Something slightly different for this week’s Recipe Roundup. Caterpillar turned four last month and, despite my distinct lack of professional cake decorating skills, I always try to make his cake myself from scratch. Previous efforts included a giraffe shaped like a number one, Postman’s Pat’s van and a dog print covered Paw Patrol effort last year.
This year I decided to go with Caterpillar’s current animated obsession – Trolls. I knew from the off I definitely didn’t have the skills or the guts to attempt a Branch shaped cake so instead opted for a flower covered two-tier with red & blue sponge inside.
What You Need
For the cake:
- 4 eggs
- 225g caster sugar
- 225g butter, softened
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 225g self-raising flour
- Half tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp fuchsia gel food colouring
- 1 tsp royal blue gel food colouring
For the filling:
- 140g/5oz butter, softened
- 280g/10oz icing sugar
- 1-2 tbsp milk
- Half tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 tbsps raspberry jam
For decorating:
- 2 packets of green roll-out icing
- Melted milk chocolate, in a piping bag
- Various rice paper flowers (I got mine from Asda and my local cake decorating shop)
- Glitter writing icing
- Silver balls
- Cake shimmer spray
- Rainbow sprinkles
- Edible glue
- Trolls figures of choice
What You Do
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4
- Cream the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy (I’m lazy so I use an electric mixer)
- Stir in the vanilla extract
- Add the eggs one at a time and whisk to combine
- Sift the flour and baking powder into the egg mixture and fold together
- Divide the mixture evenly between two bowls and add the fuschia colouring to one and the blue to the other, mix well until you get the desired colour intensity
- Pour into two eight inch cake tins and bake in the over for 25 -30 mins or until the sponge springs back under your fingertips and a skewer comes out clean. Allow sponges to completely cool before decorating
- Beat the butter and icing sugar together until smooth and fluffy, add a small amount of milk until you get a spreadable consistency
- Place one sponge onto the cake board, add a generous layer of jam and buttercream to the top of it, before gently placing the second sponge on top
- Cover the entire cake in a thin, even layer of buttercream, being sure to fill in any gaps between the two sponges
- Generously dust your surface with icing sugar and roll out the green icing until large enough to cover your cake. Gently lift using your rolling pin and place over your cake. Use your hands to shape around the cake and cut off any excess icing
- Create branches using the melted chocolate and place the flowers around as desired, using the edible glue
- Pipe small blobs of glitter writing icing around the base of the cake and add silver balls on top
- Secure your figures on top using either excess chocolate or edible glue, and cover with shimmer spray & rainbow sprinkles
Tips & Tags*naighty nibble/perfect for kids*
- If you love colouring sponge, why not try this awesome full rainbow cake from the fabulous Cupcake Jemma?
For more recipe ideas, check out the Recipe Roundup page.
Related posts:
Nutella & Peanut Butter Cupcakes
White Chocolate Dipped Shortbread
