Nate’s half birthday was August 23rd – and of course we had to celebrate! A gluten-free cake was in order – and not just any gluten-free cake recipe but a buggy half birthday cake.
I loved every minute I spent making this cake! The little bugs made me giggle and the grass border put a smile on my face.
The recipe for the cake was from my book – yep, my gluten-free Chocolate Teff Cake again. Teff is one of my favorite flours and this particular recipe works so well for layered cakes. I didn’t have time to develop a new cake recipe and gosh, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel when you have something that preforms well.
The frosting is agave buttercream. Yes, lots of butter. The recipe is almost ready to share. I just have a few more tweaks to make.
The bugs – they’re gluten-free, made from Wilton Candy Melts. Not sugar-free at all. The only sugar-free white candy I could find was made with malitol. I didn’t plan on eating the chocolate candy anyway so it didn’t matter to me at all. And, you’ve got to admit – those bugs are cute!
Note: It’s not real chocolate, which makes it so much easier because there is no tempering involved.
Let’s talk food coloring – normally I use all-natural India Tree Decorating Colors. The issue with using them on a cake like this is that they’re liquid which makes the frosting too soft to hold any precise detail. It’s true of all buttercream and food coloring. You need to use gel colors or candy colors.
Here’s How I Made The Cake
1.Make your bugs. Draw your bugs on a piece of paper. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on top of the drawings. Use melted dark chocolate candy coating to trace the bugs using a parchment cone with a very small opening or a Wiltion tip #00. Fill in with melted colored candy coating. Make sure your bugs are at least 1/8 of an inch thick so they don’t break. Let set until solid. Store in an airtight container until you’re ready to use them.
They can be made several weeks in advance. Make sure to make more bugs than you plan on using. Some will break. I used bugs from The Whimsical Bakehouse. In fact. the inspiration for this entire cake came from their techniques. If you like to decorate cakes, check out this book. I love it!
2. Bake a gluten-free cake – I used an 8″ round pan.
3. Cool the cake. Level the layers and cut the cake in half.
4. Fill the center of the cake. Make sure to pipe frosting around the edge of the cake before filling it. Otherwise the top can slide right off. I filled the cake with fresh blackberries.
5. Ice the cake. I used candy colors to get the great blue color. You can use gel colors, too, but sometimes they don’t dissolve completely.
6. Color the grass border. I chose a dark green, medium green, and light green. Pipe the grass border. I used Wilton tip #101. Start with the darkest color and then pipe the lighter colors. Fill in with darker colors to add interest as needed.
7. Pipe your message on top of the cake. I used Wilton tip #1.
8. Chill the cake before proceeding.
10. Attach the bugs to the cake using buttercream. Viola! You’ve got one gorgeous cake!
My Starry Night gluten-free cake tutorial has more information about making a two-layer cake.
Much love,
Amy
Laurel
posted on September 20, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Gorgeous and adorable cake! I love the idea of birthday cakes every 6 months
Where do you get your teff flour? Or, should I say, where do you get reasonably-priced teff flour? It seems very spendy compared to other flours. Thanks!
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Amy Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:49 am
@Laurel, try iHerb.com – you can get $5 off your first order with coupon code SIR086
Or…go to my Ingredient & Resource page for a list of where I get all my on-line products. And, teff flour is a little more expensive than the others. It’s worth it though. It’s so nutrient dense.
http://simplysugarandglutenfree.com/resources/
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Zoe
posted on September 20, 2012 at 1:04 pm
That is so cute! Such a cute cake, for such a cute little boy.
Happy half birthday, Nate! The frosting looks professional, Amy! Well done. If you hadn’t said, I’d have thought you got it from a store.
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Amy Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:48 am
@Zoe, You’re sweet! Someday I would love to make cakes for a living. For now, I’m happy raising Nate and playing in the kitchen when I can.
xoxo!!
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Trish @ MyBigFatBundt
posted on September 20, 2012 at 1:12 pm
The bugs are super cute. I love Wilton’s candy melts for adding decor onto chidren’s cakes without making fondant characters. Have been a cake decorator by profession (and pastry chef in more recent years…) for over 11 years, and candy melts have made my life very easy.
I’ve got a question in regards to your agave butter cream. I haven’t reviewed the recipe yet, so if you’ve answered this question already, just let me know and I’ll go the link and search around. Do you think by adding meringue powder to the frosting, you could get it to crust? I love the idea of an agave-based frosting as opposed to powdered sugar, but it’s the sugar that helps the frosting to ‘crust’ so that it can be smoothed out to a professional finish. Thoughts on this? Thanks! …and happy ‘half’ birthday to little Nate!
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Amy Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:46 am
@Trish @ MyBigFatBundt, I didn’t publish the agave buttercream recipe yet. I don’t use meringue powder because it has sugar in it. I took two semesters of pasty arts before I got pregnant and none of the buttercream ever crusted. That’s the nature of buttercream, right? It’s a little trickier to work with because you have to develop your skill set to where you can smooth it out with a spatula. Yes, the powdered sugar frostings crust and you can rub those smooth with a paper towel. But I can’t use powdered sugar either.
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Trish @ MyBigFatBundt Reply:
September 25th, 2012 at 6:22 pm
@Amy, Oh, okay. Thanks for the update. I don’t have too many clients who won’t take regular butter cream, but I’m picking up more g-free and vegan clients, and some are like ‘as healthy as you can get it!’ But they still want it to look as smooth and professional as a traditional bakery cake. I also worked in a smaller health foods store (like a smaller, privately owned version of Whole Foods) and was their pastry chef. Did some raw frostings for smaller desserts, but they certainly aren’t anything that would work on a larger, decorated birthday cake. Thanks!!
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Maggie
posted on September 20, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Love this cake so much! I wish you were my neighbor so we could make cakes together – you could teach me your tricks! Hugs to Nate. xo
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Amy Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:43 am
@Maggie, Yes! Maybe we will get our hubbys to take the kids someday and we can Skype and bake together. We will make it up to Canada sometime – just not sure when.
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Jeanene
posted on September 20, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Amy,
You are so adorable! How precious to make Nate a 6 month old cake! He is so Blessed to have you for a Mom!
I so love the decorating that you did on it!
I’m sorry I don’t get to comment too much. My life has taken some twists and turns. lol I do however, get your web site by email. So, I take peeks often!
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Amy Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:42 am
@Jeanene, It’s good to hear from you even if it’s just once in a while. Life is funny that way – and we have to be flexible to mold to our circumstances.
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Cara
posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:04 pm
I love that you celebrated his half birthday – and that it was on my birthday! What a cute cake!
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Amy Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:42 am
@Cara, The 23rd must be reserved for very special people. xoxo
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Ricki
posted on September 20, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Absolutely adorable! Love the bugs, love the colors, love the 1/2 cake idea. I bet Nate was beyond happy!
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Amy Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:41 am
@Ricki, I am not sure if he noticed or not but I was happy. He did stick his hand in the cake but I didn’t let him eat it. For his first birthday the cake will be baby-friendly so he can smash it up.
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Christianne
posted on September 21, 2012 at 8:37 am
You are such an artist Amy! Visually enticing and I am sure delicious, I can’t imagine who wouldn’t enjoy this adorable cake! Love the blackberries in the middle!
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Amy Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:41 am
@Christianne, They look kind of funky against the sky-blue icing – maybe next time I’ll make a separate filling that goes with the filling. Glad to hear from you!! All is well I hope!!
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Iris
posted on September 22, 2012 at 9:28 pm
That’s pretty much the cutest cake ever! Happy half birthday to your little one!
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Amy Reply:
October 10th, 2012 at 10:58 pm
@Iris, Thanks, Iris!! xoxo
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Noga
posted on September 24, 2012 at 5:56 am
Amazing!!! Happy half birthday Nate!
Amy – it’s always a joy to read your posts. I (im)patiently wait for them each and every week
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Amy Reply:
October 10th, 2012 at 10:58 pm
@Noga, I wish I had more time to blog right now. It’s tough to fit it in with Nate. We are busy!! I am so grateful for your faithfulness in the middle of so much inconsistency here. Sending hugs!!
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Johanna B
posted on September 24, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Honestly, this is the cutest cake I’ve ever seen. Super job!!!
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Amy Reply:
October 10th, 2012 at 10:57 pm
@Johanna B, Thanks so much!! I loved making it.
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Devin @ Nom Yum & Free
posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:13 pm
How adorable – and happy 1/2 birthday Nate!
He and Jordan must be almost exactly 6 months apart – as I’m prepping to bake her vegan, allergy friendly, dye free, baby friendly birthday cake for her 1st birthday celebration this upcoming weekend. However, I don’t expect it to look anything near as amazing as your cake – wish I had your cake decorating skills!
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Amy Reply:
October 10th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
@Devin @ Nom Yum & Free, Thanks!!! It was fun. I am going to check out your yummy cake recipe, too. So happy that it was a hit!!!
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Sam
posted on October 8, 2012 at 10:42 am
I love this! Am sad I didn’t think it up for my kiddos, but in the long run they won’t suffer much because of it, I hope! haha =) Are we close to getting our hands on the recipe for the Agave Buttercream, Amy? =) Sure hope so! What a lucky little boy with you for a Mommy! Thank you for all the time you put in here and the wealth of information you share with us! <3
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Amy Reply:
October 10th, 2012 at 10:35 pm
@Sam, I am working on it. We’ll see….
Glad you like the cake. I am not sure how to top it for his first bday. Will have to think on that.
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Fernanda Sandoval
posted on December 21, 2012 at 5:53 pm
This is Amazing..!
Happy 1/2 birthday to your Baby Boy..
I would love to do this but for my Baby Doll which today is her 1/2 Birthday as well..
been searching everywhere and I came upon ur site, n just fell in love with this..
i was wondering if its good/healthy and safe for babies to munch on this.? that is my biggest question.
Plz help, Thanks..
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