This is the cake I made for my son’s first birthday. He loves his wooden Noah’s arc and has taken a particular liking to his zebra and giraffe so I thought that would be nice for his cake.

I wanted to keep it appropriate colours for a baby so kept it very pale with baby blue and soft green.

I did a six inch four layer cake so that it would be tall. I did two layers chocolate and two layers madeira sponge which worked quite well but I tried a new buttercream filling doing Swiss meringue buttercream for the fist time which I have to say I didn’t fall in love with like I was expecting to. It tasted far too buttery. I think I may try it again with half the quantity of butter as I much preferred the look, taste and texture of the icing before I added the butter! What I am really trying to recreate is the buttercream you get in shop bought cakes, the really soft, fluffy and white cream filling.

I welcome any feedback as to how I can improve but please bear in mind that I am a beginner and this is only about the fifth large cake I’ve ever made so please don’t be too harsh!