Royal baby shower cake
John bakes a cake showing how to achieve a good vibrant colour with professional colour pastes, available online and in craft shops.
Then, Charlotte shows how to cover the cake in white sugarpaste to conceal the colour within - including how to roll out icing, how to get it on the cake, and how to get the perfect finish!
Ask John and Charlotte a question about cake-making on our Facebook page
Ingredients
250gm softened butter250gm icing sugarZest of 1 orange4 large eggs225g self-raising flour½ tsp salt
To decorate:
1kg sugarpaste for an 8” cakeSugar syrup (made by dissolving 2tbsp caster sugar in 2tbsp boiling water, set aside to cool)Cornflour for dusting
Equipment:
2 x 20cm loose bottomed cake tins; greased and bases lined Pastry brush16” non-stick rolling pin (or larger)Marzipan spacersPizza wheelA straight-edge smootherRibbon
NB: Marzipan spacers set the even thickness, non stick rolling pins prevent us getting in a sticky mess, and straight edge smoothers give us those perfectly straight smooth sides. There is no secret trickery, only clever kit.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4
Whisk together the butter, sugar and zest until very pale and fluffy
Beat the eggs in a jug and whisk in, a little at a time. The mixture will probably curdle; if it does don’t panic, just carry on.
Sift over the flour and the salt and fold in until you have a very smooth batter
Add either blue or pink food colouring (gel pastes) to the batter, adding more for a deeper colour
Divide equally between the baking tins and bake for 18-22 minutes, until evenly risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean
Allow to cool in the tin for five minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely
To decorate
Begin by levelling, filling and crumb coating your cake with buttercream cake before refrigerating for 20 minutes. This gives you a great hard surface to work against and should result in beautifully sharp edges on your cake.
Brush the entire surface of your cake – top and sides – with sugar syrup to make it sticky enough for the sugarpaste to adhere
Knead your sugarpaste on a clean surface – if you find that your hands are getting sticky or hot, dust a small amount of cornflour onto your hands only, like weightlifters do. Kneading too much cornflour into your sugarpaste will dry it out.
Roll out your sugarpaste using a non-stick rolling pin in long, fluid strokes. Use marzipan spacers at either side of the paste to ensure an even roll out.
When your sugarpaste is fully rolled out and your rolling pin has reached the top of your spacers, check that you have rolled out a large enough circle to cover your cake.
Lift your paste onto your cake. Using your arms as a centre point, lift your sugarpaste to just above your cake until your arms are in line with the centre and gently remove your arms out to either side, allowing the icing to fall onto the surface of the cake between your arms.
Using the fleshy part of your palm, gently press along the top edges of your cake, securing that top edge of sugarpaste
Work your hand around the sides of your cake, starting at the top edges and working your way to the bottom, always smoothing in upwards strokes. Smoothing down can put stress on your sugarpaste and cause cracks and tears. You will know that you are done when you can feel the work surface beneath your hand
Cut away any excess sugarpaste from the bottom of your cake using a pizza wheel and use your straight edge smoother to smooth out the surface of your sugarpaste. With the long straight edge of your smoother flush against your work surface and the paddle of the smoother gently pressed against your cake, work your way around the cake two or three times and over the top. Don’t overdo this as the sugarpaste will start to dry and you could end up causing the cracks that you have worked so hard to avoid.
Finish the cake with a white ribbon around the bottom.
To make the sugarpaste bow
Use any left over sugarpaste to make a quick bow for the top of your cake. To do this, roll out your sugarpaste into a length around 5mm thick.
Lay a 30cm ruler on top of the paste and cut along both long edges with a pizza wheel. Your strip will need to be 8” long. Cut your 8” strip into two 4” strips and cut a triangle from one end of each. These will now become the tails of your sugarpaste bow. Dab a little water at the top and bottom of each tail and position these on top of your cake.
Cut a 12” length of sugarpaste and divide into two lengths of 6”. These will form the ribbon loops of your bow. Curl these lengths into two large teardrop shapes and position them at the top of your ribbon tails.
Cut a 3” strip to create the centre of your bow. You will need to measure this centre part against your bow and trim any excess away. Once you are happy that this section will fit, paint its back with a little water and press into position.