Hundreds and Thousands Freckle Cake

As a busy mum, I know how stressful organising birthday food can be. My little daughter Vienna turned one yesterday, and pintrest has filled me with the urge to have one of those incredibly gorgeous arrangements on the table for her party come Sunday. But the truth is, pintrest party mums have got to be super mums. I know it can probably be done in a simple manner, but still, most families have to budget and a beautiful, pastel spread can be a little out of people's price range for a babies birthday. Don't get me wrong, I am going to attempt doing something lovely, but there will be no fretting about it. Whatever happens, happens.
I may end up going to Woolies and buying one of their sponge cakes after all.
But I know I dont have to, even when it comes to the last minutes before people arrive and I havnt prepared anything I had planned.
Sometimes simple is best. Easy is sometimes best too. You want to make the day special and memorable, but you dont have to have everything super fancy.
Here's an alternative to rushing down to the store for a last minute Woolies cake. It's a very simple way of making a child's birthday cake memorable without the fuss and without spending a lot of money, and you don't need much time either. To simplify this cake even further, I have used my favorite boxed cake mix. Don't be afraid of the boxed cake mix! These days even some of the cheap ones are delicious and moist.
Well, enjoy! I'm off to clean my very sticky, icing covered camera.

HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS FRECKLE CAKE

1 cake mix of your choice
2 cups of icing sugar
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp strawberry essence (or any other flavouring of your choice, such as vanilla)
a dash of cream (no more than 1/4 cup)
1-2 cups coloured hundreds and thousands decorations

Bake the cake as directed on the box. While cooling, combine the icing sugar, melted butter and flavouring in a medium sized bowl with the electric beaters. Add a little cream at a time, mixing between additions until you reach a desired consistency and thickness. The icing should be quite thick, yet easy to smooth on the cake without any sort of dripping. (see below picture for a guideline)
Place the cake on a wire cooling rack.
Ice the cake, ensuring the entire visible surface is covered.
Pour the hundreds and thousands onto a dinner plate. Remove the cake from the wire rack and turn it on its side, holding the top and the bottom of the cake with each hand. Roll the cake along through the hundreds and thousands to coat the sides. You may have to pause half way through to rearrange the hundreds and thousands on the plate, or add some more depending on the size of the surface of your cake. When the sides are coated, place the cake back on the wire rack. Put the plate beneath the cake to catch any falling hundreds and thousands, as you sprinkle the top with the remainder. If you have any gaps where there are no hundreds and thousands, the icing in this place may have dried out a little. Just dab a tiny amount of icing from the sides of the bowl on those bald spots and touch up with a few sprinkles.
You can top the cake with a figurine or a nice candle if preferred. To learn how to make the easy fondant roses I used for this cake, I have a tutorial here.

It's as simple as rolling around in hundreds and thousands...