Happy Independence Day/4th of July!
However you may be celebrating today – do it with cake! Whenever there is a celebration, what is it without cake? Boring.
I may not be celebrating as a Brit but thought I’d jump on and share this cake I made just in time for the 4th of July.
This is a pretty simple cake, incorporating the red, white and blue colours, not forgetting the stars,
Anyway, lets get started, shall we?
Ingredients:
Cake:
375g butter, at room temperature.
375g granulated sugar.
6 eggs.
375g self raising flour.
2 tsp vanilla extract.
Red food colouring.
Blue food colouring.
Italian Meringue Buttercream:
250g granulated sugar.
62ml water.
70g egg yolks.
500g butter, at room temperature.
Vanilla extract.
Red food colouring.
Blue food colouring.
Simple Syrup:
150g granulated sugar.
150ml water.
1 tsp vanilla extract.
Filling and decoration:
Raspberry jam (homemade or store bought).
Blueberry jam (homemade or store bought).
White sprinkles (I used the Halo brand).
White chocolate spread, melted (for the drip).
Method:
Before you get started on the cake, you’ll want to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all of my ingredients, line my 3×6 inch cake tins, grab any equipment I need and preheat the oven to 180˚c/350˚f.
Start the recipe by placing the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this usually takes around 7-10 minutes is the perfect but it all depends on the climate that you’re in.
Once you’ve achieved the right consistency, add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Once all of your eggs have been added, add in the vanilla extract and beat until fully incorporated.
Give the bowl a scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.
Add in your dry ingredients and mix on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high speed, just until a clear batter has formed. You’re not looking to take it any further than that as otherwise you may overwork the gluten and make the cake have a tough texture.
Divide the cake batter 3 ways, keeping one plain vanilla (this will be the white layer) and colour, one blue and another red. Split the cake batter between the 3 cake tins. I like to use digital scales to get a more accurate result but this is something that you eyeball, if you’re confident enough.
Place the cake tins into your preheated oven and bake off for around 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
While the cakes are baking in the oven, make your buttercream.
My super easy Italian meringue buttercream is easy, quick and rich but not as sweet. I have a recipe for this – which you can find here. When it comes to colouring the buttercream, I recommend keeping some back, just to use as filling in the cake – the adds colour. Then divide the rest and colour it red and blue.
I like to make a vanilla simple syrup, which is simply water, sugar and vanilla into a pan, bring to a boil and allow to cool. Remove from the heat, allowing to cool before tranferring into a container and placing into the fridge.
Once you have your cakes baked, cooled, levelled and halved (yes, halved. In total, you should have 6 layers of cake), the buttercream made and simple syrup is cool – you’re ready to finish the cake. Make sure you brush all of the cakes over with a generous amount of the simple syrup – this will help keep the cake moist, especially if being stored in the fridge.
To start the assembly, simple take your plate/board/stand and smear a small blog of buttercream on it – this will act as the glue that keeps this cake in place. Then place your first layer and press it down to secure it in place. Top this layer of cake with buttercream and strawberry, then top with your second layer of cake and top that with a layer of buttercream and blueberry jam. Repeat the alternative layers until you have used up all of your cake. It may not look the best now but once sliced into – trust the process.
Now coat the entire cake with a generous layer of buttercream, spread and level it as much as you may need. It may take a few attempts to get an end result your happy result with.
Apply the white chocolate drip by simply warming up some white chocolate spread, then drip it down the cake – space the drips as much or as little as you’d like! Chill in the fridge for a short while, just to allow the drip to firm up.
Place the rippled buttercream mixed with a piping tip of your choice. Pipe around the edges until you’re happy and top then top each of the rosettes with sprinkles and a meringue kiss.
That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.
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