Baking Heaven April 2020

WWW.FOODHEAVENMAG.COM APRIL baking heaven 27

JULIE T SE AR

cake onto the frosting, reserving the

last layer for the upper surface, so

that you have the nice flat part of the

cake that was in the base of the tin

facing upwards. Doing this makes

it neater and easier to frost as you’ll

avoid getting too many crumbs in the

frosting and its smoother and neater

this way.

4 Place the last layer on top, lining

up where you have made your guide

mark and make sure it’s all flat and in

line. Press down on the top sponge

gently with your palm to secure the

sponges and frosting together.

5 Using a palette knife, generously

spread more of the frosting all around

the sides of the cake first (this allows

you to be able to hold the top of

the cake still

while you work

around the edges). Use a gentle

pressure against the side of the cake

with the palette knife and use a back

and forth spreading motion to spread

the coating over the sides.

6 Once the side is covered, spread a

nice even layer over the top of

the cake.

7 Once the whole cake is covered,

clean the palette knife and go around

the cake again to smooth off the

excess covering, spreading it until you

are happy that it’s nice and neat. This

is a crumb-coat, which is a good base

to work on to give a neat second coat

finish as it locks in any crumbs and

holds the sponge together firmly once

chilled. Pop this into the fridge to chill

and firm up for 1 hour.

8 For your final second coat layer of

frosting, repeat the crumb-coating

process as above, but using a slightly

thicker coating. Paddle around the

side and over the top until you are

happy with the covering. If you have

a side scraper, use this to neaten

around the side and top of the cake.

Place in the fridge to chill for a further

30 minutes.

9 Mix the cocoa and vanilla extract

together to make a thick liquid and,

using a clean paintbrush or pastry

brush, bend back the bristles and

‘flick’ the chocolatey liquid up against

the sides and over the top of the

cake until you have a lovely speckled

pattern. The cake looks lovely just in

its speckled covering, but for a fun

Easter twist you can add piles of mini

Easter eggs or even use a cereal nest

and load up with eggs.

These little pastel buttercream

cakes look beautiful in any shade.

Add the nest on top if you wish, or for

quickness, you can also simply

crumble chocolate flakes or

Shredded Wheat on the top and add

mini eggs. They look lovely plain too.

Juliet says
★★★