Even if I hadn't won (which I did :p) I would still have been proud of myself. This is the best-looking cake I've ever made, tasted amazing, and I basically devised the whole recipe myself by adapting 3 different recipes.
Carry on reading to discover how you too can create an award winning cake! ;)
Ingredients
Sorry all are in different measures!
For the brownie layer (adapted from Blissful Brownies)
- 2oz unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 oz plain flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 oz cocoa powder
- 1 egg
- 3 oz caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 2 1/2 oz glace cherries, halved
For the pink cake (adapted from Peek-A-Boo Cakes)
- 100g unsalted butter
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 100g self raising flour
- 20g ground almonds
- a little pink food colouring (gel or paste not liquid)
For the white cake (adapted from Peek-A-Boo Cakes)
- 400g unsalted butter
- 400g caster sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 400g self raising flour
- 200g ground almonds
- 3 tsp almond extract
- 6 tablespoons whole milk
To decorate
- whole glace cherries
- 3 cups salted butter
- 9 cups icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
- a little pink food colouring (gel or paste not liquid)
Method
Step One: Make the brownie layer
This layer makes the chocolate icing effect of the hidden cupcake design. Grease and line a 7-inch cake pan and pre-heat the oven to 180C (160C fan).
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract. Beat in the eggs last, as the mixture will be cooler and you won't end up with scrambled eggs!
Sift in the flour and baking powder and add the cherries. Fold until just combined. Pour into the tin and bake for about 15 mins, until just firm to the touch. Leave to cool for 10 mins i the tin then transfer to a cooling rack.
When it is completely cool, cut a circle in the centre of the brownie (3 inches in diameter)
Step Two: Make the pink layer
This layer makes the cupcake part of the hidden cupcake design. Grease and line a 7-inch cake pan and pre-heat the oven to 160C (140C fan).
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, along with a spoonful of flour to stop the mixture curdling. Sift in the rest of the flour, then fold in the flour and ground almonds. Add a decent amount of pink gel food colouring (a blob about the size of your little finger nail) and fold in so you get a deep pink colour mixture. Pour into the pan and smooth, then bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer comes out clean.
Step Three: Make the white cake
This makes the rest of the cake. Grease and line a 9-inch cake pan and pre-heat the oven to 160C (140C fan). Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, along with a spoonful of flour to stop the mixture curdling. Sift in the rest of the flour, then fold in the flour, ground almonds, whole milk and almond essence.
Pipe a thin layer into the cake pan, then place the pink layer (tapered side down) onto the white mix and push down gently. Pipe more white cake mix around the outside of the pink cake and inside the hole. When the white mix is level with the pink cake, place the brownie layer on top. Pipe a very thin layer on top of the brownie, then place whole glace cherries all around the top of the brownie layer. This will be the cherry on top of the hidden cupcake design. Very carefully, so you don't disturb the cherries, pipe more white cake mix all over until the hidden design is, well, hidden!
This is a biiiiiiiiiig cake, and will take 1 1/2 - 2 hours to bake. Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre hole comes out clean - you can always put tin foil over the top to stop it from browning. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.
Step Four: Decorate!
I found this video very useful when learning to pipe ombre roses!
Also, this website was useful for the ratio of butter to icing sugar!
http://www.52kitchenadventures.com/2012/08/30/how-to-frost-an-ombre-rose-cake/
I beat the butter in my electric mixer first until it's really creamy. Then I beat in the icing sugar a little at a time, otherwise it goes EVERYWHERE. Use a little of the icing to give the cake a quick crumb coat. This is just a thin layer of icing all over the cake to catch the crumbs, so that your top layer is clean and beautiful.
Split the remaining icing equally into 3 bowls. Keep 1/3 pure and creamy, add 1 or 2 drops of pink gel food colouring to the 2nd bowl, and 3 or 4 drops to the 3rd bowl. Mix until the colour is really even, You can always add more colouring if you want a stronger colour - I wanted a very subtle, pastel ombre look.
Starting at the bottom, using a Wilton 1M tip, fill your piping bag with the darkest pink. Using an anti-clockwise motion, pipe the roses around the bottom of the cake, slightly overlapping. (Watch the video above to see what I mean!) Feel free to practise on some baking paper first, and you can always scrape off any roses that go wonky!
Once you have dark pink roses all the way round, repeat with the lighter pink for the middle row, then top the cake with cream roses. The results are spectacular!
My score: 4/5 A real showstopper! The only thing that stops it being 5/5 is the time and effort required - this is not a cake for beginners!
Julia's Top Tips
- Read the recipe REALLY carefully - there's a lot of ingredients and actions to remember!
- DON'T overmix any of the cakes or they won't rise and will be really rubbery.
- You need a whole day to make this cake and a reasonable amount of expertise - this is not an easy cake, but it is worth it because it is very impressive and absolutely delicious!
I was especially proud of this cake because it was the most difficult and spectacular cake I had ever made - and I won star baker! My prize was a tour of the local independent bakery, Tom's Cakes, plus a one-to one sugarcraft masterclass. I'm going in January so I'll keep you updated!
