Here’s a wee pink number I recently made for my niece’s third birthday. I also made it for mum’s 70th (sans the floss) and boy was it a hit. It’s so simple, everything is just whizzed together in a food processor. I’ve adapted it from the super talented Annabel Langbein. Annabel makes it as one large cake with cream cheese icing which is even simpler. There are so many occasions where making a large cake can seem overwhelming, but with this cake it needn’t be, although this looks fussy and is sure to impress, no one will know it wasn’t slapped together slickity slick. x
Serves 20
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
Finely grated zest and juice of 4 lemons
2 cups neutral oil (vegetable or canola would work well)
1 3/4 cup plain unsweetened yoghurt
1 cup desiccated coconut
4 cups self raising flour
a pinch of salt
Lemon Buttercream
500g unsalted butter, softened
10 cups icing sugar
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
2-3 drops natural pink food colouring
Chocolate drip
250g dark chocolate, chopped
150g unsalted butter
Fairy floss for piling
Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease 2 x 22cm springform tins, line the bases with baking paper and grease the sides.
Place sugar, eggs, lemon zest and juice, oil and yoghurt into a food processor or mixer and whizz to combine. Add coconut, flour and salt and pulse until just combined (careful not to overmix).
Bake about an hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool slightly before removing from the tins.
For the buttercream place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 6 cups of the icing sugar, the juice, and the zest. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. Add natural colouring and mix well.
Cut each cake in half so you have 4 layers. You can just keep to 2 layers (and make less icing) but 4 will give you a higher cake. Ice between layers top and sides and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
When the cake is almost ready to come out, make your chocolate drip by heating the chocolate and butter over a double boiler very gently. When the water underneath is boiling, turn off the heat and allow it to sit. This will prevent the chocolate seizing.
Remove the cake from the fridge and drizzle chocolate around the top edges of the cake allowing it to drip then pour over the middle. Place back in the fridge. Add fairy floss and edible flowers just before serving.
Gretchen Lowe, Food Stylist Auckland
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