Pink Frilly Cake

I celebrated my 30th birthday on Saturday and wanted to make something girly (still hanging onto my youth) to mark the occasion. I've wanted to make one of Martha Stewart's creations for a while, so after flicking through her gallery, I came across the pink ruffle tower cake and new that was the cake for me. Here's how it turned out:

I made a triple layer chocolate cake, with nutella between the layers, then frosted the outside with light pink buttercream using a large petal tip (wilton #103). I added a single cream sugarpaste rose on the top to make it extra girly.


Here's the recipe I used for the chocolate cake:

Ingredients

• 200g dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids)
• 200g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp instant coffee granules 
• 125ml cold water
• 85g self-raising flour
• 85g plain flour
• 1⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 200g light muscovado sugar
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 25g cocoa powder
• 3 medium eggs
• 75ml buttermilk

Method

Prepare three 6" (2" deep) round tins by greasing the sides and lining the base with baking paper. Preheat the oven to fan 140C. Mix the coffee granules into the cold water and pour into a heavy-based pan. Add the chocolate (broken into pieces) and the butter as well. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted - don't overheat. While the chocolate is melting, mix the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugars and cocoa in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps. Next beat the eggs is a separate bowl and stir in the buttermilk. Pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, runny consistency. Pour mixture into the tins and bake for about 90 minutes so that when you push a skewer in the centre it comes out clean and the top of the cakes should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit). 

Once the cakes are done, remove them from the oven but leave them to cool in the tin (don't worry if the tops of the cakes dip slightly). After about 30 mins, turn them out of their tins and onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.When the cakes are cool, sandwich them together with generous amounts of nutella. You can leave the cake plain, or cover it in buttercream if desired.


Happy baking xx