I was recently contacted by the team at BakingMad.com to try out one of their Valentine's recipes. BakingMad.com is a very helpful website that is full of not only many recipes, but also lots of helpful tips to aid you with your baking. They partner with Billingtons Sugar, Allinson's Flour and Nielsen Massey flavor extracts. They sent me some flour, sugar and vanilla extract to make my chosen recipe with. I chose this hidden design cake as I've wanted to try out this technique for a while, it looks so impressive and clever! There are lots of different ideas out there of what image to hide inside. I think this is a good one to start off with if you want to give hidden designs a go for the first time.
I started with the pink sponge. I creamed together 175g butter and 175g golden caster sugar.
I then added 3 beaten eggs and 1 tsp vanilla extract and whisked in.
Finally I folded in 175g self raising flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder and enough Sugarflair Baby Pink food colouring to get a strong shade (about 3 blobs).
I poured it into a loaf tin and baked on 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3 for 45 minutes. Leave it to cool completely before cutting (I left it overnight). When fully cool I cut off the ends of the sponge, then scored marks along it the same thickness as my heart shaped cutter.
I cut the sponge into pieces and then used my heart shaped cutter to cut out hearts from each piece. BakingMad.com recommends making cake pops with the leftovers. They also make good snacks.
I made the chocolate sponge by creaming together 175g butter and 175g golden caster sugar. I then added 3 beaten eggs, 1 tbsp milk and 1 tsp vanilla extract and whisked in.
Finally I folded in 150g self raising flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder and 35g cocoa powder.
I put some mixture into the bottom of the tin, about 3cm high, and set the heart shaped pink cake into it as neatly as I could in a row.
I then spooned the remaining mixture around and on top of the pink sponge.
I baked on 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3 for 45 minutes.
To make the buttercream I mixed together 300g icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 150g butter. I then added in 75g melted dark chocolate and mixed until smooth.
I spread the buttercream over the fully cooled sponge and sprinkled on some pink heart sprinkles I found in the Tesco baking aisle.
Now came the moment of truth! Did the hidden design technique work for me? As you can see, yes it did! I thought it looked great and I was really pleased with the effect. I do think I could've used a larger heart shape, but I'm glad I was cautious on my first go on this. It's such a cool effect and will certainly provide a surprise for whoever you bake it for!
I am entering this cake into Jibber Jabber UK's Love Cake February challenge where the theme is For The Love Of Cake. This cake certainly represents love!
Recipe from BakingMad.com. I was sent flour, sugar and vanilla extract to make this recipe with. All opinions are my own.
