This isn’t just a delicious recipe for a vanilla buttercream cake, I’m going to breakdown how to create the unicorn cake that’s been flooding our social media feeds for months. Even if you’re not going to be making a unicorn cake anytime soon, below is a detailed recipe on how to bake, prep and frost a basic 6-layer vanilla cake – which, if you’ve ever been asked to make a birthday cake, should come in handy, no matter how you decide to decorate it!
First up, I just want to say that I am absolutely aware that the unicorn cake trend is basically almost over. Well, if you’re a serious baker, instagrammer or following ‘baking trends‘ that is. But if you’re a 3 year old, then a unicorn cake is still VERY much a big deal! So when I got THREE requests in one week from various family members to make a Unicorn Cake, that’s clearly the universe telling me to post it. If I’m being asked for unicorn cakes from nieces, cousins and step-daughters then obviously you are all too! So, hopefully this post will encourage you to bake any little girl (or boy!)’s dream come true…
Tip #1: Never frost and decorate a cake on the day you baked it. In other words, always prep the sponge and frosting the day or night before. Freshly baked sponges are a wonky/collapsed cake waiting to happen – especially if you’re layering them 6-sponges high!
Tip #2: Freeze (or at least refrigerate) your cake layers. Frozen cake layers are rigid and cold which makes it easier to build a straight cake and also immediately sets the frosting so it’s sturdier. Since I learnt this trick it’s changed my life!
Tip #3: Make all the fussy decorations (like the unicorn cake ears/unicorn horn) a few days before so you’ve got less to worry about.
Tip #4: Get a cake turntable. It will make your life so much easier!
Getting the look of the main on the unicorn cake usually requires a lot of different piping nozzles, but if you’re not a good piper you can buy some of these mini meringues from any supermarket and use those – I popped them on my cake in between the buttercream because I love the crunch they add! Do you regularly bake birthday cakes? I would love to hear some of your tips and what creations you’ve made – post them in the comments below!
VANILLA BUTTERCREAM UNICORN CAKE
Makes 1 large 6-layer cake (20cm wide x 20cm high) or 35-40 cupcakes
Timeline: 2 hours for baking the sponges and prepping the frosting, 3 hours for assembling and decorating
Recipe adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
To make the sponge, preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius (170 if you’re using a fan-forced oven). Grease and line 6 x 20cm cake tins with baking paper. If like me, you don’t have 6 (who does), you’ll have to reline and bake the cakes in batches (which is perfectly okay).
Using an electric handheld or stand mixer (with the paddle attachment), place the butter, sugar, flour and baking powder in the bowl and mix on low speed until it resembles a sandy breadcrumb texture. Whisk together the milk, vanilla and eggs then, with the speed still on low, gradually pour the liquid into the dry ingredients. Beat the batter until smooth and light – about 2 minutes. Divide the cake batter in between your lined tins (if you’re OCD like me you can weight it so they’re all even – I used about 320g in each of my tins). Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden, springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool completely before levelling them off by cutting off the tops with a bread knife. At this point I wrap the layers (usually with the base of the cake tin underneath to keep them steady) and freeze (or refrigerate) them overnight. Mix quickdry with edible gold lustre dust to form a thick paste and use a paintbrush to paint the unicorn horn, ears and eyes gold. Allow to dry.
To make the unicorn horn, ears and eyes; roll an egg-sized piece of fondant into a long sausages which tapers off at both ends (so both ends are thinner than the middle). Bring the two ends together to form a loop then twist the loop to form a unicorn horn! Insert a wooden skewer down the centre of the horn and allow to dry overnight. For the ears, form two large triangles then round the edges off. Place the triangle in the palm of your hand to give it a curved shape and allow to dry. Pinch off two small pieces of fondant for the eyes, roll into sausages, flatten slightly and form into curves.
To make the buttercream, place the icing sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix until it forms a thick sandy paste. Gradually add the milk and vanilla on low speed until combined then increase to high and whip until very white and fluffy – about 5 minutes.
To assemble the unicorn cake, identify your two most perfect, level sponges – they will be your top and bottom. Place one of them on a cake board. If you’re using a cake turntable, tape the cake board to the turntable so it doesn’t move around – I use masking tape. Top the first sponge layer with a big dollop of buttercream and use a palette knife to spread it out roughly. Top with the second sponge and press it down firmly so the buttercream underneath squishes out the sides (if you’re OCD like me, you can use a spirit level to make sure each level is straight). This is also where the cold sponges help as they’re rigid and set the buttercream almost immediately – so no wonky cakes! Continue layering sponge and buttercream, ending off with perfect sponge you reserved earlier. Using a palette knife scrape the frosting that squished out from the sides and spread that thinly all over the cake – this is called a crumb coat. Refrigerate until firm. Now cover the entire cake in a thick layer of frosting. Using a palette knife perpendicular to the turn table, scrape off an even layer of frosting to give you a smooth edge. Refrigerate again until firm.
To decorate the unicorn cake, divide the remaining buttercream into 3 bowls and tint each pink, purple and turquoise. Prepare 3 disposable piping bags with different nozzles – I used this one, this one and this one. The idea is to have large, medium and small nozzles to give varying textures. Place a different colour frosting in each. Insert the unicorn horn and ears into the top of the cake then stick the eyes on the front using buttercream. Now start piping varying sizes of swirls as the main starting at the top of the cake and working your way down the side. Sprinkle the main with edible glitter.
This Salted Caramel Cake has buttery malt sponges sandwiched together with layers of caramel and toffee buttercream with just a touch of sea salt. Can I get an 'Amen?'. Caramel on top of caramel, on top of more caramel - this, can never be a bad thing. Especially when it's to celebrate a birthday. A very special birthday!
It's The Kate Tin's birthday!!!! Hooray! If you've been following my bakes for a while, you'll probably know that this is the blog's 8th birthday. Can you believe it? 'Cos I can't. It feels like just the other day that I was celebrating it's 7th with this cake and oh, the 6th birthday cake was also so delicious!
Back in the day, when The Kate Tin was a baby, she actually had a different name. She was called 'Katelyn's Korner' - original, ey? And the 'K' in the 'Corner' is so very 90's. *Cringe*. Luckily someone knocked some sense into me and she was promptly renamed. But not before I decided to only do baking.
When it first started, I'd share sweet and savoury recipes - meals, drinks, whatever. Because I was fresh out of chef school and working in restaurants and wanted to share everything that I'd learnt. But you guys, you had other ideas. Everytime I posted something drenched in chocolate or dripping in caramel, you LOVED that, and I just couldn't ignore it. Secretly, I was happy, because I LOVED doing it too! So today, on it's 8th birthday, I thought I'd celebrate with a throwback to one of my (and your) favourite cakes. This salted caramel cake is one of my greatest hits and if you haven't tried it yet, then well, your weekend just got exciting! Kx
Salted Caramel Coma Cake
Serves 6-8
260g salted butter, softened
100g golden syrup
200g brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
250g cake flour
2 tsp (10ml) baking powder
60g malted milk powder (aka Horlicks)*
40ml milk
Toffee buttercream
120g white sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) water
3/4 cup (180ml) cream
250g butter, softened
200g (1/2 tin) tinned caramel or dulce de leche spread
Sea salt flakes, for sprinkling
Caramel popcorn, to serve (optional)
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celcius. Line the bottoms of 2 x 15cm springform cake tins and set aside. Cream together the butter, syrup and brown sugar until very light and creamy (about 8-10 minutes). Beat in the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Sift in the cake flour, baking powder and milk powder and fold together, adding the milk to form a thick batter. Divide the batter between the two cake tins and spread evenly. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean and the cake has pulled away from the sides. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, upside down, on a cooling rack. To make the buttercream, place the sugar and water in a pan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer, without stirring, until the mixture begins caramelising. Once the syrup reaches a toffee-colour, pour in the cream and swirl to combine. Allow to cool completely. Cream the butter until very white and fluffy (about 8-10 minutes) then add the toffee sauce and whip to combine. To assemble, slice each cake in half to create 4 layers. Spread the first layer with tinned caramel then a layer of buttercream and top with the next cake layer. Continue until 4 layers are formed. Frost the entire cake using the buttercream (I used some tinned caramel along the bottom of the cake to achieve an ombre affect). Place the remaining buttercream in a piping bag (to create a swirled effect, simply smear stripes of caramel in the piping bag before adding the buttercream) then pipe blobs onto the top of the cake. Place in the refrigerator to set. To serve, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and top with caramel popcorn (if desired).
*If you can't find malted milk powder, simply toast normal milk powder until golden brown in the preheated oven. Allow to cool, pass through a sieve and incorporate as usual.
TIP To make a 25cm cake with 4 layers, double the recipe above.
What do you make when LG sends you their new NeoChef microwave oven and a mystery basket of ingredients containing maple-flavoured golden syrup, cinnamon sticks, vanilla coffee, edible balls and gold dust? You make magic! Well, Magic Cake, that is.
What is magic cake, you ask? See all those beautiful layers? There’s a dense caramelly bottom topped with a set custard and finally a light airy sponge on top. All of those layers were magically formed in the LG NeoChef. Amazing, right?
I’ve always been a microwave fan and I’ve got loads of recipes to show for it: this Microwave Chocolate Lamington recipe or my favourite Microwave Fudge. The LG NeoChef is beyond a standard microwave, though. It has fancy new smart inverter technology which allows you to control the watts; high for fudge, low for melting chocolate and super low for proving dough or even making yoghurt!
I used the grill combi setting for this cake. It’s perfect for microwave cakes or cupcakes as it combines the speed of microwave cooking but has a grill element to brown and caramelise the top. For me it’s a total game-changer. This cake is so versatile – feel free to swop out the coffee for chocolate, the syrup for honey or the cinnamon for cardamom. What’s your favourite thing to make in the microwave? I’d love to know in the comments below!
Vanilla ice cream, white chocolate shavings, gold dust and edible balls, to serve
Instructions
Preheat the LG NeoChef oven to 160 degrees Celsius or set the oven to grill combo – see TIP. Grease and line a standard loaf tin (or a similar sized microwaveable dish if you’re using the combo setting).
Bring the milk and cinnamon stick to the boil. Set aside and allow to cool completely. Strain.
Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff peak stage.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the syrup and coffee until light. Add the melted butter and beat for another minute then add the milk.
Fold in the sifted flour – the mixture will look lumpy but don’t worry, this is correct.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites with a metal spoon.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden and the cake jiggles like jelly when you shake it lightly.
Allow to cool in the pan for at least 3 hours before unmoulding. Make the syrup by combining the ingredients and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Serve piled with vanilla ice cream, white chocolate shavings, drizzling of syrup, gold dust and edible balls.
TIP If you want to make it using the microwave setting, set the LG NeoChef cook mode to Grill-Combi 1 and cook for 10 minutes or until slightly wobbly but set. Allow to cool completely before serving.
Meet your new Christmas cake! It’s a moist chocolate fruit cake made with Food Lovers’ Market Luxury Festive Cake Mix, which is loaded with raisins, sultanas, cherries, flaked almonds, candied fruit and citrus peel. I also added some molasses and 70% dark chocolate, to really make it deep and dark! Of course the moist chocolate fruit cake wasn’t enough on it’s own so I sandwiched the layers together with a velvety chocolate mousse and a shiny gold-lustred mirror glaze. No marzipan or fondant icing in sight! Mirror, mirror, who’s the fairest cake of them all? Mine. Obviously.
The chocolate fruit cake itself is super moist – what’s the secret? I measured out the Food Lover’s Market Luxury Festive Cake Mix and then soaked it with some other delicious goodies like cherries and prunes overnight. This really plumps up the fruit and keeps it moist. Check out some of these other tips on how to keep your cake moist – the apple idea is very clever!
Now, let’s talk about that shiny mirror glaze. I know it looks intimidating but I promise you that it’s WAY easier than covering a cake in fondant. And it goes without saying that it tastes better too. The best thing about this mousse cake, is that you can make it and freeze it weeks in advance, then the day before, pour over the mirror glaze and stick it in the fridge to defrost. And if you think it’s too early to start thinking about Christmas, it’s just 6 weeks away – eeek!
60ml spiced rum (or brandy), plus extra for soaking
zest and juice of 1 orange
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tbsp The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder
2 large eggs
75g self-raising flour
50g flaked almonds, toasted
50g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped roughly
Chocolate Mousse
375ml whipping cream, divided
170g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Chocolate Glaze
½ cup water
1 cup sugar
½ cup cream
½ cup The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder, sifted
1 ½ Tbsp gelatine powder
Instructions
Place the fruit cake mix, prunes, cherries, butter, sugar, molasses, rum, zest and juice and spices in a large saucepan and heat gently until the butter is melted. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely then cover and allow to stand overnight. Preheat the oven to 150C. Line 1 x deep cake tin 20cm round, with a double layer of baking paper. To the soaked fruit cake mix, add the eggs, flour, almonds and dark chocolate chunks. Pour the mixture into the lined cake tins and bake in the preheated oven for 1 ½ hours. A skewer inserted into the middle should still have a few crumbs clinging to it. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the cake tins. Once completely cool, cut the cake in 3 so you have 3 cake layers. Wash the cake tin and line the sides with a 10cm high collar made from foil or baking paper – this is to extend the height of the pan. Set aside.
To make the mousse, whip half the cream to stiff peaks then refrigerate until needed. Heat the rest of the cream to just below boiling point, then pour over the chopped chocolate. Allow to stand for a few minutes then stir until smooth. Set aside. Whip egg yolks on high speed in a stand mixer until light and stiff. Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the syrup reaches 120 degrees celcius on a sugar thermometer. Start whipping the egg yolks again and gradually add the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl. Whip until the mixture has doubled in volume and is body temperature.
Test the temperature of the ganache (it should also be body temperature), then fold the ganache into the whipped yolks. Fold in the whipped cream in 2 batches.
To assemble, place a fruit cake layer in the bottom of the prepared cake tin. Brush the cake layer with the extra rum or brandy, pour in 1/3 of the chocolate mousse, then alternate with fruit cake, rum and more mousse, ending with the chocolate mousse. Make sure to press the cake layers down into the mousse. Freeze the cake for at least 4 hours or overnight.
To make the glaze, bring the water, sugar and cream to the boil. Whisk in the cocoa and simmer for 4 minutes while stirring. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the gelatin over ¼ cup of cold water, allow it to absorb and then whisk this into the hot cocoa mixture to dissolve. Allow to cool completely at room temperature.
To assemble the cake, remove from the freezer and unmould (use a hair dryer on low setting to release it if necessary). Peel away the paper collar and place the cake on a cooling rack with a baking sheet underneath. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake in one go, making sure it drips down the sides evenly. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes
TIP To add gold to the glaze, add a few drops of liquid gold lustre (available at baking shops) before pouring onto the cake.
Welcome to the dark side. But don’t worry, there’s cake! Black brushstroke cake, to be exact. Earlier this year, in my monthly baking column for Food24, I wrote about how darkness was going to descend on baking and treats were going to go gothic. Sometimes trends are silly and sometimes they can be fun – especially when they tie in with a celebration. And while I definitely don’t celebrate Halloween, it does give us bakers a fantastic excuse to get super creative. When the folks over at Food & Home Entertaining Magazine asked me to create a gothic food feature for their October issue, it was like putting me in a candy store! This Black Brushstroke Cake was the result and it is one heck of a showstopper – a jet-black velvet cake is sandwiched together with burnt vanilla buttercream and decorated with black chocolate brushstrokes. What is burnt vanilla, I hear you ask? Well, by baking the vanilla, the sugars in the bean caramelise giving it a more intense, toasty flavour.
If you haven’t yet tried the chocolate brushstrokes – check out my tutorial here – it’s a lot easier than it looks!
BLACK BRUSHSTROKE CAKE WITH BURNT VANILLA FROSTING
Makes 1 x 20cm cake, serves 6-8
240g cake flour
490g Natura Sugars Golden Caster Sugar
100g The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder
10ml (2 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
5ml (1 tsp) baking powder
large pinch salt
2 large eggs
180ml (¾ cup) strong coffee, cooled
320g buttermilk
125ml (½ cup) canola oil
black gel food colouring
BURNT VANILLA FROSTING
1 vanilla pod, halved
125g butter, softened
60g The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder, sifted
300g Natura Sugars Demerara Icing Sugar, sifted
45 – 60ml (3 – 4 tbsp) milk
black gel food colouring
BLACK BRUSHSTROKES
black powder food colouring
100g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, melted
For the cake, preheat the oven to 180˚C. Grease and line 3 cake tins (20cm diameter) with baking paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and make a well in the centre. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, coffee, buttermilk, canola oil and a few drops black gel food colouring.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Divide the batter among the tins and bake in the preheated oven, 30 – 40 minutes or until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centres of the cakes comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tins, 5 minutes, before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool down completely.
To make the icing, place the vanilla pod on a baking sheet in the oven and roast, 5 minutes, until fragrant. Scrape the seeds from the pod and discard the pod. Place the seeds in a blender or pestle and mortar and blitz or pound to form a fine powder. Cream the butter until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla powder, 60g cocoa, the icing sugar, milk and enough gel food colouring to make a black icing. Beat until smooth and completely combined.
For the brushstrokes, line a baking sheet with baking paper. Mix the powder colouring into the melted baking chocolate. Drop a teaspoonful coloured chocolate onto the baking sheet, then use the back of a spoon to smear the chocolate like a brushstroke over the baking sheet. Repeat until all of the chocolate has been used up. Allow to set before peeling off the brushstrokes.
Assemble the cake by layering the sponges with burnt vanilla buttercream icing between each layer. Cover the entire cake in icing and smooth out with a palette knife. Using dollops icing, stick the brushstrokes on the front of the cake to decorate.
Dulux has just unveiled the Colour of the Year for 2018 and it couldn’t be more swoon-worthy! Also dubbed grown-up pink, you’ll be seeing Pictured Rocks everywhere in the coming year – from décor to fashion and of course, that means it’s going to be all over cakes too! The folks over at Dulux challenged me to create a cake inspired by the Colour of the Year and the Comforting Home Palette and boy, did I have fun!
Because store-bought sprinkles come in boring colours, I thought I’d show you how you can make your own – that way, you can make them in the Colour of the Year – or any other colour for that matter. Your cakes and bakes will be on-trend, and best of all, stand out from the crowd!
Making your own DIY sprinkles is as easy as whipping up a batch of royal icing, colouring it and then piping it in strips (however thick you like) on a lined baking tray. Allow them to dry at room temperature and then break them up – easy!
I made mine in the Colour of the Year (Pictured Rocks) and a dusty pink to compliment the colour scheme of my cake.
To mix the Pictured Rocks frosting, I used equal amounts of light purple powder colouring and tulip pink, and then added a touch of navy blue and a touch of black. Matching the frosting to the Dulux colour was actually easier than I thought it would be – give it a try, you’ll be surprised!
The Colour of the Year represents the warmth of natural wood and goes perfectly with shades of chocolate, coffee, toffee, vanilla frosting, and spices – warm comforting colours that look so decadent you just want to eat them!
I used a vanilla frosting as a base and tinted it in a variety of shades that go well with the grown-up pink. Then I had fun ‘painting’ the cake using an oil-painting effect with the frostings. Dab and smear blobs of different coloured frosting all along the side of the cake.
To give it wow-factor I topped it off with a big white chocolate sail (tinted with powder colouring), some white chocolate geometric shapes and of course, macarons to finish it off.
This cake was a ridiculous amount of fun and the one thing I realized was that I’ll be taking more colour inspiration from paint palettes in the future!
HOMEMADE SPRINKLES
Makes 2 cups of sprinkles
Royal icing
1 egg white, beaten
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
squeeze of lemon juice
To make the royal icing, whisk the egg white gently then add the icing sugar until a stiff paste forms. Add the lemon juice and stir. To make your own sprinkles, fill a piping bag fitted with small plain nozzle with coloured royal icing and pipe long strips of royal icing onto a piece of baking paper and allow to dry overnight or in a low oven (60 degrees). Once dry, break them up and mix the colours together. Store in an airtight jar.
WHITE CHOCOLATE SAIL DECORATIONS
2 x A4 plastic acetate sheets (also known as transparency sheets - available from stationery shops)
500g white couverture chocolate, tempered OR good-quality white baking chocolate, melted
powder food colouring of your choice
Arrange two rolling pins or cylindrical objects on a countertop (these are going to be used to give the sails their wavy shapes). Place the acetate sheets on a clean counter. Colour the chocolate with the food colouring. Spread the white chocolate thinly over the sheets using a palette knife. Arrange the chocolate-coated sheet over the rolling pins or objects and leave them to set. Peel off the acetate and they're now ready to be be used on the cake.
