Fondant Friday: Two tiered 18th Birthday Cake

Happy Fondant Friday!

I made this a few weeks ago and embarrassingly, I am only getting around to posting it now. But as its fondant Friday, it worked out pretty well.

This two-tiered cake is a chocoholics dream. The top layer was a chocolate fudge cake and the bottom layer was chocolate biscuit cake. The birthday girl had seen something similar online and wanted it in her favourite colours~purple and pink. It also had some purple and pink stars on the top layer, almost like a stars bursting out of the cake. It was quite breezy that day so I assembled them on delivery for fear of them bending in some crazy way.

I'd never done those stars before but they are super effective. The cake seems almost 'unfinished' without them. Of course did I bring my camera, or even my phone to show you all. No! Because that would actually require me to be organised and have a brain...ugh lol!

Anyway hope everyones Friday is going well and the weekend is even better!

Shirley x

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Hello you lovely people!

Where has time gone?! I have been M.I.A lately and hopefully will get back into some sort of blogging routine soon. I don't really know what it is about summer but blogging seems to go out the window for me. It probably has a lot to do with the bright long evenings and the fact we are actually having a summer. It has been a fantastic summer so far. You can wear shorts,vests and dresses without getting the 'I hope we get the weather shes expecting look' lol! I've been baking here and there but not half as regular as I would...I'm clearly a seasonal baker.

Last week I got an urge...I just HAD to have cake. I was in work and was itching for home time just so I could start baking. The last few weeks of bakes have been for other people so I had great plans to sit and eat cake all to myself until I couldn't breathe.....and that's exactly what I did!

Admittedly I didn't eat the whole thing alone. G and Mr. T were only too happy to indulge with me. It was light and fluffy with a smooth chocolatey buttercream. I adapted a recipe from god knows because I am clearly the most unorganised person EVER. But I do remember adding maple syrup to the cake batter and my, my! I will definitely be doing it again. It gave the richest,deepest flavour.....superb!

Happy Tuesday guys and I hope everyones enjoying their summer!

Shirley x

Guitar Cake

Hello...remember me..lol!

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, time has just not been my friend as of late. I honestly don't have a clue where February went and then I feel like I blinked and missed March. I mean how in gods name is it the first of April already!!!

I haven't even dabbled in much bakes. I went off bread for lent (like a crazy person) and my whole family went off sweet things so all that was left to make was more savoury dishes.....which I'm considering sharing as it does class as baked goods....right?!

I did, however, get an order for this guitar cake. I can't tell you how happy a new cake challenge makes me. It was something I had never done before and I've certainly never made something so large. I loved every minute of it.

I baked five sheets of chocolate cake and used a template I cut out of cake boards. I then "glued" them all together with buttercream and crumb coated. I think I've finally got my crumb coating down so that it crusts perfectly for the fondant. I then covered it in fondant and added the extra bits 'n' bobs with a little bit of edible glue.

I was pretty chuffed with the results......super fun project!

Hope you are keeping well out there in blogland!

Shirley x

Robot Cake

One robot cake for one very special little man in my life.

My nephew turned 3 over the weekend and had requested a robot cake. He loves robots. I have had many conversations in robot language the last few months......I.   AM.  A.  ROBOT.... You know how it goes!

The cake was a sponge with a raspberry and blueberry buttercream. I wouldn't say it was my favourite berry buttercream ever but it was tasty none the less. I don't think you can beat strawberry buttercream...it's just too good in my opinion.

The "body" was made up of four layers of sponge squared while the "head" was a three layer smaller square. Actually quite an easy cake to make. He was super happy with it and ate all the fondant "buttons and dials" within minutes of blowing out the candles.

I can't believe we are on to robots already, where does time go?! It seems like only yesterday I was whippin up "Iggle-Piggle" and Thomas the tank engine. I look forward to his birthday requests every year as you really don't know what he'll come up with. I thought for sure I would be making a Monsters inc. or Jungle Book cake this year but nope a robot cake.

So what my fav little man wants, My fav little man gets :)

Happy Birthday Callum!

Shirley x

Princess Castle Cake

Happy Fondant Friday folks!

I was asked to make this cake for a little princess who was turning 3!

But this cake ended up being the disaster I was talking about in Tuesday's post. And what annoys me the most is I still can't figure out what went wrong. You see those lovely towers? Well the one on the left decided to snap whilst being transported.

The storm did not help in any way, shape or form. It was fine until I was taking it from my house, shielded under an umbrella from the wind. I was in the car about two minutes when I noticed a tear in the fondant and it just went all down hill from there!

When I arrived with the cake I did my best to repair the damage but the tower didn't exactly have the same height or structure it had previously. I was absolutely gutted, like extremely close to tears. It is my first ever disaster and I must admit it knocked my confidence a bit.

Hmmmmm.......Who knows, maybe it was just one of those days.

.............................................................................................................

What is everyone up to for the weekend?

G and I are headed off to a cottage in 'wesht' Cork for the weekend which should be interesting with the forthcoming storm.......

Wish us luck :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Shirley x

A recipe-less Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf

Today I come to you fine folk as one annoyed blogger.....

A few days ago I had a half day from work. I came home and decided to make something nice for after the dinner. I was on the verge of making my Madeira Cake when I realised I only had one egg. So it was either go out in the torrential rain for two eggs or get inventive with what I had.

And man, oh man am I happy I was super lazy that day because this is one of THE nicest cakes I have ever tasted. And that dear friends says A LOT!

The reason for the one measly photo is this is all I could squabble away from my family. I was losing daylight and there was no way I was going to be able to keep this in its perfect loaf state to photograph in the morning. How I wish you could all see how drool-worthy it looked. It had a rich brown colour and was smothered in a thin lemon glaze.

As you all probably know now from here, here and here. I have a slight love (slash full blown obsession) with poppy seeds. And lemons and poppy seeds are, well, a match made in heaven! I was completely expecting this cake to go wrong. Either taste like complete and utter cardboard or to bubble over in the oven...just something had to! But no. It was crumbly,moist,lemony and almost melted in your mouth. My Dad who is probably my biggest critic said it was the nicest cake he had tasted in a long while.

Ughh here's the kicker...

I never wrote my recipe down!! (I am annoyed with myself to even type that)

I have an idea what it was, well I know it had one egg anyway ha :) I just hope I can get it bang on perfect again and come back to you all with the recipe.

So stay tuned.......and all you fellow lemon and poppy seed lovers say a lil' prayer ha :)

Shirley x

Wedding Cake

My cousin Laura asked me to do her wedding cake and I jumped at the chance. I don't think there is one cake more daunting to us amateur bakers as a wedding cake.

As much as I love doing cakes, they can get a bit monotonous. I always say to people leave your imagination run wild, you can do anything with cakes nowadays. I love a good challenge and I think a wedding cake is pretty much up there with the best of them.

Laura wanted to incorporate her wedding dress details on the cake. I made a sketch and free handed the beautiful design. It was probably the thing I was most scared about as I hadn't really done much piping before. But I was delighted the way it turned out. It was simple,clean and elegant. She had roses as her flowers so we topped the cake with them. I love incorporating little details into cakes, even if guest don't cop it. Its all part of the theme!

She then wanted two little figurines of herself and her new hubby. These took me.....ahem.....awhile. I made four brides heads until I was happy. Painting eyelashes on an already tiny eyes took a lot of patience and a seriously steady hand. I thought they turned out super cute and they were very happy with them so it was smiles all round.

The cakes were Chocolate Biscuit Cake and Red velvet.....ya-huuum! I also, as per usual, completely forgot to take proper pictures. Please forgive me for the hazyness. When will I ever learn!

I loved doing every single bit of this cake and I got sooooooo many compliments off people, I was absolutely delighted.

It was a beautiful wedding and such a great day.

Congrats to the newly-weds xx

Shirley x

Chocolate Coconut Cake Squares

If you are following me over on Instagram, then you will have seen my nephew and I made some Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes. It has been so long since I had coconut and I had forgotten how deliciously scrumptious it is. So I decided to spruce up the child friendly version and make a more pretty refined cakey treat.

Cake cut into squares,dunked into melted chocolate and covered in coconut....pretty yes...refined not so much!

These little squares would be perfect for Christmas party finger food and let me tell you why....

They are much tastier the next day, so you can have them done way ahead...yay!
The chocolate seems to set more but is still velvety and soft.
The coconut makes them Christmassy and almost snow like.
You can make them as small as you like so they're just bite-size. No chocolate and coconut all over you.
They are Deeeelicious,absolutely finger lickin' good.

Honestly they are a winner in my book.

Recipe for Chocolate Coconut Cake Squares

Makes 16 (depending on what size you cut them,mine were 1 1/2" squared)

Ingredients

 

Victoria Sponge

• 175g butter, room temp
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs,beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional, but a must in my books)
• 175g self-raising flour, sifted 

Chocolate Ganache

• 150g milk chocolate,chopped into pieces
• 80ml double cream

Coconut Topping

• 150g desiccated coconut

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line your tins. I used a 7" square tin.
2. Beat your butter for a minute or two until soft. Add your sugar and cream the mixture until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add your vanilla extract, if using, to your eggs. Slowly add this to the mixture while continuing to beat or if your doing it by hand beat well after each addition. If you add the eggs too quickly, the mixture will curdle, making the cake much heavier. If it does curdle don't panic try adding a spoonful of flour to bring it back.
4. Fold in your sifted flour and pour the mixture into your prepared tin. Bake in the oven for 15-20mins until the cake is risen and spongy to touch. Leave to cool completely.
5. While the cake is cooling make your ganache. Chop chocolate into small pieces and tip into a heat-proof bowl.
6. Pour your cream into a saucepan and heat until it is just at boiling point. Carefully pour your cream over your chocolate and stir until all your chocolate is melted.
7. Cut your cake into square shapes,I went for 1 1/2" squared cakes.
8. Place coconut into a large bowl. Using a fork stuck in one side of your cake, dip it into your melted ganache. Then using a spoon sprinkle coconut abundantly. I did this over the bowl of coconut to catch any waste. You could also leave the ganache cool and spread it on the cake but I don't think the coconut sticks as well. I also find the cake almost soaks some of the chocolate in, making them super moist. Place on wire rack and let set.

I think its almost impossible not to end up eating half the ganache and coconut by themselves. If you love bounty bars, you are going to adore these. They taste exactly like bounty bars but with cake....seriously good!

Happy Tuesday peeps :)

Shirley x

Victoria Sponge with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

I don't know anyone that doesn't like Nutella. Whether you're smothering it on bread,stuffing it into a cupcake or my fav, licking it off a spoon. It is always a huge hit! I've seen loads of different recipes around for Nutella buttercream but I decided to wing it. Lets face it buttercream isn't exactly rocket science, once you've mastered the basics you're pretty set but I was happy with myself none the less.

I will admit I used copious amounts of Nutella trying to get the flavour just right. I had scribbled down on a piece of paper what I thought the recipe would be and ended up with a whole different recipe.

At first this buttercream gives you a super strong flavour of nutella but then it becomes smooth and creamy. It is actually like a nutella cream flavour. The cake was a Victoria Sponge ,sandwiched also with this buttercream. I'd love to try a chocolate cake with this buttercream too. I've a feeling it would be a winner!

Recipe for Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Iced and sandwiched a 10" cake

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter
• 550g icing sugar
• 280g nutella
• 60ml double cream
• 2tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Beat butter until completely softened. Add nutella and beat until well combined almost fluffy. Add icing sugar bit by bit while beating. Using a mixer mix on highest setting beat until all ingredients are well combined.
2. While beating, mix double cream and vanilla extract together in a jug. Slowly pour the liquids into the buttercream mixture. And BEAT!! I did it for about 8 mins. You should have a light creamy Nutelly mixture.

I ate waaay too much of this straight out of the bowl, it is not the kind of buttercream that you can just have a taste. I had to restrain myself from diving in face first lol!

I am linkin up today to Tea Party Tuesday as recommended below by the lovely Hazel.
 

                                                           

 Hope you are all having a great day :)

Shirley x

Madeira Cake

The last few days in work have been mayhem. It's either a feast or a famine in the art world and this week has been car-a-zeeee. I've literally been getting home having my dinner, then straight into a fight with myself to stay awake. 10pm was usually the latest I could get to. It's just one of those weeks!

It was the perfect week for Madeira cake however. A big chunky slice smothered in raspberry jam and a warm cup of tea.....hmmm comfort food. I'm a lover of madeira cake in general. My Dad however is the madeira king, he comes home with all sorts of variations of madeira.......last week was chocolate chip :) I had found some cake liners a few weeks back for a euro(bargain!) so of course madeira had to be made.

 

Madeira is a firm but light cake. It is moist and crumbly but has a good bite. It is a match made in heaven with most things jam, butter, nutella.......and moooore nutella. Did I mention it's delicious with nutella?

 

Recipe for Madeira Cake

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 175g butter, softened
•  35g light brown sugar
• 125g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2tsp vanilla extract
• 200g plain flour
• 50g almonds
• 1 1/4tsp baking powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven 170°C. Line and grease baking tin.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter until completely softened. Add caster sugar and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Lightly whisk eggs and vanilla extract together. Slowly add eggs to mixture until fully incorporated.
3. Sieve plain flour,almonds and baking powder together. If almonds do not sift properly give mixture a whisk and make sure there are no lumps. Fold flour,almonds and baking powder into mixture until well combined.
4. Pour into prepared tin and smooth top. Bake in the oven for 50-55mins. Leave cool on wire rack.

As you may know from reading my little blog I can never leave anything cool properly without tasting it. Hence my cake being so crumbly in the photos. This cake is so much nicer cooled fully.It's even nicer the next day...........with.....ahem.... nutella :)

Shirley x

Chocolate And Vanilla Marble Cake

I cant tell you how many times I've made this cake. It super simple and can be pretty impressive when marbled right. This one was made with a two-year-old helper so the sacred rule of marble cake was broken. Do Not Over Marble Your Cake.......whoops!

This is Rachel Allen's recipe but it's a goodin' so I'm quiet happy to share.It is quiet a moist and crumbly cake. The vanilla is light and airy while the chocolate is rich and almost gooey at times. It is a one batter cake and super simple for any novice baker out there looking to impress.

Recipe for Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cake

 

Ingredients

• 225g butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 225g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 50ml milk, room temperature
• 50g cocoa powder,sifted

Instructions

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.Butter and flour the sides of a 8in diameter spring-form cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Cream the butter in a large bowl or mixer until soft. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Gradually add the eggs to the butter mixture, beating all the time. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently to mix, then add the milk and mix gently to combine.
3. Tip half of the cake mixture into another large bowl and, into this bowl, fold in the sifted cocoa powder.
4. Place the cake mixtures into the tin by alternating spoonfuls of the vanilla batter with the chocolate batter, then with a skewer or something similar, gently draw swirls through the cake mixture to ‘marblise’ it. Again Do Not Over mix. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Leave to cool on wire rack or eat warm..............its pretty nice both ways!

Easy,simple cake.......hope you all enjoy!

Shirley x

Teddy Bear Baby Cake

A simple baby shower cake. The momma-to-be didn't know what she was having so I went for a blue bear for a boy and a pink bear for a girl. I added a little play block in front with some question marks. I also did a quilted effect which I had never done before but it was very easy.

The cake was Chocolate Biscuit Cake and vanilla buttercream. I loved the way the teddy's came out! They are super cute, if I may say so myself. I made these using gumpaste a few days before and they set perfectly. Happy baker over here :)

Hope everyone has fab weekend!

Shirley x

Raspberry Victoria Sponge

You can never go wrong with a classic Victoria sponge and with the beautiful fresh berries and fruit around at the mo,they're always a fab combo! This is a moist,light cake with layers of raspberry jam and fresh cream. I have mentioned my dislike of fresh cream before but as of late I'm loving it, it must be all the juicy berry goodness around at the moment.

 

Recipe for Raspberry Victoria sponge cake

 

Ingredients

 

• 175g butter, room temp
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs,beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional, but a must in my books)
• 175g self-raising flour, sifted
• Raspberry jam or jam of your preference
• Raspberry's or again berries of your preference

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line your tins. I used two 8" round tins.
2. Beat your butter for a minute or two until soft. Add your sugar and cream the mixture until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add your vanilla extract, if using, to your eggs. Slowly add this to the mixture while continuing to beat or if your doing it by hand beat well after each addition. If you add the eggs too quickly, the mixture will curdle, making the cake much heavier. If it does curdle don't panic try adding a spoonful of flour to bring it back. It won't affect the taste as much as the texture.
4. Fold in your sifted flour quickly and pour the mixture into your prepared tins.
5. Bake in the oven for15-20mins until the cake is risen and spongy to touch.Leave to cool on wire rack.
6. Once cake has cooled, layer your jam and cream on one cake and sandwich together. I topped mine with some icing sugar (for that extra sweetness), cream and fresh whole raspberries.

Happy Monday!

Shirley x

Some Sort Of Rugby Ball Cake

This may not look like a complicated cake but due to our glorious weather recently, it really tested my patience. The apparent rugby ball did in fact look like a rugby ball when first moulded but due to the heat it literally melted and drooped. No amount of icing sugar and tylose powder was going to save me!

The cake was the ever so popular chocolate biscuit cake and chocolate buttercream.

Short and sweet (and seriously frustrating!!)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Shirley x

Cocktail Birthday Cake

This is a birthday cake for one of my fabber dabber friends for her 30th birthday. She is a massive lover of cocktails sooo the theme was easy peasy. She is also "obsessed with her dog (who has her own facebook page,I kid you not!!) so I popped a little "dora" on the side.

The cake was Chocolate Biscuit Cake (which seems to be EXTREMELY popular lately) and topped with a cocktail glass. For some reason I never remember to take photos of my cakes, my bakes yes......the cakes no! Its not the clearest photo in the world but I loved the cake.It was fun and girlie which describes the birthday gal to a tee!

Happy Birthday Aoife x

Shirley x

Thomas the tank engine birthday cake

Just wanted to share my "Thomas the tank engine" cake I whipped up for my favourite little man, my nephew Callum, Who turned "choo" a few weeks back.

I managed to get my hands on some organic strawberries (in February??......Thank you global warming!) so I went for a Victoria Sponge recipe and a strawberry buttercream. It was delicious, really refreshing and light.

Happy Birthday Callum, love you x

Short and sweet!

Shirley x

No Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake

You have got to love no bake recipes! When you're in a rush and still want something comforting and delicious, no bake is the way to go! In  my opinion chocolate biscuit cake is definitely up there with the best of no bake cakes, it literally could not be easier if you tried. And hey if its good enough for Wills and Kate on their wedding day, then its good enough for me :)

I made this particular one for Aishling's 21st birthday cake. It is a super rich cake and definitely not a friend to the waistline but it is Aishlings favourite cake so it was a no brainer!

Recipe for Chocolate Biscuit Cake

 

Ingredients

• 225g good quality chocolate
• 275g butter
• 150ml / 1/4pt golden syrup
• 200g digestive biscuits
• 200g rich tea biscuits
• 2pk maltesers

6" tin

 

Directions

1. Line your tin with a double layer of greaseproof paper.
2. Place a large bowl over a pot of water (on low heat) and melt your chocolate,butter and syrup. Stir well until all is well combined.

3. In a separate bowl roughly crush up your biscuits.

4. Add your biscuits and to your chocolate mixture and combine.

5. At the last minute add your maltesers,this so they maintain their malteser shape and don't melt away.

6. Push your mixture into the tin using the back of a spoon and push down. I leave mine to settle for a few minutes, and if it seems a bit loose, I crush up digestives very finely and push it into the cake. The chocolate mixture will absorb it right up. Leave cool and harden.

Simples!

This cake is actually great for a bottom layer of a tiered cake, it is completely solid so no need for dowels or any support. I've used this as a bottom layer on my first wedding cake and molded it into a Pyrex bowl for the soccer ball cake.

I will warn you that this cake can be addictive, you will keep coming back taking chunks off here and there. It is so versatile,you can throw anything you want into it, fruits, nuts, you name it. I once put in a whole box of celebrations, every piece was a guessing game of what sweet!

Shirley x

21st Birthday Cake

When we asked Aishling what she wanted to do for her 21st some months back, her response was VEGAS!

Having been to Vegas in the winter months before I don't feel I got a true "Vegas" experience ( it snowed the last time I was there ) so we are waiting for the warm weather to kick in. At the end of May, Jacq, Aish and I are off to L.A. Vegas and Cancun for two weeks ( the diet starts now lol! ). Has anyone been to any of these places before and have "a must see"? I would love to have some places to check out :)

We marked her 21st by going to dinner and a few drinks. The next day we had a fiesta in Jacqueline's house, so of course a cake was needed. I wanted to make a cake that would represent her "birthday holiday". I went for a beach themed bottom layer and a Vegas themed top layer.

Here is my sketch or my "guideline".

The bottom layer was a Chocolate biscuit cake and I used a dummy cake for the top layer. I made the dice, cards and the "corona" bottles out of fondant some days before so they were dry and easy to colour.

As part of my new years resolutions, I want to become a better blogger and photographer. Hopefully this cake, dear friends, will be my last "ah sure it'll be grand" photo!

Hope 2013 is treating you all well so far :)

Shirley x

Light Madeira Christmas Cake

 

A few weeks ago, my dad requested a fruit cake. He is a big fan of all the older recipes, fruit cake, bread and butter pudding, Russian slice etc. He would pick these over a brownie or a cupcake any day!

So it being the festive season and all, I made a Christmas cake. I actually made this the week before Christmas (even though it recommends "maturing" of a month), so it was much more crumblier than a fully matured cake would be. I'm not the biggest fan in the world of fruit cakes but I gave it a whirl anyway. It actually wasn't so bad, my dad on the other hand looooooved it. He gave it a big thumbs up so if your a fruit cake lover, I'm sure you'll enjoy it too.

 

Recipe for Light Madeira Christmas Cake

 

Ingredients

• 300g plain flour
• 100g self-raising flour
• 300g butter,room temp
• 300g caster sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 50g ground almonds
• 75g cherries
• 150g raisins
• 150g sultanas
• 75g cut mixed peel
• 1/2 tsp almond essence
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
•  3 tbsp whiskey

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 23cm round or 22cm square tin. Line the bottom and sides with double greaseproof paper. Tie a collar of paper on the outside with some string, this should be 3cm higher than the tin.
2. Quarter the cherries,toss in the ground almonds. Lightly whisk your eggs and essence. Sift both flours together.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the whisked eggs gradually, add a tsp of flour with each addition and beat thoroughly.
4. Fold in the remaining flour, cherries, fruit and whiskey.
5. Turn into prepared tin and smooth. Bake for 1 1/2hrs. Cover with a thin sheet of cardboard after 45mins to prevent over-browning.
6. Leave in the tin for 4hrs, turn out, cool on a wire tray. If you wish, pour 4 tbsp of whiskey over the top of the cake. Do not remove paper but wrap in more greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin for up to a month to mature before use.

I'm sure if you left it for the full month maturing to would be even better. Note to self for November 2013 :)

Shirley x

Rainbow Cake

My lovely friend Rachel asked me to bake a cake for her little girl's ( and my beautiful god-daughter ) birthday. Lucy was celebrating her first birthday so I was only delighted and honoured to be making her very first birthday cake..........shed a tear :)

I used a Victoria Sponge for the cake and white chocolate buttercream for the frosting. I am actually drooling while thinking of that frosting!

"How to make a Rainbow Cake?"

 

Ingredients

 

• 175g butter, room temp
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs,beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional, but a must in my books)
• 175g self-raising flour, sifted
• food colourings

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line your tins. I used two 7" square tin as I was doing a block shape but this is perfect for an 8" round tin.
2. Beat your butter for a minute or two until soft. Add your sugar and cream the mixture until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add your vanilla extract, if using, to your eggs. Slowly add this to the mixture while continuing to beat or if your doing it by hand beat well after each addition. If you add the eggs too quickly, the mixture will curdle, making the cake much heavier. If it does curdle don't panic try adding a spoonful of flour to bring it back. It wont affect the taste as much as the texture. Split your mixture in two and gently fold in food colouring.
4. Fold in your sifted flour quickly and pour the mixture into your prepared tins.
5.  Bake in the oven for15-20mins until the cake is risen and spongy to touch.

I had a few different food colourings but adding a little less or more will change the colour of the sponge drastically. With the basic food colours you can pretty much make up whatever colour you want anyway, so I wouldn't be rushing out to the shops because you don't have a certain colour. To avoid colour disasters, just remember to mix up your colours in a small bowl or something before adding to cake mixture.


For the cake decoration, Rachel wanted an alphabet block. So as with all my cakes it started off with a sketch. This is not a necessary step but I always do it for my novelty cakes, just to give me some sort of guideline. More often than not the end up completely different, with little tweaks here and there.

Finally, I iced the cake with fondant. As I said with the little changes I ended up having the A,B,C and D around the sides and the LUCY 1 on top!

And on a quick little side note,

                           "Happy Birthday to my beautiful little god-lady, love you lots"


Shirley x