I can't claim this one for my own - it's based on Nigella's buttermilk birthday cake. As she says, it's perfect - it'll take any shape, and slice beautifully without collapsing.
You'll need:
1 large swiss roll for the turrets (you could make your own, but I ran out of time, and Morrisons came up trumps)
4 ice cream cones
1 very large pack (1kg) of ready roll fondant icing
a tube of smarties
a tube of pink icing (once again, you could make your own and pipe it, but life's too short)
black food colouring
a tablespoon or two of apricot jam (or gooseberry, or something pale)
a couple of tablespoons of strawberry jam, to sandwich the cake layers
For the cake sides, you'll need a 23cm (9 inch) square cake tin. And the following:
125g butter
200g white sugar
3 eggs
75g yoghurt mixed with 125ml milk (or 200ml buttermilk)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees, and line your cake tin with greaseproof paper (bit fiddly, but worth it).
I did all this in the food processor, as it's a right pain if you have to beat the butter and sugar together by hand (an electric mixer would probably be even easier).
Sling in the butter and sugar, and pulse on a high speed until they are light and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs (one at a time) on a lower speed, until everything's blended together.
Pour the yoghurt, milk and vanilla into a measuring jug, and mix well. In a bowl (or second jug), mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Add a couple of tablespoons of the flour mix to your egg/butter/sugar combo in the food processor, and blitz for 20s or so. Do the same with a couple of tablespoons of the yoghurt/milk/vanilla mix. Repeat ad nauseam until everything is combined. It's a bit of a faff, but does make for a light cake.
Pour into your cake tin, and then bake in the oven for about 35 minutes, until it's golden brown on top and a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes or so in the tin, and then leave to cool, preferably overnight.
To assemble your palace, you'll have to wrap each of the main components in fondant icing. Divide the swiss roll into 4, and then brush boiled jam over each segment. Roll out about a quarter of your fondant icing (you'll want to dust the surface liberally with icing sugar), cut into wide strips and then roll up each swiss roll piece in it.
Divide your main cake into 4 long strips. Halve each of these, and sandwich them together with a layer of strawberry jam. Brush all over with boiled jam, and then cover with fondant icing.
Decorate with pink icing (use this to stick on the Smarties). I also coloured some of the fondant icing with black food colouring, to make some doors/windows.
Stick the cones on top of the turrets, and add some flags/candles. On no account attempt to assemble all this on a windy, sandy Northumberland beach...
You'll need:
1 large swiss roll for the turrets (you could make your own, but I ran out of time, and Morrisons came up trumps)
4 ice cream cones
1 very large pack (1kg) of ready roll fondant icing
a tube of smarties
a tube of pink icing (once again, you could make your own and pipe it, but life's too short)
black food colouring
a tablespoon or two of apricot jam (or gooseberry, or something pale)
a couple of tablespoons of strawberry jam, to sandwich the cake layers
For the cake sides, you'll need a 23cm (9 inch) square cake tin. And the following:
125g butter
200g white sugar
3 eggs
75g yoghurt mixed with 125ml milk (or 200ml buttermilk)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees, and line your cake tin with greaseproof paper (bit fiddly, but worth it).
I did all this in the food processor, as it's a right pain if you have to beat the butter and sugar together by hand (an electric mixer would probably be even easier).
Sling in the butter and sugar, and pulse on a high speed until they are light and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs (one at a time) on a lower speed, until everything's blended together.
Pour the yoghurt, milk and vanilla into a measuring jug, and mix well. In a bowl (or second jug), mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Add a couple of tablespoons of the flour mix to your egg/butter/sugar combo in the food processor, and blitz for 20s or so. Do the same with a couple of tablespoons of the yoghurt/milk/vanilla mix. Repeat ad nauseam until everything is combined. It's a bit of a faff, but does make for a light cake.
Pour into your cake tin, and then bake in the oven for about 35 minutes, until it's golden brown on top and a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes or so in the tin, and then leave to cool, preferably overnight.
To assemble your palace, you'll have to wrap each of the main components in fondant icing. Divide the swiss roll into 4, and then brush boiled jam over each segment. Roll out about a quarter of your fondant icing (you'll want to dust the surface liberally with icing sugar), cut into wide strips and then roll up each swiss roll piece in it.
Divide your main cake into 4 long strips. Halve each of these, and sandwich them together with a layer of strawberry jam. Brush all over with boiled jam, and then cover with fondant icing.
Decorate with pink icing (use this to stick on the Smarties). I also coloured some of the fondant icing with black food colouring, to make some doors/windows.
Stick the cones on top of the turrets, and add some flags/candles. On no account attempt to assemble all this on a windy, sandy Northumberland beach...
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