Philip's 21st Birthday Beer Cake

This was another one of my secret baking missions to make something for someone in my house without them knowing. This time it was my for my brother who has just celebrated his 21^st birthday. I had a lot of different ideas before I settled on making a Beer Cake. I went to my local cake supply shop and saw the baking tin mould hanging from the ceiling and knew it would be perfect as, shockingly, he rather enjoys beer. Any people who clicked on this thinking this would be an amazing cake with beer in it, I’ll disappoint you now by telling you it’s just an amazing cake shaped like beer!

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!

Then of course, Lick Your Spoon!