Creme Egg Cake

This is a great cake for Easter- with the cross-section of a Cadbury Creme Egg, it is surprisingly simple to construct.

The cake consists of six thin layers of white cake, sandwiched with a little buttercream, a centre made of cake crumbs mixed with yellow buttercream and a coating of Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate ganache.

I recently purchased a 6 inch diameter cake pan, which is perfect for this cake- one of the reasons I wanted the pan is that I want to be able to make tall layer cakes which aren't too big. You can buy 6 inch pans from most homeware departments, and online (check Amazon). To make this a 9 inch diameter cake, you can double the ingredients listed and bake it in three 9" pans.

To make the six layers, you have to slice the three cakes. I have never actually done this before, and, at first thought it would fall apart, but, thankfully, it didn't. If you don't have a steady hand/eye, you could skip this stage and make a cake with three layers instead.

Assembly

Once the cakes have completely cooled, level the tops by cutting off just as much cake as needed to get rid of the rounded top.

Slice the cakes in half by running a bread knife, levelly, trough the horizontal centre of the cake, keeping it flat at all times.
Sandwich the layers of cake atop each other with as little buttercream as necessary (you will need the rest for the top and sides). Stop when you have used five layers (leave one). Mark the centre of the top of the cake with a skewer and poke it through the cake. Mark a circle, of about 1-2 inch diameter, around the skewer and cut down with a sharp knife, stopping before the end- leaving the bottom layer in-tact.
Scraping the cake crumbs from the centre, mix them in a bowl with a little of the remaining buttercream and a few drops of yellow food colouring.
Fill the hollowed centre of the cake with the yellow mixture.
Top with the reserved layer of cake, securing with a small amount of buttercream.
Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream and refrigerate to harden a little.
Spread the ganache on top of the cake and over the sides. To achieve a dripping-effect, spread about three quarters of the ganache over the cake, return to the fridge until firm and pour the remaining (fairly runny- reheat very gently in the microwave till thin but not warm) ganache on top of the cake, spreading carefully outwards to the edges.

White Cake

Ingredients:

180ml (¾cup ) whole milk

135g (4-5 eggs)egg whites

2tsp vanilla extract

¼tsp almond extract

275g (2¼ cups) plain flour

1tbsp baking powder

½tsp salt

125g (9tbsp) unsalted butter

260g (1cup + 2tbsp)caster sugar  

Method:

1. Butter and flour three 6 inch cake pans (or double the ingredients and use three 9 inch pans). Preheat the oven to 180◦C/350F/mark 4.

2. Mix together the milk, egg whites, vanilla extract and almond extract.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter until pale and smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy.

5. Add one third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until combined. Mix in one third of the milk solution until fully amalgamated. Continue beating in alternating thirds of flour and milk mixture and ensure everything has been thoroughly incorporated.

6. Divide the batter into thirds and pour into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Buttercream

Ingredients:

100g (7tbsp) unsalted butter

200g (2 cups) icing sugar, sifted

1tsp vanilla extract

1-3tbsp milk or cream  

Method:

1. Beat the butter until light and creamy. Mix in the icing sugar and continue beating until fluffy and well-mixed.

2. Mix in the vanilla extract and as much milk or cream as required for an ideal spreading consistency.

Milk Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:
200g milk chocolate
100ml double cream

Method:
1. Break the chocolate into pieces into a bowl.

2. Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan and pour over the chocolate. Leave for a minute before stirring until the ganache is homogenous. Leave to cool and refrigerate, as required, to thicken before use.

Design and ganache from Peculiar Kitchen
White Cake recipe from Martha Stewart