Olympic Countdown - 4 Weeks to go - Red White and Blue Cake

4 Weeks. 4 WEEKS! Thats is all that is left until London 2012! Can you believe it? This week I am sharing a recipe for a yummy and patriotic three layer, red, white and blue cake adapted from Recipegirl.com. I made this with my friend Tori after we'd both finished our exams!
Bear in mind that we couldn't get very good blue food colouring so that is why ours looks more red, white and green! Still, the cake is yummy, the icing is rich and the process is very fun!

 
 Ingredients
 adapted from recipegirl

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tblsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
red and blue gel paste coloring
Red, white and blue sprinkles

Buttercream

6 cups icing sugar
2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tblsp whipping cream

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line 3 cake tins with baking parchment and set aside.
2. Sift together flour and baking powder.
3. Whisk together buttermilk and egg whites.
4. In a separate bowl, beat together butter and sugar; until the mixture is very light.
5. Beat in the vanilla extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating.
6. Beat in half of the buttermilk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the buttermilk and eggs, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
7. Give the batter a 2 minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed.
8.  Divide the batter evenly between three bowls. Color two of the bowls of batter- one dark red and one dark blue. Add the color a small amount at a time until you reach the colour you desire.
9. Scoop each of the batters into their own prepared pan.
10. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean.
11. Transfer cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then cool to room temperature right side up on wire racks. 
12. To make buttercream - cream together sugar and butter until well blended. Add vanilla and whipping cream and beat until creamy
13. When cooled put the bottom sponge on a plate. Spread with buttercream. Put next layer on top, repeat until have three layered cake
14. For the top, put buttercream in a piping bag and pipe dots of icing to cover the whole cake, top and side. Finish with red, white and blue sprinkles

 

Love Rebecca


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