yummy pretty cake

Well I saw this cake here and I was inspired. The original cake was an almond cake with cherry filling but I didn't like the idea of that, so I made it choc/vanilla/choc with the same icing.

I used a packet mix, just a cheap home brand one. 2 x choc and 1 x vanilla. I think any plain cake that isn't too strong a flavour will work well - from scratch or from a packet mix. Vanilla and choc worked well, probably mud - choc and vanilla would work well too but may be a bit strong in flavour. That's why I like the generic brands as they aren't too strong.

Anyway, make 3 cakes of the same size and let them cool.

Trim the top of the cakes so they can stack on top of each other.

Get your cake stand and put 1 choc cake in the middle. Add some Nestle Caramel Top n Fill as the middle layer, then add the vanilla, more caramel and then the 2nd choc cake.
If you can't get Caramel Top n Fill, use a tin of condensed milk , take off the label, and put in a saucepan filled with water. Make sure the tin is covered. Boil this for 4 hours, let it cool and open it. Voila, you have caramel sauce!

Meanwhile you need to make the buttercream icing!

Whip 4 egg whites in a mixer till light and fluffy. Then mix 1 cup sugar with half a cup of water and heat on the stove and stir till it's dissolved. Once dissolved, let it boil for approx 5 mins till it thickens a little and becomes syruppy. I don't have a candy thermometer, so that's how I did it. Otherwise, till it gets to approx 240F.

Turn on the mixer again and whip the eggwhites, while slowly drizzling in the candy mixture. Do it nice and slowly and it should partially cook the egg from the heat! Once it's all mixed in, add 1 1/2 cups of butter (not margarine) at room temperature, 1tbsp at a time. Mix on medium-high till it's all mixed in then put up to high. It may curdle and look a bit like ricotta cheese, but mix it on high and it will go nice and creamy after a few minutes. You will need to be mixing for about 15 mins all up probably - so an electric stand mixer is best!

Once that's done, ice your cake neatly and wipe off any spills from your platter.

Then you decorate it!
I bought some royal/white icing from the shop and coloured it with food colouring and then cut it out with the cookie cutter. I left them overnight in cupcake trays so they could keep their shape. 2 days is better time to dry as overnight had them dry but soft. Still yummy though.

Decorate to your hearts content!!!

Freakin' awesome rainbow layer cake!!!

Well I saw this cake on a blog online and I just couldn't resist, I had to make it! :-)

So I made it my own and this is how I did it.

2 packets of butter cake mix (or vanilla or lemon, or anything that has no colour to it really).
Lots of icing (I made cream cheese icing)
Smarties, m&ms or 100s&1000s to decorate
Red, blue, yellow and green food colouring
Strawberry jam
Whipping cream

Make up your packet cake mix in a bowl, but before you do, weigh the bowl and remember the weight! When made, measure out 1/6 of your mixture into a smaller bowl and add red food colouring.
Pour into a cake tin and bake - there won't be much mixture - I used a 23cm tin and it was just enough mixture to cover the bottom of the tin. It only takes about 15 mins to bake or so.
When cooked, put on a cooling rack and repeat with orange (red and yellow), yellow, green, blue and purple (blue and red) food colouring. You will then have 6 cakes. If you have 2 tins, you can obviously cook 2 at a time - but make sure they are the same size tin!!!

When the cakes are all cooked and cooled, then you layer them. I started with red on the bottom, and spread some warmed strawberry jam on each layer, and then some whipped cream. Be careful how much you use, as it is a VERY sweet cake - less is best. Also don't get the cream too close to the edges as you don't want it to squelch out.



Layer them all up, and then cover the entire thing with icing, and decorate. I used a cream cheese icing, and had it slightly runny, so it just oozed down the sides of the cake - easy! But a thick harder icing will work just as well.

I decorated with some smarties and popped in the fridge.