My little princess Agata recently turned 2 years old. In honor of the occasion, I made her a birthday cake again — last year's cake was this one: First Birthday Cake. This year I was planning to make a chocolate cake for the adult guests. Since Agata doesn't eat chocolate yet, making a separate little cake just for her was once again a must. Of course, it was clear that this cake had to be as simple as possible to make, since mom still needed time to prepare the grown-up cake. And a child won't really appreciate fancy touches like baking sponge layers or elaborate multi-tier construction — what matters most to them is an impressive, eye-catching look. As a base I used the proportions from the Cottage Cheese Dessert, and shaped it into a dome, like the Broken Glass Cake. Then I decorated it with my daughter's current favorite sweets — fruit jellies and zefir (Russian marshmallow) (she used to call zefir "sesheka," and now it's a confident "zefil" :-). You can decorate this kids' birthday cake with whatever your child loves most — cookies, wafers, wafer rolls, berries, or sliced fruit.
Ingredients:
- 200 g cottage cheese
- 200 g sour cream
- 50 g sugar
- 1 banana
- 1/2 packet gelatin (5 g)
- 1 packet vanilla sugar
- For decoration:
- zefir (Russian marshmallow), fruit jellies, cookies, berries
How to cook kids' birthday cake
Place the cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla sugar in a single bowl. I used 20% fat sour cream and smooth 9% fat cottage cheese. If your cottage cheese isn't smooth, press it through a colander first.
Beat everything together until completely smooth — there should be no lumps of cottage cheese or grains of sugar.
Add 50 ml of water to the gelatin and let it sit for 10 minutes, or for the time indicated on the package. Then warm it gently until the gelatin dissolves completely. Pour the gelatin into the cottage cheese mixture while mixing with a hand mixer, and beat for another minute.
Add one small banana (or half of a large one), cut into cubes. You can substitute any fruit you like (except kiwi and pineapple, as they prevent gelatin from setting).
Pour the mixture into a deep bowl or small salad bowl. If you like, line it with plastic wrap beforehand for easy unmolding. Refrigerate for 3–4 hours or until fully set.
Dip the bowl up to its rim in hot water for 20–40 seconds, then cover with a flat plate and flip it over — or lift the cake out using the plastic wrap.
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