Sunflower Birthday Cake

The inspiration for this one came from a lovely friend of mine who was turning 21 at the time. She loves the Disney film Tangled and anything summery, so I came up with the idea of a sunflower cake (similar to the flower patterns in Tangled) with a little surprise of bright pink sponge cake once cut into.

Ingredients:



For the sponge cake:

100g Margarine,
100g Caster Sugar,
2 Medium eggs,
100g Self-raising flour,
Pink food colouring gel.

For the Chocolate buttercream:

200g Unsalted butter,
400g Icing sugar,
50g Cocoa-powder.

To Decorate:

500g Ready to roll white icing,
Green, Yellow food colouring gel,
Gold sugar candy balls.


Method:

Sponge:

1. To make the 2 layered sponge cake, you will first need to grease and line 2 7inch cake tins.
2. Pre-heat the oven at 180degreesC/Gas mark 4.
3. Cream the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, and pale in colour,
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little flour with each one until all the flour is combined,
5. Add in food colouring a tiny amount at a time until the desired colour is achieved,
6. Split the mixture between the 2 tins and bake for 20-25 mins, leave to cool once baked.

Butter-cream topping:

1. Cream the unsalted butter with the icing sugar and cocoa-powder, adding only a little at a time, until thoroughly combined.
2. Spread the butter-cream between each layer and cover the entire cake.

Decoration:

1. Take half of the ready to roll icing and add a small amount of Yellow food colouring gel. Knead this until the colouring is smooth and streak-free.
2. Roll this to approximately 2mm thick, using a (large) leaf template/cutter, cut 28 ‘leaf’ shapes, pinching the end of each to lightly bend/fold into a 3D petal. Place these in the fridge to set.
3. Arrange the petals in 2 layers around the cake, starting with the underneath layer.
4. Repeat this process with the remaining ready to roll white icing, instead colouring with Green.
5. Cut smaller leaf shapes as well as small flower shapes to create a ribbon of decoration around the side of the cake.
6. Finally add the sugar candy balls to add a little sparkle!

This makes a brilliant celebration cake and with the added surprise of the coloured sponge, becomes perfect for children!

(For those of you that want a little bit more detail on a cake, I finished the cake with a dusting of icing sugar as well as brushed whipped egg-white around the edge of each petal, then dipped in caster sugar before putting in the fridge to set, this gave a lovely frosted effect!)
Enjoy!

x K x