Fairy-bread cake
SERVES 12 // PREP TIME 1 HR // COOK 55 MINS
PLUS DRYING, COOLING
Two favourites collide in this mash-up of birthday cake
and fairy bread. Party hats mandatory. Begin this recipe
a day ahead to make the rainbow sprinkles.
RAINBOW SPRINKLES
150 gm fondant
Red, yellow, green and blue
food colouring1 For sprinkles, divide fondant
into 4 pieces. Starting with
one piece, knead on a surface
lightly dusted with cornflour
until smooth and pliable, then
add 2-3 drops of food colouring,
kneading until smooth and
coloured evenly. Repeat with
remaining fondant and colours.
Roll out each piece to 2.5mm
thick, brushing o excess flour.
Punch out discs with a plain
7mm piping-bag nozzle, transfer
to a tray lined with baking paperand dry at room temperature
overnight. Store in an airtight
container until required.
2 Preheat oven to 160°C.
Grease two 20cm square cake
tins and line them with baking
paper. Combine flour, cornflour,
vanilla sugar and baking powder
in an electric mixer fitted with the
paddle attachment. Add butter
and beat to coarse crumbs. Add
eggwhite and beat until a paste
forms, then add milk and oil and
beat until smooth (5 minutes).
Divide among tins and bake
until golden, risen and a skewer
inserted withdraws clean or with
only dry crumbs (30-35 minutes).
Cool briefly in tins, then turn
out onto a wire rack lined with
baking paper to cool completely.
3 For buttercream, melt
chocolate in a bowl over a375 gm (2⁄ cups) plain flour
75 gm (⁄ cup) cornflour, plus
extra for dusting
450 gm vanilla sugar
(see note)
2¼ tsp baking powder
165 gm butter, coarsely chopped
195 gm eggwhites, at room
temperature (about 6 eggs)
270 ml milk, at room temperature
1½ tbsp vegetable oil
WHITE¡CHOCOLATE
BUTTERCREAM
75 gm white chocolate
3 eggwhites
110 gm (⁄ cup) caster sugar
Scraped seeds of
½ vanilla bean
90 gm butter, softened
Fairy-bread cake
Wall painted in
Bauwerk Vervain.
Knife from Salt &
Pepper. Text page
Wall painted in
Bauwerk Balsam.
Plate from Salt
& Pepper. All
other props
stylist’s own.
Stockists p168.GOURMET TRAVELLER 127saucepan of simmering water
(don’t let bowl touch water). Set
aside. Combine eggwhite and
sugar in a separate bowl and
place over simmering water.
Whisk until hot to touch (or 55°C
on a thermometer), then transfer
to an electric mixer and whisk
on high speed until thick,
glossy and cooled to room
temperature. Beat in chocolate.
vanilla and butter until smooth.
4 Spread a third of the
buttercream over one cake,
top with other cake and spread
with remaining buttercream.
Scatter with sprinkles and
cut into triangles to serve.
Note For vanilla sugar, store
used scraped vanilla beans
in caster sugar, or combine
scraped seeds of ½ vanilla
bean with the caster sugar.