Recipe Post 2016 No.25- Bunting Cake

Hey guys!

Firstly, thanks so much for your comments from my previous post. Secondly, I had chosen to bake a recipe which seemed fun, easy with an element of difficulty and suited a very.... mixed-weathered August. 

Warning: By all mean, please do not try this recipe without assistance OR experience.

To make this adorable Bunting Cake,you'll need:

• 375g/13oz of butter or margarine, softened to room temp
• 375g/13oz of unrefined caster sugar (if you really cannot find this specified sugar anywhere, just use caster sugar)
• 6 large FREE-RANGE eggs
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 375g/13oz of self-raising flour
• 2-3 tbsp of milk
• Few drops of blue food colouring
• Few drops of red food colouring

For the Italian Meringue Buttercream, you'll need:

• 300g of caster
• 5 large free-range egg whites

• 500g/1lb of unsalted butter, softened and cut into squares
• pinch of salt
• Few drops of vanilla of vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp of raspberry jam

Method:

Note: To really test whether the recipe's word is one to believe, I had timed the preparation time it had actually taken for me.

💗 To prepare for the sponge layers, preheat the oven to 180°C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the base of three 18cm/7in cake tins with baking paper.

💗 Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little extra milk if necessary- don't worry if your mixture looks the same as picture 7. By adding the milk, it will look more normal.

💗 Divide the mixture equally into three mixing bowls. Add a few drops of blue colouring (I used yellow instead) into one bowl and mix gently to get an even colour. Add red food colouring to the other bowl and again mix for an even colour. Leave the third mix plain.


💗 Spoon the cake mixtures into the three cake tins and gently spread out with a spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes , or until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

💗 Remove from the oven and set aside for five minutes, then remove from the tin and peel off the paper. Place onto a wire rack to cool completely.

💗 For the icing on the cake, fill a large bowl with cold water. Pour 100ml/3 1/2fl oz of water into a pan and add 250g/9oz of caster sugar. Heat gently and stir until the sugar dissolves, then bring the mixture to the boil. Warning: Be very, very careful with attempting this step otherwise there shall be a risk of serious accidents. 

💗 Use a damp pastry brush to wash down any sugar crystals on the side of the pan. Boil the mixture rapidly, without stirring it, until it reaches 121°C/250F (I'd advise you to use a kitchen thermometer for this).

💗 Preferably using a free-standing (though a hand held one is fine), whisk the egg whites until stiff. Start this when the sugar temperature of the syrup get to about 100C. Gradually whisk in the remaining caster sugar.

💗 As soon as the syrup reaches 121C/250F, plunge the base the base of the pan into the bowl of cold water, to prevent the syrup from getting any hotter. Only leave the pan in the water for a few seconds or the syrup will get too thick.

💗 Switch the mixer on full speed and gradually pour in the syrup in a thin stream into the middle of the bowl, trying not to get any syrup onto the sides of the bowl or the whisk, as it will set there and won't get mixed in properly. Continue whisking the mixture for about 8-10 minutes until the bowl feels just lukewarm. If the syrup starts to become too thick to pour,return the pan to the hob very briefly.  

💗 Gradually whisk in the butter then add the salt( I learnt that the salt brings out the flavors more) and the vanilla extract. The meringue will collapse a little, and the mixture may look like it's curdled(for photographs of what curdled looks like, scroll to the bottom of this page), but keep whisking it until it forms a smooth fluffy buttercream.

💗 Spread the jam over two of the cake layers and top with a layer of icing. Sandwich the cakes together. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. Remove from the fridge and gently cover the whole of the cake with the rest of the icing. Sprinkle with decorating sprinkles(optional).

💗 To make the bunting decoration, take two lengths so doweling and cover with a spiral of coloured string. Tie a length of string across both doweling rods. Cut 5cm/2in lengths of ribbon or diamond-shape bits of fabric. Fold the bunting 'flags' over the string and the glue to secure. Gently ease the doweling into the cake and you have  a lovely sweep of bunting. With the prep time going over thirty minutes and ending up being 47:31:07 more.....I came to a time of 77:31 minutes of preparation.

Pictures

 

 

 

 

 Whisking the egg whites 

   

Sugar Syrup

      

Adding caster sugar to the mix

Curdle of the buttercream

 

Ending result!

Before this post ends......


🌼 My favorite song of the month is: Let Me Love You 

🌼My best friend has created a new blog and would really appreciate it if you took a minute to check it out! The Everything DIY
  🌼 New photos on my Snapchat- check it out and follow me to be the first to see them! Account name: @sweetreats xx

🌼I had attended my cousin's wedding and managed to take a couple sneaky photos of the wedding cake.

 

🌼 The new trend is making waves!
🌼 Don't forget to +1 this week's post and comment!

🌼Favorite book: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

🌼 Mo Farah wins a gold for Team GB once again, with a race which

shall go down through the history of GB athletes.
See you next week!

#sweetreats xxx