So, this week’s cake is focused on my St Patricks day cake I made this week. It’s safe to say since I’ve made it, a lot has changed. I never even realised when I made this cake it would be my last bake at uni this year. As long as I can still bake with my ingredients I will continue to try and bake new things for my parents whilst we isolate ourselves over the coming weeks. For those unsure what to do in the house try baking, it’s a great stress reliever and you get yummy treats at the end of it. I’ve got a few ideas coming up over the next couple of weeks that I can’t wait to share, including some Mother’s day cupcakes this weekend.
Going back to the St Patricks day cake, this wasn’t really planned properly. I didn’t have the idea of making the cake until Saturday, I made the cake and decorated it on the Monday ready for Tuesday. I think in times like this it’s important to distract yourself the best you can, so I went all out on the colour of this cake. I made two cakes and even coloured them green. I added 175g self-raising flour, caster sugar, butter, 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. I added some vanilla flavouring and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. I even added some green food colouring because I wanted it to be bold. I baked the cake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees. For the second cake I did exactly the same. The smell in the kitchen was amazing. I let them cool and wrapped them in cling film until the next day.
For my cake I managed to get all my ingredients before the chaos of panic buying started. It would be so much easier if people realised there wasn’t a need for it and to just shop normally. For the buttercream I had already let 500g unsalted butter soften. I whisked this in a bowl and slowly added 1 kg of icing sugar. I added a dash of milk and some vanilla. I put my first cake on the board and added some buttercream. I really wanted it to be mint chocolate flavoured and crushed a bar of Mint Aero in the middle of the cake. I did a crumb coat layer around the whole cake and put it in the fridge for 10 minutes. I did another layer of normal buttercream and then added some green and light green spots on the cake and smoothed out the buttercream. Like the Frozen cake I did previously I was so happy with how the green turned out especially the light green tones. Using the remaining buttercream I filled a piping bag with the green and white buttercream and swirled it around the top of the cake. In between each swirl I added a gold chocolate coin. They were so effective and really stood out. I added a lot of green ball sprinkles in the middle of the cake. They looked great, but went everywhere when you cut into the cake. I stuck some gold coins onto the cake coming down the side using some buttercream.
When I was decorating the cake, I forgot that I had coloured the cake green so it was a nice surprise when I cut into it. It all got a bit hectic after I made this cake with uni closing and me having to prepare to move home a lot earlier than expected. Out of all the cakes I’ve done I think this one is definitely one of my favourites. It is definitely uncertain times at the minute, everyone needs to look out for one another and be safe and sensible. Next week’s blog will be my Mother’s day cupcakes, I’m hoping me baking will keep a smile on their face. I hope everyone stays stay and listens to advice given. See you next week for another blog.
Lots of love,
Hannah x
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