempting accessories. But a treat comes on you birthday, a reward for all your hard work almost - a wonderful birthday cake that gives you visible feelings of delight when you eat it! So since it’s my birthday on Friday, I thought I’d give myself an excuse to eat some pre-birthday cake and share it with you. But not really. It’s all mine. None for you.

This recipe serves 8-10.

What you will need:

2 mixing bowls, hand whisk, a sieve, three 8-inch cake tins, baking paper and an icing bag/pipe.

For the Cake:

4 Eggs (Separated and  at room temperature)

4 Teaspoons Baking Powder

400g Plain Flour

½ Teaspoon Salt

227g Butter (at room temperature)

450g Caster Sugar

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

200ml Milk

¼ Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

For the Pink Coconut Icing:

500g Cream Cheese

200g Butter

50ml Natural Yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

270g Icing Sugar (approx.)

Few Drops Red Food Colouring

To Garnish:

6 Strawberries

2 Tablespoons of Coconut Flakes

4 Green Candles

Preparing the Cake:

1. Grease your 3 cake pans and line them with baking paper, preheat the oven to 175C.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat together the butter and 350g of the sugar until it is pale and fluffy.
3. Add the 4 egg yolks one at a time, then add the vanilla extract.
4. Slowly sift in the flour, baking powder and salt , mix, and then slowly add the milk.
5. In a separate bowl add the egg whites and whisk them until fluffy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to whisk until peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 100g of sugar until the peaks stiffen.
6. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake mixture.
7. Pour the mixture evenly among the 3 prepared cake tins then bake in the oven for around 25 minutes.
8. Once cooked, leave to cool and then store in the fridge while you prepare the frosting.

Making the Pink Icing:

1. Beat the butter in a bowl until light, then add the natural yoghurt and vanilla.
2. Gently stir in the cream cheese, being careful not to over mix as this will thin the frosting making it runny.
3. Gradually add the icing sugar bit by bit, adding more as you need it - to thicken or sweeten the icing.
4. Add the red food colouring, then put the icing in the fridge to chill.

Constructing the Cake:

1. If needed, even out your cake layers carefully so they’re as flat and smooth as possible.
2. Ice the bottom layer, being careful not to go over the edges, place the next layer on top and continue the process until you have a stack of 3 cake layers.
3. Set aside about 3 tablespoons of icing and cover the cake in the remaining icing - this does not have to be neat.
4. Imagining the top of the cake as a clock, place the strawberries (with their stalks trimmed), pointed end up at 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.
5. Put the last bits of icing into an icing bag/pipe, using a large nozzle, pipe drops of icing between each of the strawberries around the cake.
6. Garnish with the green candles and a sprinkling of coconut.

Yum, yum, yum. What a glorious birthday treat for myself! My mom can’t bake and I can’t exactly pick cakes up in stores so having something to eat in celebration of my birthday is very rare! The sponge in this cake is heavenly. It’s sticky and sweet and moist but yet light and tastes of creamy vanilla - it’s like the ultimate birthday cake recipe. The icing however makes it a little heavy, I would probably swap it for something else next time, but I guess it’s normal for most people to only eat one piece of cake at a time, unlike my usual 2 or 3. I don’t know what gifts I’m getting this year though, so I guess I should take my golden slingshot outside and wait for a parcel on a balloon to float by…

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