This Valentines I decided that it would be nice to make something edible and delicious for my Hubby instead of the normal run of the mill gifts. I took a few ideas from various places and this is what I ended up with and I must say I am really pleased with the result.
I basically took my favourite vanilla sponge recipe, baked it in two 8 inch round pans, made a template of a heart using an empty cereal packet, put the two pieces of sponge on top of each other and using a really sharp knife, cut round the template.
I filled the centre with strawberry jam and then made a buttercream to roughly ice a thin layer all over the cake, just so I had something to stick my fondant onto.
Next I took a large piece of white ready made fondant, kneaded it until pliable and then rolled it out until the desired thickness and size to cover my cake. I smoothed this on, cut where necessary and hey presto, one iced heart shaped cake.
I had some left over pink fondant from a previous cake, this I rolled out and cut lots of little hearts. I covered my cake with these using edible glue, but a dab of water does the trick just as well. If you have any left over white fondant you can always colour this yourself and why stop at pink, rainbow colours would look great, as would pretty pastels.
It looked great, tasted amazing and Hubby loved it, as every girl knows, away to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
Happy Valentines.
For the sponge
150g caster sugar
150g soft butter or margarine
3 medium free range eggs
175g self raising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 160 degrees (fan assisted) or 180 degrees normal.
Beat caster sugar and butter together until creamed (well combined). Scrape down sides of bowl and add 1 egg at a time and a little flour until all mixture is combined.
Do not over mix as this makes the cake sponge tough.
Spoon the mixture 50/50 into two 8 inch greased and lined tins and cook in oven for 18 minutes or until lightly golden. Once cooked, cool on a wire rack.
Vanilla Buttercream frosting ingredients
240g icing sugar
125g good quality soft butter (unsalted) Splash of whole organic milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place soft butter and 1/3 of icing sugar into a bowl and beat on low for 10-15 seconds in a free-standing mixer. Once partially mixed, turn up the speed to high and beat until well combined. Repeat this process until all sugar has been incorporated, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl often.
Scrape down a final time and turn the mixer up to medium speed. Add your vanilla extract, wait until combined and then add the milk to blend all the ingredients together. The milk also helps to loosen the mixture and make it light and fluffy.
You will also need
Strawberry Jam or jam of your choice
White fondant icing
Pink fondant icing
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