It still amazes me that at the age of almost 50 I get to plan birthdays for preschoolers. Most women my age would be going to their grand kids parties, but since I am a foster mum to little people I get to do this at my ripe old age. When my kids were young, I loved planning their birthdays and what cake I would make. I had some resounding successes like my Thomas Tank engine cake, Lightning McQueen cake, Star Wars cake, but then I think of my Rocket cake and I have to admit there were some disasters too. Now that I am way older I just don’t have the energy or time to spend hours on making cakes and being creative. So when the baby in our family turned three I had to come up with something that was quick and easy. I really cheated this time. I didn’t even bake the cake – no not even a box cake – I simply bought 2 mud cakes (which is a really dark, rich, moist chocolate cake) and created from there.
This is my take on the Little Digger cake – a cake full of diggers and trucks – a construction site that is messy and fun. The best part about it is that it doesn’t have to be perfect – in fact the more cake you can mess and scoop out the better the end result.
The three year old loved it!!
So if you wish to make this, bake a large chocolate cake or two small ones (or buy them if you’re lazy like me) – allow them to cool and then cover them with icing or ganache. I used a pack of small diggers I bought from K Mart to decorate them. Dig out some of the cake – crumbs add to the overall effect. I added Maltesers and chopped up Crunchie (honeycomb) pieces to create the feel of rocks and soil.
It was simple, fun to make, did not cost an arm and a leg and it went down brilliantly. The bonus of course is that the child gets to play with all the cool diggers and trucks after the cake is eaten.
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