PRINCESS LAYER CAKE

SERVES 30 PREPARATION: 20 MIN BAKING: 20-25 MIN A CAKE

CAKE (makes 2) 750ml (3c) cake flour 100ml cocoa powder 20ml (4t) baking powder 10ml (2t) baking soda 500ml (2c) sugar 500ml (2c) water 250ml (1c) oil 60ml (¼c) apple cider vinegar

ICING 3 quantities basic butter icing (recipe on page 38) pink food colouring TO DECORATE princess printed edible picture (available on order from cake shops) princess figurines (available at toy stores and most supermarkets)

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 35 x 20cm cake tin with nonstick spray and line with baking paper.

1 Sift the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

2 Whisk the wet ingredients together and pour into the dry ingredients. Using a large ball whisk, slowly whisk until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool for 10 minutes then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat to make a second cake.

3 Icing Prepare the butter icing and colour with pink food colouring.

4 To decorate Put one of the cakes on a cake board, spread some of the icing on top and put the other cake on top. Cover the entire cake with icing, smoothing the surface with a palette knife. Put the picture on top.

5 Add more food colouring to the rest of the icing to make it darker pink. Attach a star-tip nozzle to a piping bag. Scoop in the icing and pipe borders along the bottom and top of the cake.

6 Arrange the princess figurines on top.