I made this St Valentines Cake for my gorgeous husband. I used the following super light sponge recipe: 10 oz Tesco plain flour, 10 oz caster sugar, 4 fresh medium eggs, 2 oz Tesco cornflour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 7 fl oz Mazola corn oil, 7 fl cooled water.
Sift all dry ingredients into large bowl – important to sift to get in lots of air. Separate eggs into two bowls. Add egg yolks, Mazola corn oil and water together beating until mixed together well making lots of air in them. Add to
dry ingredients beating in well. Whisk egg whites until white and forming peaks like for making meringue. Fold into mixture gently to keep in all the air.
Pour into lined (important) heart shaped tin (about 8 ins size) and cook in the middle of oven at 160 degrees centigrade for bout 50 minutes. Test cake is completely cooked by inserting a thin knife and checking that cake
has shrunk away a little from sides of tin. Let cake cool a little before turning out of tin, then leave to cool completely on wire rack.
Take 4 oz Tesco unsalted butter and 4 oz icing sugar and blend together until pale and fluffy. You can add a little vanilla essence to flavor but not too much. Over sweetness can spoil overall taste especially when also using fondant icing.
Cover completely cool cake with butter icing on top and down sides, leave a little butter icing for later to stick decorations. Set cake aside in cool place away from cat and Cocker spaniel! Take cake board and fondant icing that
has been colored with ruby food dye. Roll out using icing sugar sprinkled on table (will stick bad if not) place on cake board and trim sides. Paint pink lustre over it to add a bit of glamor. Roll out white fondant for heart cake and pat gently using smoothers. Use medium wavy crimper at cake base for extra prettiness.
I made hearts and rose and letters using left over ruby colored fondant – tip –always use these dyes by dipping cocktail stick in dye pot and adding to fondant. You can control depth of color better this way. Hearts, words and rose were then painted with ivory lustre dust to give shiny sheen and made then stand out a little against the white surface of the cake. I left in the air for about 1 hour to harden a little.
I made leaves from dying a little white fondant with holly green food dye and use smaller leaf cutter and vainer for realistic effect. I then placed hearts, words, leaves and rose on cake top using a little left over butter icing as the ‘glue’.
Easy bit: Share and enjoy with gorgeous husband, cat and Cocker spaniel.
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