I thought about doing either an apple or a chocolate cake as the main basis of the cake but I wasn’t sure what quantity of mixture I would have needed. The cake shop recommended a six egg mixture (although I thought they said six ounce so upon making a six ounce mix quickly established it would not be enough and made a second one to put on top!) so I followed my tried and tested Victoria sponge recipe from my mum’s Good Housekeeping recipe book. The cake took quite a while to cook through to the centre so in order to stop the cake burning I covered it with foil after 30minutes in the oven. Despite greasing the pan within an inch of its life before putting the mixture in it was a bit of a challenge getting it out! I had to get my dad to hold it upside down over a wire rack while I banged on the tin to try and loosen it. Luckily it then gently fell out with zero cake casualties.
After waiting about 30-45 minutes for the cake to cool down enough I started the decorating part of the process. Now I’ve never decorated a big cake before, let alone one shaped like beer but it seemed straightforward enough and I think I did quite a good job, if I do say so myself. For the main beer part I used one packet of Regalice royal icing in ‘teddybear brown’. I rolled it relatively thinly to ensure it covered the whole area and also so that the moulding on the cake still showed through clearly. For the froth, I made one batch of hummingbird bakery buttercream icing, applied with a spatula and a tea spoon and voila! A cake that looks like beer.
My brother was
very pleased with his cake, and so was I, although he did say it was cheating
that I used a moulded tin… And while I was worried that the cake might be a
little dry after its extensive oven time, it isn’t at all. All in all I think
my first foray into the world of cake decorating went quite well and it’s
definitely something I shall be doing more of in the future!
Here are the two
recipes I used:
Victoria Sponge
from Good Housekeeping
175g
butter/margarine
175g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
175g self-raising
flour
Grease and base
line 2x 18cm (7inch) tins
Beat the butter
and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating
well after each addition. Fold in half the flour using a metal spoon then fold
in the rest
Divide the
mixture evenly between the tins and level with a knife. Bake in the oven at
190°C for about 20minutes until they are well risen and firm to touch. Leave to
cool on a wire rack
Hummingbird
Bakery Buttercream Icing
250g icing sugar
80g unsalted
butter
25ml milk
Put in a bowl and
blend together until it looks like icing!