My oldest daughter dances through life. In fact she danced before she could even walk. She has danced through the grocery store, at the library and even just down the street. You name it, she has tried dancing there, without even noticing she was doing so.

Yet I still remember her first time on stage. It was the first and only time she has ever forgotten to dance. She froze – and then burst into tears and ran off the stage (elephant ears and all). Not a single dance step and boy were we shocked and so was she (she cried and cried and cried). I went back stage and tried to comfort her and yet she wouldn’t leave, our little trouper insisted on going back on stage, sobbing the whole way, for the final bow. Sweet little girl, we had no choice but to cry with her, for she pushed through, full of sheer determination and bravery. At four years she was already made of such determination and for that I was so, so proud of her. After, we all went home and had her favourite cake. Her spirits were lifted and a tradition was born.

And A Tradition Was Born

I thought she would never set foot on stage again and that would be that. But the following morning she woke up and announced, ‘next time I will know what it is like and won’t be so nervous!’ And here we are five years later and celebrating her sixth show on stage. Now she performs back to back, both closing and opening the shows with her class. And every time I swear my heart is going to burst from her bravery and guts. And now, for the sixth year in a row, we have all returned home and celebrated with cake.

But now our youngest will not let her older sister do anything that she is not determined to try as well. So last year was her second year on stage and apparently, now at four, her turn to get frightened and teary (going on stage in a dark theatre in front of 600 people is no small feat, no matter how excited you are). But this time everyone knew her big sister was back stage and went and fetched her. We knew nothing of it of course from the audience, until after, but she gave her little sister a snack, wiped her tears and washed her face so it would not be red on stage. Then she took her by the hand and walked her up to the stage herself and stood watching from the wings where she could see her, waving, smiling and cheering her on the whole time!

Well be still my heart. I still get teary just writing about it! So let me tell you there is not a cake big enough to celebrate that kind of sisterly love or to even start to describe how incredibly proud and touched I was to be a parent to such wonderful little humans. Boy were we celebrating our girls, and each of their amazing traits, when we came home to this cake. Tears or no tears, dancing or no dancing, what they did taking care of and supporting each other, is what celebrating (and life) is all about!

So, lets bring on the cake!!!

Now this bird nest topped, robins egg speckled cake has a bit of a surprise inside too. Taking on a rainbow look with each of the 4 layers being its own colour.

 

Speckled Birds Nest Cake with Colourful Layers

To achieve this, start with your favourite white cake base. Colouring the batter for each layer works best with a unfussy recipe that won’t be adversely affected by the added mixing of each gel colour. I made my own vanilla custard/pudding recipe for between the layers, but a boxed vanilla pudding mix or custard mix would also work, as would a double batch of frosting. The bird’s nest is made from raw bean thread noodles, that I stretched and manipulated into a nest like shape and then added little chocolate mini eggs for the bird’s eggs.

 

Step 1:

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut and line the base of four 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pans. Set aside.

Step 2:

Combine the cake mix (rainbow chip in this case – it was a celebration after all), flour, sugar and salt in a stand mixer. Add the water, vegetable oil, vanilla, sour cream and egg whites into the mixer. Beat until smooth and combined.

Step 3:

Separate the batter into four equal parts in bowls.

Step 4:

Using Wilton Gel Colours, I dyed each batter in the desired hue.

 

 

Step 5:

Pour each colour of batter into the prepared pans. This amount of batter will result in thin cake layers, that do not need to be sliced in half.

Step 6:

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Step 7:

Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove from pans and allow to cool completely on cooling racks. If making the cake layers ahead of time, wrap well in plastic wrap, once completely cooled.

Step 8:

Make the custard (for the filling between the layers) with the recipe that follows (and uses the four leftover egg yolks). Or alternately use a boxed vanilla pudding mix.

Step 9:

Make the frosting. Recipe to follow. Tint to the desired hue. I was going for a robin’s egg blue, so I added very little blue at a time until I got the colour I wanted.

Step 10:

Cut a half inch off the tip of a disposable piping bag and fill half way with frosting. Set aside.

Step 11:

Put a 10″ cake circle (or cut your own out of cardboard and cover with tinfoil) onto a cake turnable (your second best friend in cake decorating after a 9″ straight cake spatula and disposable piping bags). Place the first layer on the centre of the cake round.

Step 12:

Using the frosting in the bag, pipe a round ‘dam’ around the outside edge of the first cake layer (to hold the custard filling in).

Step 13:

Put 1/3 of the custard/vanilla pudding in the centre of the cake and carefully smooth out evenly.

Step 14:

Carefully place the next cake layer on top and repeat the frosting dam and vanilla filling. Then repeat again for the third layer.

 

 

 

 

Step 15:

Place final layer on the top of the cake. Using the piping bag, fill in the space between layers with frosting (love your turnable for making this so easy).

Step 16:

Frost the cake and using a flat spatula smooth out the icing.

 

Step 17:

Cover the area around and behind the cake with newspaper (because the next step is messy). I taped mine up to the cupboards to aid in cleaning up.

Step 18:

Combine equal parts cocoa powder and vanilla extract. I started with teaspoon of each and added more vanilla until the consistency of ‘paint.’

Step 19:

Using a clean kitchen brush, wet the brush in the chocolate paint. Holding the brush handle in one hand pull the bristles back with the other and let go, allowing the paint  flick or splatter onto the cake. Continue until you get even coverage over the entire cake.

Step 20:

To make the birds nest cake topper I took vermicelli bean thread noodles that come pre-portioned and manipulated it with my hands to get the nest shape.

Step 21:

Fill the nest with chocolate filled eggs. I used Cadbury mini eggs in blue and green.

And you are done – and ready to celebrate the amazing humans in your life!

 

My Favourite Souped-Up Vanilla  Cake Mix Recipe:

 

1 box white cake mix

1 Cup All-Purpose flour

1 Cup White Sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 Cups Water

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Cup Sour Cream

4 Large Egg Whites

1/4 teaspoon each (aprox) Wilton Gel Colours in purple, yellow, turquoise and pink

 

Directions:

Combine the cake mix, flour, sugar and salt in stand mixer. Add the water, vegetable oil, vanilla, sour cream and egg whites to the mixer and beat until smooth and well combined. Divide and separate batter into four equal portions and mix one gel colour into each portion of batter. Pour into 4 greased and floured 8-inch cake pans lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool ten minutes in the pans and then remove and allow to cool completely on cooling racks.

 

Vanilla Custard (Vanilla Pudding):

 

2/3 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 Cups Milk

4 Large Egg Yolks

2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla

 

Directions:

Place a fine mesh sieve over bowl and put aside. Whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a medium saucepan. Gradually add a few tablespoons of milk at a time, whisking carefully to make sure the cornstarch completely dissolves. Whisk in egg yolks.

Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the first large bubble forms. Reduce heat to low and cook 1 more minute, whisking the whole time. Remove from heat and pour thru the sieve ( to remove any lumps) into the bowl. Stir in butter and vanilla.

Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding (or the pudding will get a skin) and chill completely. Preferably for 3 hours and up to 3 days.

The original recipe can be found here.

 

 

Frosting:

 

2 Cups Vegetable Shortening

2 teaspoons Vanilla

A scant 1/2 Cup of Water (or milk)

8 Cups (approx) Powdered Sugar

A Pinch of Salt

Wilton Gel Colours in Blue

 

 

Directions:

In a stand mixer beat shortening, vanilla, water(or milk) and a pinch of salt until combined. Add powdered sugar a cup of a time, mixing on low until incorporated and then on medium until desired consistency is reached. Add gel colouring with a tooth pick a little at a time. Mixing after each addition until desired hue is reached. Cover if not using right away.

 

Nest:

Vermicelli Bean Thread Starch Noodles (Rooster Brand)

Blue and Green Cadbury Mini Eggs