So this weekend was\u00a0the Boy’s\u00a0birthday and I was baking him a cake.\u00a0 A recent issue of Good Food magazine had a cake on the front cover where every layer was a different colour.\u00a0 Looked pretty good so I thought I would give it a go.\u00a0 The recipe recommended Dr Oetkers gel colours so I duly trotted off to Sainsbury to get some.\u00a0 At \u00a31.49 for a little tube they’re not the cheapest colouring on the market but I was assured that I would get vibrant colours so I invested in 4 tubes – red, blue, yellow and the luridly described neon orange.<\/p>\n
After a frantic day of cleaning, sorting, running the Girl to dance lessons and pony club, I was ready to begin the bake.\u00a0 A quick read through the recipe led me to my first problem.\u00a0 “4 medium eggs” What?\u00a0 medium eggs?\u00a0 Every recipe I possess for baking uses large eggs.\u00a0 Even my esteemed Good Food magazine uses large eggs.\u00a0 Everybody I know buys large eggs.\u00a0 Why has this woman suddenly thrown me a curve ball and said medium eggs?!\u00a0 Just to emphasise the point, the recipe then opens the brackets of doom “(it is essential to use the right size)”.\u00a0 Right, well I’m not heading up to the local shop to source medium eggs.\u00a0 It’s basically sponge cake that’s been coloured so I find a nice victoria sponge recipe that uses large eggs.<\/p>\n
First sponge mix made and it’s time for the colouring.\u00a0 I pick up the tube marked neon orange and squeeze a bit in.\u00a0 Not a lot of difference so I squeeze in a bit more.\u00a0 The sponge mix has now changed to a pale shade of apricot.\u00a0 I finally squeeze in the rest of the\u00a0 tube.\u00a0 With a sponge mixture now a delicate peach colour, I pop it in the oven.\u00a0 Hardly the neon orange I was expecting!<\/p>\n
On to sponge number 2.\u00a0 This time I went for blue and I was less cautious with the colouring.\u00a0 Half the tube in – looking a bit green.\u00a0 Rest of the tube goes in – still green.\u00a0 A lovely shade of green but not the vibrant blue claimed by the tube.<\/p>\n
Finally sponge number 3.\u00a0 The red.\u00a0 or raspberry pink as I prefer to call it.<\/p>\n
I didn’t bother with Sunshine Yellow.<\/p>\n
Sponges cooled and it was time to layer up the cake.\u00a0 As\u00a0I piled them one on top of the other, sandwiched with vanilla buttercream, I realised that I was creating something along the lines of a cake leaning tower of pisa and it was in more danger of falling over than the original.\u00a0 In the absence of a team of skilled engineers,\u00a0 I decided to make two cakes and seperated the top three layers from the bottom.\u00a0 Once smothered in buttercream and sprinkled with white chocolate stars, mini gold stars and few silver balls they looked quite passable.\u00a0 The Boy was pleased.<\/p>\n
Next day, several other boys joined my Boy for his birthday.\u00a0 The moment of truth had arrived.\u00a0 I cut the first slice.\u00a0 There was a lovely effect of layered coloured sponges.\u00a0 True, it wasn’t the vibrant orange, blue and red I’d been going for but the apricot, green and raspberry looked very nice and just as effective.\u00a0 It was demolished by said boys so I suppose that deems my fraught baking day a success!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So this weekend was\u00a0the Boy’s\u00a0birthday and I was baking him a cake.\u00a0 A recent issue of Good Food magazine had a cake on the front cover where every layer was a different colour.\u00a0 Looked pretty good so I thought I … Continue reading