Phil's Halloween brain cake
To continue the Halloween celebrations, Phil Vickery is in the kitchen with a cookery masterclass like no other!
He'll be showing us how to horrify our friends and family with a step by step guide to making an (almost) too realistic bloodthirsty brain cake!
Ingredients
300g soft unsalted butter300g caster sugar5 medium eggs, beaten well2 tsp vanilla extract300g self raising flour
For the butter cream:
175g icing sugar 75g soft unsalted butter2 tsp water4 tbsp seedless raspberry jam750g nude coloured fondant icing
Redcurrant jelly, to glaze
Method
Preheat the oven to 130C Fan /150C / Gas 2. Grease a 2 litre oven proof bowl.
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Gradually beat in the eggs and vanilla essence then fold in the flour. Spoon into the greased bowl.
Bake in the oven for about 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hours, covering the top of the bowl with foil after 30 minutes.
To test whether the cake is fully cooked, push a skewer into the centre of the cake and check that it comes out clean – if not, cook for another 10 minutes before testing again.
Leave the cake in the bowl for 15 minutes before carefully turning out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the butter cream by gradually whisking the icing sugar into the butter and water.
Shape the cake into a slight oval shape by slicing a little off two opposing sides, then shape the top and edges. Using a sharp knife, make a narrow channel running from front to back of the cake.
Place the jam into a culinary syringe, or piping bag fitted with a filling nozzle. Using a chopstick make random deep holes all around the cake, then use the syringe or nozzle to fill the holes with jam.
Spoon a small amount of butter cream in the centre of a cake board and sit the cake on top. Use the rest of the butter cream to coat the entire cake.
Take a small piece of fondant icing and roll to make a rope, about 8mm in diameter. Place on the cake, coiling it to cover a small area. Repeat with the remaining icing until the cake is completely covered.
Brush the redcurrant jelly all over the cake to glaze.