let me tell you the story of how we got to this amazing cake in front of my little girl and all about how i made it- all. by. myself. i am so proud that i actually did a little dance on the spot when i finished it, so let me tell you all about it. when i asked madeline what kind of cake she'd like this year, she said a chocolate cake with bright purple icing, with things that come out of the inside when you cut into it and sprinkles and roses on top and a drip please. um what? i am in no way a professional cake maker and to be perfectly honest, i normally leave these things up to her super talented aunty jenny... but it looked as though i was up this year. brace yourself and prepare to be amused. there's some great entertainment to be had in this story.
here's our inspo right here, although the colours were completely off. no no no. we wanted purple, with a yellow drip and pink, yellow and purple chunky sprinkles that matched her birthday invitations.
step one. find the sprinkles i wanted that matched the cake perfectly. hahahaha. you're funny. the only ones i could find that i was happy with, was this batch. in the uk of all places. they were going to cost much more than i was willing to pay to get them here and i was not keen on the off chance that they wouldn't even make it here, so it was a hard pass.
instead, i went to woolworths, spent $14 on three packs of sprinkles and made my own. no, i'm not joking. i tipped them out one by one and sat there and fished out all the colours i wanted to get the perfect mix, then did the same with the smarties i bought to put down the middle.
apparently i have way too much time on my hands. either that or i'm ocd as. more likely to be the latter.
anyway... back to the cake. i used my favourite chocolate cake recipe, which you can find
here- with buttercream icing from
here (via i am baker)
ingredients
454g unsalted butter, room temperature
907g icing sugar, sifted
large pinch of salt
1-3 tablespoons milk as needed
extracts and flavourings as desired
instructions
Combine the butter,
sugar, and flavourings in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle
attachment. Start mixing on low
speed until the sugar is incorporated with the butter. Increase the mixing
speed to high and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Adjust the consistency
with milk as needed. Store unused
buttercream in the refrigerator in an airtight container and bring it back to
room temperature before using to pipe or frost.
after being instructed that bright purple was necessary i bought purple gel colour to make sure i got it right... that was our next set of amusement, the very specific instructions on the box, not to exceed 253 drops in 1kg of icing. that is very specific. what happens if you do?
anyway, this was the colour i got after using what i thought was about half the bottle, so i messaged bestie and asked her what she thought. i got a very blunt response of "use the whole bottle" um what? okay. she assured me the world would not end and that it was perfectly safe, so i put the whole lot in and what do you know, we are all still alive and well.
i was also instructed to add this. it smells horrific and i can't even place the taste, but oh my goodness am i glad that i used half the recommended amount - cause it is truly something else.
layers were trimmed to make them flat, iced in-between and stacked ready for the crumb coat...
which i did... then popped it in the fridge - only to turn around and see the smarties carefully sorted and set aside for the filling sitting next to me on the bench. oh my word. i had to flip off the top layer, press a circle into the middle as a guide, then use a skinny sharp knife to cut out the middle and scoop it out carefully - only to add the smarties, put the lid back on and continue. deep breaths. i really did consider telling her oh sorry mate, no filling for you, but i just couldn't bring myself to.
okay smooth coat on - let's go! time for the drip. please send help.
okay. i am actually still getting over how easy this was. i found instructions here (via chels sweets) would you believe that the drip is made solely of cream and white chocolate chips?! me neither. all these years i avoided them cause i thought they looked too hard. well, they aren't actually that bad. please note, i literally used a spoon to get it on the top and make the drips. no squeeze bottle used. i also used normal food colouring, not gel and just added it drop by drop, stirring the entire time. it was fine and i had no issues with the chocolate seizing, thank goodness!
Colourful Drip
Recipe
1/3
cup heavy cream (77 grams)
1
cup white chocolate chips (175 grams)
gel food coloring
White Chocolate
Ganache Drips:
Heat
heavy cream in a heat proof bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds, until it's
just beginning to bubble. Gently
pour white chocolate chips into the heavy cream, making sure they are
fully covered with cream. Allow mixture to sit for 1 minute. Stir
slowly until the cream and white chocolate are combined. Some bits of chocolate
may not be fully melted yet. Heat the mixture again for 20 seconds, and stir.
Repeat as necessary until all the chocolate bits are fully melted and
incorporated. Add
in gel food coloring, if desired. Allow to cool until desired texture is
reached (barely warm to the touch). If
it seems too thin or thick, you can add a touch more chocolate chips or heavy
cream! The type of cream and white chocolate that you use can affect the
consistency, so feel free to adjust as needed.
drip was on, no disasters and looked surprisingly good. all that was left was to pipe rosettes on the top... (i confess, i practiced on the benchtop so as to not ruin the cake lol) and then put the sprinkles on the top and amongst the rosettes. done, done, done and it looked a-ma-zing! i think i was almost as proud of this cake as when i pushed out a baby. i'm sorry, but it's the truth!
seriously - ta-dah!!!!!!! wheeeeee. i made that and yes i will continue to brag about it.
and maddies's favourite part - was cutting into the cake and seeing the inside splash out like so, which made me so glad that i made the effort to go back and fix it. the cake was in no way perfect, but it looked great and tasted good - and more importantly madeline loved it. well worth the effort i'd say!
and now i just need to find a project to use the other two new packets of sprinkles i made!
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