Wealden Times | WT180 | February 2017 | Wedding supplement inside

WT Wedding Supplement
Rose & Cardamom Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream
Makes 1 large cake. Prep time: 1 hour 35 minutes. Cooking time: 25 minutes
For the cake
• 400g sugar
• 190g softened
butter
• 5 eggs beaten
• 400g self raising
flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1tsp baking powder
• 190g buttermilk
• 1½ tbsp rose water
• 15 cardamom
pods, seeds taken
out and crushed to
a powder
For the rose syrup
• 2tbsp rose water
• 90g sugar
For the buttercream
• 450g icing sugar
• 200g softened
butter
• 3 tsp milk
• 60g white
chocolate, melted
• pink food
colouring
For the decoration
(This cake is
beautiful with just
the buttercream,
but adding some
fruit, rose petals and
sprinkles creates a real
wow factor perfect for
Valentine’s Day.)
• rose petals
• handful of raspberries
• handful of blueberries
• dried rose petals
(found online or in
Waitrose)
• pink sprinkles
• edible glitter
Treat your loved one to special
sweet treats this Valentine’s Day
with The Little Ginger Baker’s
utterly delicious recipes
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Lightly grease and line
two 17-20cm cake tins with baking paper.
2. For the cake, cream together the softened butter and sugar
until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs – if
the mixture looks a little split add a tbsp of flour.
3. Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder and mix together with the crushed
cardamom seeds then fold in half along with half of the buttermilk. Once
combined fold in the remaining flour and buttermilk as well as the rose water.
4. Divide the mixture between the two prepared tins and bake for
20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Prick the cakes a few times and drizzle over the syrup, letting it
sink in. Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tins on a wire rack
then remove from the tins and leave to cool completely.
6. Once cool cut the two sponges in half so you have four
sponges. If the cake has domed on top you can trim some
off so they will sit neatly on top of each other.
7. For the buttercream, beat the butter for a few minutes until quite pale. Add
in half of the icing sugar and beat for another few minutes. Repeat with
the rest of the icing sugar, followed by the milk, until you have a thick, pale
smooth buttercream. Now mix in the melted white chocolate until combined.
8. Take out a third of the buttercream and put to one side. With
the remaining buttercream add in the pink food colouring
and mix until you achieve the colour you want.
9. To assemble the cake put a teaspoon of the pink buttercream on
the plate or cake stand to stick the first layer to it. Spoon some of
the buttercream onto the cake and spread evenly, place the second
cake on top. Repeat with the remaining two layers and cover the
top making sure you have a third of the pink icing left over.
10. Using half the plain coloured buttercream, start to cover the cake all over
with a thin layer. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect as this is just to
disguise any gaps and hold the crumbs down. Chill for 20 minutes.
11. With the left-over pink buttercream, start to spread some small patches
around the cake to randomly fill in the gaps with the plain icing. Now
using a palette knife, start smoothing out the buttercream so that the
pink and plain icing blend together to create a watercolour effect.
12. Time to decorate! Arrange your chosen decorations on the cake
however you like and finish with a sprinkle of glitter!
23 wealdentimes.co.uk