Birthday Beatles Cake

They say it’s your birthday
It’s my birthday too, yeah
They say it’s your birthday
We’re gonna have a good time
I’m glad it’s your birthday
Happy birthday to you

Hey there

So yes, it was my birthday…and I made us all a cake.  And, oh boy, what a cake.  Just in case you thought that after that weird stroking meat hand we were done with Margaret Fulton?  No way.  No how.  Nyet.

Because I saved the best for last.  Because back in the 60’s Margaret Fulton made a very special cake. Which I totally copied for my birthday.  And it was awesome.

What made it so good?

The burnt sugar cake?  Incidentally a first for me (and utterly delicious)…

The caramel icing?

 That it came with four….huh…maybe fab four friends to help get the party started?

 Yes, I made The Beatles Cake!!!!  Which of course, you already knew if you read the heading so my attempt at suspense was all for nought.

 Here is Margaret Fulton’s original version, made back in the day.

And here is mine:

 I think I did a pretty good job of this.  I was very pleased with my Beatle cookies.  Dare I say they may possibly even look slightly more like their counterparts than Margaret’s original?  And I know they’re not going to win any form of identikit prize and it may not be the face of Jesus on a grilled cheese sandwich but it’s almost recognizably The Beatles.   If you squint.  And look from far away…

I found the recipe here, although the burnt sugar cake is also included in the Margaret Fulton cookbook.

http://www.womansday.co.nz/food/recipes/everyday-recipes/2013/7/retro-recipes-for-a-beatles-party/

I changed it only slightly, I used the same icing pen for the eyes as I used to pipe the yeah, yeah, yeah biscuits and I rolled my liquorice flat (9-10 seconds in the microwave and it became soft enough to roll out).  Then I cut the hair shapes out with a pair of scissors.

Also, the template in the link did not work so I had to make my own face templates.  I looked at a few things and I decided my best option was actually to use some of the images I found looking under Beatles cartoons.  I printed them, cut them out, then cut around them to get the face shapes.

I felt very sorry for Ringo.  The original recipe called for a peanut for each of the other Beatles’ noses and THREE cashews for Ringo’s!  Too cruel Margaret, too cruel.  I used a whole peanut for Ringo and a half peanut for the others.

To be honest with you I did not think I could pull this one off.  There were so many points of worry – the shape of the cookies, decorating them, the right amount of burnt for the burnt sugar cake, the caramel icing.  This whole thing was FRAUGHT with a lack of confidence in myself more than any real complexity in the cooking.  I mean it wasn’t the easiest thing I have ever made but it also was not as hard as I made it out be in my head.

The secret was like most things to give myself plenty of time and to break the recipe into little pieces.  I baked the cookies on Friday night, baked the cake on Saturday and did the icing and all the cookie decorations on Sunday.  For me this was about right.  I think trying to do more would have lead to madness.

 Did I mention this was delicious?  And in the end….haha…worth all the bother.  Margaret Fulton sure knew how to make a cake!  It was also HUGE.

But only fitting this time round to finish some words from my favourite Beatle, George Harrison:

All the world’s a birthday cake,
So take a piece….but not too much

Wise words to live by.

Have a great week!