My Little Pony Rainbow Dash Cake

For my daughter's 7th birthday she wanted a My Little Pony cake, in particular a Rainbow Dash cake.

I decided to do an 8" round cake featuring Rainbow Dash and a rainbow. For a little twist I decided to make the actual cake rainbow coloured and the keep the icing white.

I made up the cake mix and then split it into 6 equal bowls. I then added food dye to each bowl, using red, orange, yellow, green and blue. I decided against using indigo and used a violet coloured buttercream. I put the mixture into the cake tin in concentric circles starting with an outer ring of red and working down to the blue in one half, then doing the opposite in the other, i.e. blue to red.

rainbow cake mix

rainbow cake mix

I then baked the cake, trimmed it and filled it with butter cream. Then I put a layer of butter cream over the cake and put it in the fridge.

I covered the cake in plain white icing. The rainbow I made using my coloured fondant. Unfortunately the red fondant had become brittle and difficult to work with and I had no time to wait until I could buy or make some more. I had no choice but to reverse the rainbow so the red would be the smallest amount of colour used. Rainbows actually go from red on the outside down to voilet on the inside. I had to make mine the other way around and hope that no-one noticed. (My eldest daughter noticed straight away) The rainbow was made on a piece of card as I realised it would be the only way to make it stand up.

The pony I made myself by cutting out pieces of fondant and placing them on the cake. I was a little worried that if it went wrong I would end up with a big mess, but my back-up plan was to cover the area with a white disc and start again. Luckily this didn't happen as I was quite happy with the result. I then added the rainbow and fixed it in place with icing clouds. I also piped around the outside bottom edge of the cake and added my daughter's name.

I was nervous about how the cake looked inside. I have made rainbow cakes before but always used thin slices of coloured sponge cake fitted together with butter cream, but I have found these to be a little sickly. This method was an experiment and I had no idea how it was going to look until I cut it open.

Rainbow cake inside

Chocolate and Ginger Cream Cake

It was my birthday on Monday so the perfect excuse to come up with something special with flavours I love, chocolate and ginger. I wanted a light cake that would go really well with a cream filling and topping.

Ingredients:

• Inch of fresh ginger peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tbs caster sugar
• 250g self-raising flour
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 170g unsalted butter or Stork
• 170g soft light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 4 tbs golden syrup
• 160g dark chocolate
• 250g buttermilk

for the filling/topping

• 250g whipping cream
• 1 inch of fresh ginger peeled and sliced

Method

• Start with the filling. bring the cream and ginger to almost boiling in a pan. Put in a bowl, cover and place in fridge for at least two hours, or overnight. Before using, strain the cream and whip into peaks.
• preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4
• grease and line two 7 inch cake tins
• put the fresh ginger and caster sugar together in a bowl and set aside.
• melt 60g of the chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water. Leave to cool
• chop the remainder of the chocolate into small pieces
• In another bowl cream the butter and brown sugar together until fluffy.
• beat in the eggs one at a time
• beat in the golden syrup
• beat in the melted chocolate and the sugared ginger
• add the ground ginger and cinnamon to the flour
• add one third of the flour and spice mixture to the cake batter and fold in
• add one third of the butter milk to the cake batter and fold in
• continue to add the further two thirds of flour and buttermilk alternately until it is all folded into the cake batter.
• fold in the chopped up chocolate
• divide the mixture between the two tins
• bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.7
• allow to cool, first in tins, then on a rack
• Once cakes are completely cool cover on cake generously with the whipped ginger cream
• place the other cake on top and cover the top with the remainder of the cream

The combination of ginger and chocolate with the ginger cream really is delicious. I enjoyed my birthday cake :-)

How To Bake A Cake With a Flat Top

My cakes always come out domed, that's why I tend to make two halves in sandwich tins. They still have domes though and I waste a lot of cake with trimming and my hips just can't afford it. I've tried cake pops but they are just not my thing (i.e. I can't get them to work) So I decided to pick up some tips on how I could make a flatter cake and have less waste.

Tip 1: Insulate the tin. You can buy insulating strips for your cake tins, or if you are a cheap skate like me, just use doubled up greaseproof paper tied on with string. Insulating means the cake is cooked more evenly, usually the sides cook quicker which means the middle domes.

Tip 2: Make sure you are extra careful when folding in the flour. You know it has to be done slowly right? Do you sometimes get lazy like me and just stir it in without thinking? I creates too much air and the cake rises unevenly.

Tip 3. Cook the cake on a slightly lower temperature for a longer time. This ensures the heat is evenly distributed through the cake and prevents the sides cooking first.

Tip 4: Make a slight well in the centre of the cake batter before cooking. I've tried this several times before and it doesn't really work, but might help with a combination of the other tips.

So, I had a go and baked a regular sponge cake  in one 8 inch cake tin using all four of the above tips.

Here is the result:

What do you think? I was quite happy that it came out fairly flat. It did sink a little right in the middle and I think another 5 minutes of cooking might have prevented that, although the cake was cooked. I had to put a piece of greaseproof paper before it had cooked properly as it was starting to get quite brown on the top. I turned it over to decorate it and didn't have to trim it all, so success, no wastage.

Aston Villa Cake

Aston Villa Cake

My niece sent me a photo on Facebook of an Aston Villa cake and asked if I could make one for her. This is my interpretation of the cake. A simple vanilla sponge cake filled and covered with butter cream. Iced with white fondant and decorated in the Aston Villa colours of claret and blue. The badge I cut by hand and I used star and letter cutters for the other decorations.

Gran Turismo Cake

My partner's brother is always playing Gran Turismo 5 so I chose this as a theme for his birthday cake.

I made  simple racing car from blue fondant starting with a tube like shape bigger at one end than the other. I then flattened the sides. I made a groove along the length of the car at the top and a dip in the middle. Next step was cutting out a strip of blue fondant for the spoiler. I left this to dry out so it would stick on straight.

Using black fondant icing I made four wheels using icing tubes as cutters. The back wheels I made slightly larger than the front. I also left these to dry out.

With a ball of black fondant I made the racing driver helmet the right size to fit in the dip in the car.

Using white fondant icing I made a strip to use as the driver's visor on his helmet and a stripe to fit in the groove along the top of the car. I also cut out a disk for the car number.

This is what the car looked like when finished:

My next step was to make the logo badge for Gran Turismo 5. I copied the image from the game box. I made a black fondant square and cut out the lettering for the logo from blue and red icing. I used white for the number 5.

The cake was a basic 7inch sponge cake which I filled with buttercream and covered with white fondant. I was really short for time and unable to freeze the cake before shaping, so it did end up a little uneven.

However, the finished cake was happily received by the birthday boy.

Gran Turismo 5 Cake

Basic Cake Recipe

This is the basic cake recipe I use for most of my cakes. This will make one 7inch round or square cake.

Ingredients:

180g Stork (baking margarine, I find it works nicer than butter)

180g caster sugar

3 medium eggs (if they are too large or too small I will weigh them to make sure I have 180g)

180g self-raising flour.

If making a chocolate cake I omit 2 tbs of flour and add 2tbs of cocoa powder.

For the filling I use butter cream

50g Stork or unsalted butter

150g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

Method:

First I cream the Stork and sugar with a wooden spoon.

Then I add the eggs, one at a time and beat them in with my spoon. I find doing it this way the mixture never curdles, but if it does you can always add a little flour.

Once all eggs are in I add the flour and mix slowly.

I use two 7 in cake tins and share the mixture between both.

I then put them in the centre of the oven at gas mark 6 (200 C) for 25 mins.

I always check they are cooked through with a skewer, it should come out clean.

I leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning out of the pans. Then I leave the cakes to cool completely before freezing.

I always freeze cakes,even if only for an hour. This makes them much more easier to trim and shape. Before freezing I cover them with cling film. They defrost pretty quickly once back at room temperature.

To make the filling I soften the butter (Again with my wooden spoon) and then add the sifted icing sugar. once mixed I add the the vanilla extract.

I often use buttercream to put a layer on the cake before icing. I think it tastes nicer than apricot jam.