Lavender and lemon fox cake
Kim-Joy’s vegan celebration cake from series 9 requires skill, but is sure to impress. if you don’t have time for the whole creation, try making just the biscuits to enjoy with a cup of tea. HANDS-ON: 4 hours BAKE: 50 mins SERVES 30
You will need: 23cm round, deep cake tins x 3, greased, then base-lined with baking paper 18cm round, deep cake tins x 3, greased, then base-lined with baking paper
Shallow metal baking tray Baking tray lined with baking paper 6 small disposable piping bags 1 large disposable piping bag 26cm round, thin cake board 20cm round, thin cake board cake-decorating turntable Tall side scraper 4 dowels cocktail stick 1 large piping bag fitted with a medium closed-star nozzle Large piping bag with a small petal nozzle. FOR THE 23CM BASE TIER SPONGE
675g extra-fine self-raising sponge flour, sifted 410g caster sugar 5 tsp edible dried lavender 2¼ tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 635g soya milk 230g sunflower oil 5 tsp aquafaba, the water from a can of chickpeas, which behaves like egg white
2½ tsp white wine vinegar FOR THE 18CM TOP TIER SPONGE 435g self-raising sponge flour, sifted 260g caster sugar 1½ tsp baking powder ¾ tsp salt 2 tsp edible dried lavender 400g soya milk 150g sunflower oil 4½ tsp aquafaba 3 tsp white wine vinegar FOR THE VEGAN LEMON CURD 35g cornflour 100g lemon-infused sugar Juice of 5 lemons 75g soya milk 85g extra-virgin coconut oil FOR THE VEGAN BISCUITS 150g plain flour, sifted Pinch of salt 20g caster sugar ½ tsp vanilla paste 80g coconut oil FOR THE ROYAL ICING 100ml aquafaba 500g icing sugar, sifted Orange food-colouring paste or gel Honey-gold food-colour, paste or gel Brown food-colour, paste or gel ½ tsp cocoa powder FOR THE VEGAN BUTTERCREAM 175g block vegetarian spread, diced 375g vegetable shortening 500g icing sugar, sifted Pink food-colour, paste or gel Dark green food colour paste or gel Light green food colour, paste or gel Lime green food colour, paste or gel TO MAKE THE SPONGE HeaT the oven to 180c/fan 160c/350f/ gas 4. Make the sponge for the bottom tier by mixing all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl and whisk all the wet ingredients together in another. add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until smooth and just combined.
Pour equal amounts of mixture into the three larger tins and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centres comes out clean. Turn out the sponges onto a wire rack, peel off the baking paper and leave to cool.
Mix together the sponge ingredients for the smaller, top-tier cakes, as before, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. cool. FOR THE LEMON CURD MeanWHiLe, make the lemon curd. Whisk together the cornflour and 100ml water to a paste. Place in a small pan and stir in the sugar and lemon juice. cook on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Keep stirring until the mixture has thickened and you can no longer taste the cornflour.
Turn the heat to low and add the soya milk and oil. Stir briskly until the oil has melted and the mixture is smooth, then pour into the shallow metal tray, cover with cling film and freeze for about 45 minutes. FOR THE BISCUITS PUT all the dry ingredients and vanilla in a bowl, then rub in the coconut oil. add 20-25ml of water and combine to make a dough. roll out the dough on a floured worktop to about 6mm thick. cut out three mushroom shapes and three fox shapes. Place on the lined baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes, until slightly browned at the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. FOR THE ROYALICING
MEANWHILE, beat 75ml of the aquafaba in a stand mixer fitted with a beater, on medium-high speed until frothy, then add half the icing sugar and mix until smooth.
add the remaining icing sugar and mix until the icing leaves a ribbon trail when you lift the beater. add more icing sugar if too runny. Put about two-thirds of the royal icing in a medium bowl, three portions — then divide into than the other two one slightly larger
colour the largo. orange colouring ager portion with of the honey-gold to make orange with a tinge of golden brown. add the brown colouring and cocoa powder to one smaller portion for a
deep brown colour. leave the remaining portion white. Divide the icing colours into the small piping bags as follows, and set aside: Orange: 1/4 into 1 piping bag and 3/4 into another. Brown: Place all in 1 piping bag.
White: 1/4 into 1 piping bag and 3/4 into another. add enough orange colouring to give a bright orange colour to the remaining icing in the mixer bowl, and stir in 1 tablespoon of aquafaba at a time, until the icing is runny enough for a controlled ‘drip’. Cover with cling film and set aside.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
PuT the spread into the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the beater and mix on a low-medium speed until smooth. Mix in the vegetable shortening until smooth and combined. Mix in one-third of the icing sugar until combined, then add the remaining icing sugar, gradually increasing the speed each time, until the buttercream is white and smooth. Put half the buttercream into the large disposable piping bag.
Divide and colour the remainder as follows, and set aside: about 150g buttercream coloured pink. about 150g buttercream coloured
dark green. about 2 tablespoons of buttercream coloured light green.
leave the remainder in the bowl.
TO ASSEMBLE THE BASE
PlaCe the larger cake board on the icing turntable. Snip a large tip on the piping bag containing white buttercream and pipe a blob on the board. Top with a large sponge. Spread a little buttercream from the bowl over the surface of the cake and, from the piping bag, pipe a white buttercream ‘dam’ around the top edge of the cake (this is to stop the lemon curd seeping out). Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon curd on top and spread evenly. Repeat with a second large sponge and then top with the third large sponge.
Spread the white buttercream from the bowl on top of the cake and around the sides. Spread a few smears of pink buttercream here and there on the sides.
Smooth the top, then smooth the sides using the icing scraper. aim for a thin crumb coat (see right). insert dowels into the cake and transfer to the fridge to keep chilled.
TO ASSEMBLE THE TOP TIER
PlaCe the smaller cake board onto the turntable and stack and ice the smaller sponge layers just as you did for the base tier, except this time using dark green icing on the top and a combination of white and dark green buttercream on the sides.
Mark the outline of a fox shape on the top of the uppermost cake using the cocktail stick.
Snip a very small hole in the piping bag containing the smaller amount of orange royal icing, and snip a small-medium tip on the bag containing the larger amount of orange royal icing. Repeat for the white royal icing. Snip a small tip on the brown royal icing.
use the small-tipped piping bags of orange and white royal icing to pipe the outline of the fox. use the larger tipped bags to ‘flood’ the orange and white areas. working quickly, use the cocktail stick to blend the white and orange by the tip of the tail. leave to set, then add the legs, nose and mouth.
now start piping the biscuits, piping the foxes in the same way you did for the cake. Pipe orange over the mushroom biscuits (outline first, then flooding), and pipe on white dots while the orange icing is wet.
Remove the first cake tier from the fridge and place the second tier on top. using a large spoon, pour the thinned orange icing in carefully controlled drips down the side of the bottom cake tier.
FOR THE ROSES AND SWIRLS
MaRble the pink buttercream with a little of the remaining white buttercream, but don’t over mix, then divide it in half and place each half in a large piping bag — one fitted with the closed-star nozzle and the other with the petal nozzle.
Pipe swirls around the base of each tier and pipe roses on top.
Colour any remaining white buttercream with lime green, place this in the remaining small piping bag. Snip the end into a V-shape and pipe tiny green leaves between the roses.
Decorate the cake with the fox and mushroom biscuits.